Manly P. Hall Collection, Box 3

increase the fire so that the glass becomes hotter. Do not pour the water over the stone again, but calcine and dry it for a whole day. Remember that you thus have the first grade in calcination and distillation; note well with what kind of fire you will calcine, so that you know it as above. After this calcination, let it cool, and pour the water over the stone again; it will immediately dissolve from the intense cold, so that if you hold the glass in your hand, you will feel this well. Also, place it again on the basin, as before, and always lute it well. Distill five times; the fifth time, distill in the sand as before. After the fifth distillation, calcine as before with the same fire; this will be the second calcination. After this calcination, place it again on the basin as before, dissolving your matter in the glass, put the alembic on top, and distill as before, little by little.

Here you should note that your water and the beauty of your water will turn into a very great blackness—which philosophers call the "darkness"—and it will be a sign of radical solution. The blacker it becomes, the sooner you will succeed, and you should consider that blackness as the first sign. After the fourth distillation in humidity, distill in dryness, namely in the sand; after distillation, calcine as before with the same fire. Thus, you will have the third calcination. Extinguish the fire again, take the glass out of the sand, and pour the water over the stone in the glass again (namely the powder), and place it on the basin as before. I let you know that you should distill in humidity in this way 16 times and calcine just as often—that is, always calcine at each turn without increasing the fire. When you finish this grade in this distillation and calcination, proceed to the next gradation.
Here begins the 2nd gradation toward distillation and calcination, and the increase of fire in calcination. Afterward, when you dissolve after the calcination, put the powder to the...