Preface.

The moderns have progressed from dead metals to their unsmelted ores and minerals; they now believe they can produce the aforementioned Stone original Latin: Lapidem, referring to the Philosopher's Stone. from these much better and more easily than from all the previously mentioned perfect or imperfect metals. However, this is to be noted with a grain of Philosophical Salt original Latin: cum grano Salis Philosophici. This is a play on the common idiom "with a grain of salt," referencing "Salt" as one of the three primary alchemical principles (Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury)..

How to proceed primarily with common Mercury represented by the symbol ☿ alone is taught by Johannes de Rupescissa A 14th-century Franciscan friar whose work On the Consideration of the Quintessence was foundational to alchemical medicine. in On the Preparation of the True Philosopher's Stone, Samuel Norton in his Mercury Revived, and others, whom you may consult.

In working with Gold, as far as the preliminary work is concerned, two paths—the Wet and the Dry—have been used until now. In the former, Friar Basilius Valentinus A legendary 15th-century alchemist, supposedly a Benedictine monk, though his works were likely published by Johann Thölde in the early 1600s. and his followers worked very expensively and laboriously; they (1.) first of all purified the Gold by means of antimony and common sulfur, and subsequently prepared the Solar Water or "King’s Bath" original: Solarische Wasser or Königsbad; known in chemistry as Aqua Regia, a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids capable of dissolving gold. from Saltpeter, Sal Ammoniac, and flint pebbles for the dissolution of the Gold into crystals.