Page 33 - Book of Crates

absorbs the liquid, and also to see the succession of the colours, that of
the compound to each of its degrees, until finally we obtain the
generous red, formed by the elixir.

“As for the agent that the philosophers prescribed on several
occasions to put into the work, it is advisable to employ it only once. If
you want to ascertain the truth on this doubtful point, you only have to
examine what Democritus says, in the passage which starts as follows:
‘from the below to the above’; then he comes back thereon saying:
‘from the above to the below’, and he adds: ‘Put iron, lead; lead
because of copper, and copper because of silver; then of silver, the
copper, lead and iron.’ Finally he explains himself distinctly in these
terms: ‘Put it only once.’

“Be assured that gold only changes with lead and copper. It
dissolves itself in this vinegar, whose composition is known by the
philosophers, and it is transformed into rust: it is of this rust that the
philosophers want to speak when they say: ‘Put gold, it will soften; put
more however and it will be the gold coral.’ (All these names are the
real names of the bodies. As for the vague indications provided by the
philosophers, about the matters that have special names, they have the
aim of indicating the solid bodies and the solution. However it is
advisable to name the single matter.) It is advisable to put vinegar,
because it is this which produces the colours. We should only put this
one time, in order to obtain the rust; and when the rust already exists,
then we put also the vinegar, which makes the colours indicated
previously appear. We let it react during one day; the liquid evaporates.
When the matter becomes dry, water it, and place it in a vessel, which
we put on the fire, until the useful result is obtained. With the first
degree, we have a sort of yellow mud; in the second degree, this mud
is red; finally, in the third degree, we have something that looks like
dry and reduced saffron powder. If we then project it on the vulgar
silver, and, the compound being penetrated by moisture and dryness,
we obtain a spirit.

“The bodies do not penetrate the bodies and cannot tinge them.
What tinges them, is the igneous and gaseous poison, which remains
imprisoned in the bodies; only it can easily penetrate and be spread in

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