Fortuitous Remarks

...the nature of the Stone Lapis The Philosopher's Stone, the goal of the alchemical "Great Work." does not marvelously agree. I explain, or rather show, the nomenclature of almost all the Gods in Alchemy Chemia In the 17th century, the terms for chemistry and alchemy were often used interchangeably, though here Tollius specifically refers to the "hermetic art" of transmutation.; I present the origin and cause of their attributes, and I point out many more things besides, which are left to be unraveled by one's own intellect.

Many other myths could have been added: such as that famous story of Augeas In Greek myth, Hercules's fifth labor was to clean the stables of King Augeas, which had not been washed in thirty years, by diverting two rivers., in which the etymology could be observed, along with the Sun or Neptune as his father, and the dung of the herds, purged in a single day—that is, in a single fusion—in a crucible by Hercules—that is, by a saline fire igne salino; and this was done by turning in the rivers. For the matter must flow, so that the impure sulfur original: "sulphur." In alchemy, Sulfur, Salt, and Mercury are the three primary principles (Tria Prima) of matter. may be separated out: in which, however, lies hidden the salt that fertilizes the fields.

So too concerning the Pillars of Hercules, the pillars at the chest of Osiris The Egyptian god of the afterlife, often associated in alchemy with the "blackening" or decomposition stage of the work., the pillar of the sun and the laurels budding from it; the Ambrosial Rocks, the Cyanean islands Also known as the Symplegades or "Clashing Rocks" from the myth of Jason and the Argonauts.: concerning Minerva, Isis, and Procne changed into a swallow: