Chemical Beginner

...and since some of these things are of such a nature that they require the eyes and the hands rather than words, I shall now proceed to explain the terms proper to the art.

Fermentation

It is the exaltation original: "exaltatio"; in alchemy, this refers to raising a substance to a higher level of "dignity" or potency, increasing its natural virtues. of a substance in its very nature, through which, by the mediation of digestion original: "digestio"; the process of exposing a substance to gentle, continuous heat, similar to the natural warmth of an incubator or a stomach, to mature it., the active heat overcomes the subject and transforms the passive material into its own nature. In this, the Chemist original: "Chymicus"; a practitioner who follows the principles of "Spagyric" art—the separation and recombination of natural elements., as an imitator of nature, employs the same or similar methods for the resolution original: "resolutio"; the process of breaking down a solid or complex substance into its constituent parts or into a liquid state. of bodies that nature uses for their composition. And just as nature ascends through the degrees of fire from the lowest to the highest until it reaches perfection, so does the art proceed in the work of destruction Beguin refers here to "chemical destruction," which is the breaking down of a substance to release its essence..

But because the art further perfects those things which nature presents to us already made—by separating the pure from the impure, and by reducing them to a more active state by dissolving them into a liquid—it has therefore discovered fermentation. This process leads all things to the highest degree of perfection; and once they have ascended to that stage, they cannot be sublimated or exalted original: "sublimari & exaltari"; both terms refer to the refinement of a substance to its most potent, "highest" form. any higher. Thus, all fermented bodies are [raised]... original: "eleuantur"; the text breaks here at "ele-" and continues with the catchword "uan-" on the next page, meaning "are elevated."