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

student's mind the necessity of having seed that will germinate and grow, and to avoid the use of seed which has been killed by an excess of fiery heat.

Concerming Sulpkur.

Among the three principles the Sages have justly assigned the first place to Sulphur, as the whole Art is concerned with the manner of its preparation. Sulphur is of three chief kinds: that which tinges or colours; that which congeals mercury ; and essential sulphur, which matures it. The properties and preparation of this Sulphur we propose to describe, not in a set treatise, but in a dialogue like that which brought out the essential properties of Mercury. We will only say, by way of preface, that Sulphur is more mature than the other principles, and that Mercury cannot be coagulated without it. The aim and object of our Art is to elicit from metals that Sulphur by means of which the Mercury of the Sages is, in the veins of the earth, congealed into silver and gold ; in this operation the Sulphur acts the part of the male, and our Mercury that of the female. Of the composition and action of these two are engendered the Mercuries of the Philosophers.

In our former dialogue we gave an account of the meeting of Alchemists, which a sudden tempest brought to so abrupt a close. Among those who took a prominent part in the proceedings, was a good friend of the first Alchemist ; he was not a bad man, or an impostor, but, as they say, nobody's enemy except his own ; yet he was foolish withal, and though really very ignorant, had no small opinion of his own wisdom and learning. He had at the meeting been the foremost champion of the claims of Sulphur to be regarded as the first substance of the Stone, and was satisfied that he would have been able to make good that claim, if the meeting had not been prematurely broken up. So when he got home he resumed his operations on Sulphur in a very confident spirit. He subjected it to distillation, sublimation, calcination, fixation, and to countless other chemical processes, in which he spent much time and money, without arriving at any result whatsoever. His failures at length began to prey on his health and spirits, and in order to recruit the former, and raise the latter, he fell into the habit of taking long walks in the neigh-

I50 IHE HERMETIC MUSEUM.

bourhood of the town where he lived. But wherever he went he could think of nothing but Sulphur. One day, with his mind full of this besetting idea, and being wrought almost to an ecstacy, he entered a certain verdant grove, in which there was abundance not only of trees, herbs, and fruits, but also of animals, birds, minerals, and metals. Of water there was indeed a great scarcity ; it was carried to the place by means of aqueducts, and among these was a conduit flowing with water extracted from the rays of the moon ;—but this water was reserved for the use otf the Nymph of the grove. . In the grove there were two young men tending oxen and rams, and from them he learned that the grove belonged to the Nymph Venus. — The Alchemist was gratified enough, but all his thoughts were absorbed by the subject of Sulphur, and when he remembered the words of the Sages, who say that the substance is vile and common, and its treatment easy, when he recollected the vast amount of time, labour, and money which he had vainly spent upon it, he lifted up his voice, and in the bitterness of his heart, cursed Sulphur. Now Sulphur was in that grove, though the Alchemist did not know it. But suddenly he heard a voice which said : * My friend, why do you curse Sulphur?" He looked up in bewilderment : nobody was to be seen. ** My friend, why are you so sad ?" continued the voice. 4/ckezzst : Master, I seek the Philosopher's Stone as one that hungers after bread. lozce: And why thus do you curse Sulphur ? AZcezzst : My Lord, the Sages call it the substance of the Stone; yet I have spentall my time and labour in vain upon it, and am well nigh reduced todespair. J/ozee: lt is true that Sulphur is the true and chief substance of the Stone. Yet you curse it unjustly. For it lies heavily chained in a dark prison and cannot do as it would. Its hands and feet have been bound, and the doors of the dungeon closed upon it,at the bidding of its mother, Nature, who was angry with it for too readily obeying the summons of every Alchemist. It is now confined in such a perfect labyrinth of a prison, that it can be set free only by those Sages to whom Nature herself has entrusted the secret. Alchemist : Ah! miserable that I am, this is why he was unable to come to me! How very hard and unkind of the mother ! When is he to be set at large again? — l/ozee : That can only be by means of hard and persevering labour. 4cezzzs? ; Who are