The Hermetic Museum, Vol. II — trans. A. E. Waite (1893)

I will not attempt to escape from the task which I have undertaken to expound the great work: Í will instruct you as fully as possible in this secret, and all my endeavour shall be to make known to you the truth. As faras I may do so without prejudice to my vow, I will be your guide, and shew you the way to the goal of your desire. If you consider into whata state of obscurity and confusion the different parts of this work have been wilfully thrown by the old writers, you will understand the difficulty of my task. None of them has declared more than one point of our experiment ; and for this reason their writings, even if you understand them, will not enable you to practise the Art yourself. Arnold testifies in his books that the central secret of our Art is to know the substance on which it is based ; and in his work * Multifary," where he shews how pure and simple essences are to be recognised, he says that our fundamental matter is of two kinds ; but he does not tell us how they are to be found. "Their names you have already learned in the last chapter. Friar Bacon dwells more fully on this point, where he says: "Divide all parts into their cognate elements. For the unlearned do not proceed in this way ; but they continue pertinaciously and senselessly to add more and more to a divisible substance—and while they fancy that they are on the point of bringing to perfection the flower of our Art, all that they really effect is the multiplication of error." In this passage Bacon, like his predecessors, appears fearful of saying too much. Perhaps you also remember what Avicenna says, in his * Gate ": * You must go forward to perfection by true teaching in accordance with the facts of Nature : you must eat to drink, and drink to eat, and in the mean season be covered with perspiration." Rhasis expresses himself to the same effect, but warns us against suffering the matter to consume its food too quickly : * Let it assimilate its aliment little by little" Of this rule the Prophet also makes mention, if you rightly comprehend his meaning: * Thou hast

THE ORgDUNNAL Of ALCHEM:-YX. 33

visited the earth," he says, * and watered it: Thou hast multiplied its wealth : the fruitful land hast Thou turned into a dry place, and the arid land into a river of water. When it has plenty of meat and drink, it is needful to watch at a time when the body craves sleep. For our labour demands constant vigils and great diligence, and it must be nourished and fed with precious substances. * Therefore let all poor men eschew this experiment," says Arnold, *as this Art is for the rich of this world "—and I myself can attest to all poor men the truth of these words. * Moreover," he continues, * let the enquirer be patient and of an even temper, for those who are in a hurry will never reach the goal" The length of time required for the purification of the substance, is a stone of stumbling to many who will not believe init. I advise you, therefore, ye poor, not to attempt the solution of this mystery, but to stay your hands before it is too late. One fourth of an ounce too much or too little may in a single hour mar and destroy the labour of weeks. "The substance you must prepare with gentle heat, and so long as there is no violent effervescence, you may keep it over the fire: you should gradually consume it by gentle coction, but it must not be suffered to throw up great bubbles, as such a course would be indicative of haste. Gentleness and patience will mark out to you the safest method, and enable you to avoid the manifold dangers which beset the enquirer's path. One of the most difficult experiments in the gross work, is the classification of our intermediate minerals. The different media that are used must all be in a highly purified state, if the work is to be brought to a successful conclusion. For the pure and impure, the mature and immature, are by nature violently opposed to each other; that which is fixed naturally adheres to fixed substances, and volatile substances are sympathetically attracted by that which is volatile. Everywhere Nature strives to produce harmony by drawing like to like. Now you will find our gross work to be generically impure; and it is a matter of great difficulty and danger, requiring the utmost wisdom of the wise, and confounding the folly of the ignorant, to purge our Substance from all foreign matter. The learned as well as the simple are often led astray at this point, and prove the truth of the saying of Anaxagoras, that all men need to be taught discretion by bitter experience. VOL, II, (c