A New Chemical Light with Twelve Secret Chemical Tables

PREFACE.

I turn myself accordingly from the prime matter original: materia prima; the fundamental substance from which all things are made and the generation of metals, to the matter and composition of the Philosopher’s Stone original: Lapidis Philosophici. This Stone must indeed be prepared from a metallic seed in the place of form and Sulfur original: loco formæ & Sulphuris, and from a moisture of the prime matter in the place of matter and Mercury original: loco materiæ & Mercurii. How both the one and the other part are to be understood follows briefly:

Those are mistaken who think that the matter of the Philosopher's Stone is the same as the first matter of metals. Indeed, the intention of Nature is one thing, and the intention of the artist original: artificis; here referring to the alchemist is another. It is not the artist's purpose to generate ordinary metals; therefore, he requires neither the matter nor the process which Nature uses. Rather, he strives for something more excellent, which Nature by itself never accomplishes in any place. For this reason, he has need of another method original: methodo and another matter. This remains true despite the fact that, in his method, he imitates Nature to some extent; and regarding this matter, he draws and borrows it from the same sources and principles from which Nature sought its own.