Page 23 - Treatise on Salt

death and malediction. For first, there is to be observed in these metals,
that they contain a corruptible matter, which is hard and gross and of an
accursed earth; to wit, a substance which is crass, stony, impure, and
terrestrial, which they bring even from their mine. Secondly, a stinking
water which is capable of giving death. In the third place, a mortified
earth, which is lodged in this stinking water; and in fine, a venomous
quality, which is mortal and raging. But when the metals are freed from
all these accursed impurities, and from their heterogeneity, then there is
to be found in them the noble essence of gold; that is to say, our blessed
salt, so much praised by the philosophers, who tell us of it so often, and
have recommended it to us in these terms. Draw forth the salt of the
metals, without any corrosion or violence, and that salt will produce you
the white and red stone. Item, the whole secret consists in the salt, of
which is made our perfect elixir.

Now it sufficiently appears how difficult it is to find the mean to
make, and to have this salt; since this science, even down to this day, has
not been wholly discovered to everybody, and that even at this present,
there is not one in a thousand that knows, what sentiment he ought to
entertain concerning the surprising saying of all the philosophers, on this
sole and self-same matter, which is nothing else than true and natural
gold, yet nevertheless very vile, is flung into the highways, and is there
to be found. It is of great value, and even inestimable; and yet is only
dung: it is a fire, which burns more vehemently than all other fire, and
nevertheless it is cold: it is a water that washes very clean, and yet it is
dry: it is a hammer of steel, which strikes even the impalpable atoms; and
for all that, it is like a soft water: it is a flame which reduces all things
into ashes; and nevertheless it is moist: it is a snow, which is all snow,
and yet may be digested and made to thicken: it is a bird which flies on
the tops of the mountains; and yet it is a fish: it is a virgin who has never
been touched, and who nevertheless brings forth children, and abounds
with milk: they are the rays of the sun, and of the moon, and the fire of
sulphur; and at the same time, it is an ice extremely cold: it is a burnt
tree, which however brings forth blossoms while it is burning, and yields
an abundance of fruit: it is a mother that bears children, and yet it is only
a man: and, likewiase, on the contrary, it is a male, and yet does the
office of a woman: it is a very heavy metal, and yet it is a feather: it is
also a feather which the wind carries away, and is, nevertheless, heavier
than the very metals: it is likewise a poison more deadly than even that of
the basilisk, and yet it drives away all sorts of maladies.

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