Master Salomon Trismosin

A 2

[The assayer asked if I] had more: I said no, but I did possess the art of how the silver was made, and I would gladly share it with him. This pleased the assayer well, and he asked me if I could also perform laboratory work Laborieren: The practical, physical work of chemistry and alchemy, such as distilling, melting, and refining in a laboratory.. I said yes, reasonably well. Then he said, if I wished, there was a Gentiluomo original: "Centilon," likely a German corruption of the Italian "gentiluomo," meaning a nobleman or gentleman. here who commissioned much laboratory work and had long wanted a German lab assistant. This suited me, and he led me straight to the master's head lab assistant, who was a German named Hans Tauler. He was overjoyed and took me on immediately, giving me two crowns every week plus my meals. Then he led me about six Italian miles from Venice to a large house belonging to the same gentleman, which he called Pontilon Possibly a corruption of "Padiglione" (pavilion) or a specific estate name near Venice..

In all my life, I have never seen such laboratory work on all kinds of particular tinctures Particular: In alchemy, a "particular" is a process that transmutes only specific base metals into gold or silver, whereas a "universal" work transforms all substances. and on medicines as in this place. Everything one could imagine was kept in stock there, and each lab assistant (there were nine of them) had his own chamber, and they all shared their own cook. Then the head lab assistant gave me a task to work on, which had been sent to the nobleman four days earlier; it was a coagulation of Mercury original: "coagulatio Mercurij"; the process of stabilizing or "fixing" liquid mercury into a solid state.. The head assistant mixed all the powders for me so that I would not recognize them, and I had to complete the labor on that piece, which was finished or concluded in two days.

I was industrious, and this particular partial transmutation succeeded well for me. When the coagulated mass was refined at nine Loth Loth: A traditional German unit of weight; nine Loth is roughly 4.5 ounces or 145 grams., three Loth of the best gold came out. This was my first work and my good fortune. The head assistant immediately reported this to the nobleman, who came out to see me unexpectedly. He spoke to me in Latin and called me Fortunatus Latin: "The Lucky One" or "The Blessed One.". He was not perfect in Latin and tapped me on the shoulder; I did not understand him well, as he spoke everything corruptly The author implies the nobleman's Latin was grammatically broken or heavily accented.. He presented me with 20 crowns.

Then I was first bound, by my body and life, in place of an oath, that I would tell no man of the art. In short, it all had to be kept secret, and that was only right. And I say that if someone—as I have seen myself—boasts of this art and has already struck upon the truth, then the eternal justice of GOD will not allow such art to proceed any further for him. Therefore, hold your tongue, even if you possess the highest tincture; give from it to the poor.