Page 37 - Book of Crates

which, once mixed, become neither male nor female. For example,
when one calls them ingot and strips.”

“Why do we call the combined body, calcareous (chalky)?”

“Because the limestone, that was at first a dry and cold stone, once
cooked and changed into quicklime, manifests the spirit of fire, which
gave it an internal life.”

“What do we call combustion, transformation, disappearance of the
shadow and production of the incombustible compound?”

“All these names apply to the compound when it whitens.”

“What is the most efficient operation among those of the
philosophers?”

“The operations of the philosophers can all be reduced to only one,
and the best is that which retains the sulphur and made it redden. But it
is advisable above all to know the weights, because it is thanks to them
that we become master of this single operation, that the philosophers
ordered to carry out well and completely, but in which they hid the
weights, as well as their distribution. Some gave them approximately
and in obscure terms; others did not even mention them, so that they
were better hidden and held more secret.”

“How, oh virtuous spirit, will those who will come after us be able
to know these weights?”

“They will have to observe well, when a weight is not indicated to
them, to put the materials in equal quantities.”

“Which substance is it necessary to weigh and which is it not
necessary to weigh?”

“It is necessary to put the molybdochalque by equal parts and in the
same way for the other similar things; as for sulphur, it must equal
them all in weight.”

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