Hermes: A Journal in Occasional Issues

In all bodies which yield water and a
fixed salt, the solvent would thus be
present, which is called the Stone, and it
would therefore also be quite understandable
when the Hermeticists say that the Stone is every-
where, and that there are as many of these stones
as there are individual bodies. original: "Tot Lapides quot res" — As many stones as there are things.
But when it comes to the question: in which
subject is the richest vein of the
philosophical Mercury—that is, the
solvent—to be found? then the deepest,
most hidden darkness prevails, and that
is the cause which has moved countless
people to search for this Mercury in
earths, minerals, in vegetables, in
dew, rain, hailstones, in snow, in
excrement of animals, in blood, and the like.
It is necessary to speak a bit more in
detail about these various subjects,
which are more or less true.

A certain monk of the 16th century
claimed that the Air was the true
hermetic matter, the Nothingness of the Philosophers original: "Nihilum Philosophorum." This term refers to a substance that is seemingly empty or "nothing," yet contains the spiritual essence needed for alchemy..
The very same is said by Sendivogius Michael Sendivogius (1566–1636), a famous Polish alchemist who argued that a vital "food of life" was hidden in the air.,
a sincere and one of the clearest
writers we know. Because however the