On the Secrets of the Adepts

...[deficiency was] a certain unhappy preconception regarding the Alkahest original: "Alkahest." A hypothetical universal solvent sought by alchemists, capable of dissolving every other substance.. For, despairing of learning the preparation of this liquid from the books of others—or even from Paracelsus’s own book On the Powers of the Limbs original: "de viribus membrorum." This work by Paracelsus discusses the medicinal properties of various substances in relation to the human body.—I revisited the passages concerning the lesser circulate and the specific corrosive (since these are used as synonyms for the Alkahest by other authors).

To these I gradually added "Water" or "Oil of Salt" Oil of Salt: Concentrated hydrochloric acid, often produced by distilling salt with clay or other additives., "Corrosive Water" original: "Aquam Comedentem," literally "Eating Water," a term for a strong acid., "Aqua Regis" Aqua Regis: "Royal Water," a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids named for its ability to dissolve "noble" metals like gold., the greater circulate, and others. I did this because I was fully convinced that a single universal solvent menstruum: A solvent used in chemistry to extract or dissolve substances; a "universal" one was believed to be the key to the Great Work of alchemy. was intended by all these names. My hope was that, even if I could not find the method for preparing this liquid in any one place, I might discover it by comparing all these various passages together.

But the labors I endured as a result were manifold and hardly believable—yet they were entirely in vain and grueling. Conquered at last by these efforts and frustrated in all my hopes, I had intended to abandon Chemistry and Medicine altogether, viewing them as arts far beyond my own natural abilities.

But look! Unexpectedly, the eyes of my mind were opened, and I saw