On the Secrets of the Adepts

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When I compared them, I found the greatest difference between this [the Alkahest] and those others [the solvents].

For the liquid Alkahest Alkahest: A hypothetical universal solvent sought by alchemists, famously described by Jan Baptist van Helmont as being able to reduce any matter to its primary liquid state without being consumed itself. is said to be unique and universal; but the solvents menstrua: From the Latin 'menstruum'; in alchemy, these are liquids used to dissolve solids or extract medicinal virtues. of Paracelsus Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493–1541), the Swiss physician who pioneered the use of minerals and chemicals in medicine. are many. The former is indestructible; the latter are destructible. The former scorns any union with physical bodies original: "corporum ſpernens connubium"; the latter remain within them. The former preserves the natural powers of things; the latter alter them. The former rises during distillation after the Essences Essentias: The refined, concentrated medicinal or spiritual core of a substance. of things; the latter rise before their dissolved components, and so forth.

For a long time I wavered, unsure which side I should favor. At one moment, I desired for myself the one indestructible liquid rather than many destructible solvents, believing one thing to be better than many. At another moment, having changed my mind, I preferred the solvents that were sufficient for the manifold uses I had only just learned.

At last, truth won out, for it had already shown me that I could demonstrate most, if not all, Paracelsian medicines in the works of Guido Guido de Montanor, an influential 14th or 15th-century alchemist often cited in later chemical texts. and Basil Basil Valentine, the legendary Benedictine monk whose writings on antimony and chemical salts were central to early modern chemistry.; on the contrary, the Secrets Arcana: From the Latin 'arcanum' (hidden/secret); in Paracelsian medicine, these are the most potent, hidden healing virtues extracted from nature. of Paracelsus are commonly pro- The text breaks here; the catchword indicates the full word is "prostituted" or "exposed to the public."