...of the aforementioned contemplations, indeed a spectacle! O sweet-smelling flower! Proper to the followers of practical Philosophy! O most perfect Composition of a single species! O work of singular wisdom bringing most worthy beauty to souls! O light of all things shining forth from one Substance! O Moon (which receives mutual light from the Light of the Sun!) O one and the same Nature, neither another, delighting and delighted, containing and contained, preserving and preserved; what now have we to do with a multitude of matter, when a single material substance and a single nature de-unifies all things by its power? —

Most august Caesar, I most sincerely reveal to you all the truth without omitting anything concerning the composition of the great Stone, which Stone changes all imperfect metals and perfects everything that must be perfected in that metal, and transmutes all things into gold of 24 Carats. When that metal which you wish to change has been liquefied and then injected, by that very ferment, it converts it into the best gold that is in the world, so that that same gold contains 24 Carats in itself and will pass through all tests that can be instituted, better than that which is extracted from the earth, as you have seen from me, yourself have done, and proved. Since, however, Our Mercury is the fountain and origin of all metals, which is also the truth, I will begin immediately with this highest Secret of nature concerning the preparation, Section 3. —

Chapter I

Concerning the preparation of our Mercury?

Take half a pound of Mercury, or as much as you wish, and grind it in an earthenware mortar pelvis testacea with purified salt, as you will find written about it later, and grind this with strong vinegar, and this vinegar...