OF THEOPHRASTUS PARACELSUS.

...and again "Something is generated from Nothing," and it is an incredible, but most true saying.

Corruption makes the Perfect Good: the good cannot appear before its concealer: and the good is also begun while it is hidden. The Occultator concealer must be torn away and destroyed, then the liberated good will manifest clearly in its brightness. Gloss: The Occultator is the Mount, sand, earth, or stone in which the metal was born; for every visible metal is the concealer of the remaining 6 metals.

Because, therefore, by the Element of fire imperfect things are corrupted, burned, and removed—such as the 5 metals: Mars iron, Jupiter tin, Mercury, Venus copper, Saturn lead—but the perfect ones, namely the 2 most noble, Sol gold and Luna silver, are not, for that reason they must also remain in the fire, and take their body from the other imperfect ones in which they were destroyed, and appear visibly. How this is done and by what aids will be taught in the 7 rules, of which, namely, what nature and property each metal has, and what it possesses and is worth when mixed with others in operation.

It must also be known that these 7 rules are not immediately understood by the duller mind on the first reading and intuition; a weak intellect does not bear arduous things, hence every rule requires much investigation. There are also the inflated and proud, thinking they know well that the things taught here are worthless, and that they know far better things, and they utterly despise these of mine.