Page 28 - Compound of Compounds

Mercury, distillation, coagulation, putrefaction, calcination, fixation, in a sole vessel and
a sole furnace like we said before.

Indeed, when our stone is inside its vessel and that it rises, we call this stage
sublimation or ascension. But when it later falls back down to the bottom, we call that
stage distillation or precipitation. And after the sublimation and the distillation, when
our Stone starts to rot and coagulate, it is the stage of putrefaction and coagulation.
Finally, when it calcines and fixes by privation of its radical aqueous moisture, it is the
stage of calcination and fixation. All of this work was done just by the act of coction, in
a sole furnace and a sole vessel, as stipulated.

This sublimation constitutes a true separation of the elements, according to the
philosophers: “The work of the stone consists only in the separation and conjunction of
the elements; for in our sublimation the cold, humid, aqueous element changes into a
hot, dry and earthy element. It follows that the separation of the elements of our stone
is not a vulgar one, but philosophical; our sole very perfect sublimation suffices in
effectively achieving the separation of the elements. In our stone, there is only the
form of two elements, water and earth, that contain the two others virtually. The Earth
virtually contains Fire, due to its dryness; the Water virtually holds Air, due to its
moisture. It is therefore quite evident that if our Stone has in itself but the form of two
elements, it contains virtually all four.

Thus a philosopher stated: “There is no separation of the four elements in our
Stone, as thought by imbeciles. Our nature keeps a deeply hidden Arcanum, of which
we behold the force and strength, earth and water. They contain the other two
elements, air and fire, but they are neither visible, nor tangible; they cannot be
represented, or detected in any way; we ignore their power, that manifests itself only in
the two other elements, earth and water, when the fire changes the colours during
decoction.

Here by the grace of God, you have the second component of the philosophical
stone, which is the Black Earth, the Crow’s head, mother, heart and root of the other
colours. From this earth as if it were a trunk, stems all the rest. This earthy, dry
element has received in the books of the philosophers a great number of names, such
as vile Laton, black residue, Brass of the Philosophers, Nummus, black Sulphur, male,
husband, etc. Despite this infinite variety of names, they designate a one and only thing
that is drawn from one matter.

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