Mirror of Lights.

Page 10

...the same, and without it no metal can be gilded; it is the source and origin of all metals, for it has the planets [the metals] as its own. Note on Sulfur Quicksilver is the reason why. If indeed there are alembroz Likely sal ammoniac or a specific alchemical salt mixture., belzi, and antaxit Obscure alchemical terms for mineral substances, likely of Arabic origin..

¶ The second species is Sulfur, which is the "fatness of the earth" in the mine, thickened by a tempered decoction The process of heating or boiling a substance in a liquid to extract its essence. until it hardens and becomes thick; and when it has been hardened, it is called Sulfur. ¶ Sulfur is of the strongest opacity, for it has a uniform substance in its parts, and therefore the oil is not taken from it [easily] as it is from other things that contain oil. Rather, through "sharp water" Probably a mineral acid or strong vinegar., sulfur is sent into the earth during these decoctions—some immobile, some in palumbibus Possibly "lumps" or a specific vessel shape.. And it is of many types: namely, white, red, yellow, black, green, living, and dead. It is "living" if it comes directly from the earth and is found pure and not melted, and [if] you keep it in a vessel. It is "dead" if it is that which has been melted in Note on Orpiment reeds Latin: canis/cannis; referring to the tubes or molds used for casting sulfur sticks. as it is sold in the apothecary shop.

¶ The third species is Orpiment Latin: Auripigmentum; a golden-yellow arsenic mineral used as a pigment and in alchemy., which is a mineral stone; and thus the "regimen" is made from those burnt in earthen tubes, and through long decoction, it passes into the substance of orpiment. There is a double viscosity in it: one is subtle, the other is thick. One is removed by washing and decoction, Note on Arsenic but the other is removed by urine, which is taken away through sublimation The process of heating a substance so it turns into vapor and then solidifies again, used to purify "spirits.".

¶ Arsenic is of a more subtle matter, having a sulfurous color, and it is a red stone. Its nature is indeed like that of orpiment. And indeed, there is one viscosity that is removed by washing and decoction in urine, which is removed by sublimation. Indeed, its "flower" is white and red, and it is easily sublimated.

Mirror of Lights.

What Salt is

It is whitened in three ways: namely, by sublimation and decoction. ¶ The Salts are Sal Ammoniac, Common Salt, Alkali Salt, and Azure Salt. These are metallic, being both natural and artificial. The natural ones are those found in the earth, namely white and red, whose virtue consists of a hard mineral vapor without violent falsity. Their nature is indeed hot and dry, and it is healing, cleansing, and elevating.

Artificial salts are those made by art, and they are used in many ways in the work of alchemy. Natural salt itself is more noble than all other salts and is volatile before the heat of bodies and spirits in water. For with it, they "roast" and dry substances out, and by placing it in some liquid to dissolve, it is dissolved in water with the iron and many other things; or the silver itself is an oil which is a coagulated dryness. Its nature is hot and moist, a species of subtlety for the elixir, for without it the elixir is neither dissolved nor does it "enter" [the metal]. And you should know that the "heart" [of the metal] is neither whitened nor reddened nor transmuted by the salt itself, but through the "species" The specific alchemical quality or form being introduced.. Rather, the salt itself gives entry to the spirits and bodies and purges the heart of blackness, and then it leaves the species mixed, united, and reddened with the bodies.

¶ Common Salt is the key of this entire art, because it opens and closes all things, and without it, no work of alchemy can be performed. But Alkali Salt pertains to the art in such a way that when the salt is well prepared, it reduces all the heats of the bodies of the work into a solid mass, for its nature is indeed hot and moist.