Two Treatises on the Nature of the Elements and the Fifth Essence

I share those things which I myself have drawn and received from Nature. Believe for certain that what is being shown and offered to you by me is that which has remained hidden from many until now; yet this very thing, unless you properly understand my mind, you yourself will by no means know for what uses it is intended. On account of your unwise petition, I am forced to wrap this same thing in silence, lest I create danger for myself. Drebbel implies that revealing too much too soon, or to the wrong person, could be hazardous—a common theme in alchemical writing regarding the "Secret of the Stone." Otherwise, when my soul has departed from the prison-house original: "ergastulo." While it literally means a workshop or slave prison, here it refers to the physical body as a temporary confinement for the soul. of my body, then everything will be brought out into the open and into full light. I profess nothing new: that which I am discussing existed already more than ten centuries ago. I will write, therefore, about the common Elements The four classical elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.: since these are best known to you; so that in this way you may arrive at a deeper understanding of the "Remains"—that is, of the Element of Earth. For Earth Tellus does not consist of as simple a nature as Fire Ignis, Air Aër, [and] Water Aqua, but it is impure, like the dregs original: "excrementum." In this context, it refers to the solid residue or "sediment" left behind by the other more volatile elements. of the others. We find, I say, in the Earth Terra, and in the other creatures of the earth, fully and perfectly: four Elementary Bodies, by whose aid we are compelled to complete our work opus nostrum The "Great Work" (Magnum Opus), the process of creating the Philosopher's Stone or achieving alchemical transformation..