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

apprehend the nature of the three principles, or find the substance of the Stone, or understand its development. God has created the elements out of chaos ; Nature has evolved the three principles out of the elements ; and out of these principles she makes all things, and gives power to her beloved disciples to produce marvellous preparations. If Nature produces metals out of the principles, Art must follow her example. It is one of the rules of Nature to act through intermediate substances ; and this book should enable the student to judge what substances are intermediate between the elements and metals, and between metals and the Stone. The difference between gold and water is great, that between water and mercury not so great, and that between gold and mercury very small, for mercury is the habitation of gold, water the habitation of mercury, and sulphur is that which coagulates mercury. The whole arcanum lies hidden in the Sulphur of the Sages, which is also contained in the inmost part of their Mercury, which has to be prepared in a certain way that shall be described on another occasion.

I have not written this Treatise with the object of refuting the ancient Sages, but only for the purpose of correcting, explaining, and supplementing their statements. After all, they were only men, and they sometimes did make assertions which can now no longer be maintained. For instance, when Albertus Magnus says that gold was once found to have developed in the teeth of a dead man, he is out of harmony with the possibilities of Nature; for an animal substance can never develop into a mineral It is true that animals and vegetables contain sulphur and mercury, as well as minerals; but these principles are animal and vegetable, not mineral If there were no animal sulphur in man, the mercury of his blood could not be congealed into flesh and bones ; and if plants contained no vegetable sulphur, their mercury or water (sap) would not be congealed into leaves and flowers. "The three kinds of sulphur are essentially the same, but, like the three mercuries, they are differentiated according to the three kingdoms, and cannot act outside their own kingdoms. Each kind of mercury can be coagulated by none but its own sulphur, and if gold was found in the teeth of a dead man, it must have been introduced in an artificial manner—either as gold, or in the shape of some other metal which by the gradual action of its own metallic sulphur on its metallic mercury, was afterwards transmuted into gold. t is mistaken impressions and superstitious notions, like this one of Albertus Magnus, that we have set ourselves to correct in this Treatise, by stating once for all the true facts of animal, vegetable, and mineral development.

Let the painstaking student be satisfied to have received a true account of the origin of the Threc Principles. There is no greater help towards a successful end than a good beginning. I have in this Treatise started the student on the right road, and given him clear and practical directions. With God's blessing, and by dint of diligent and persevering study, he may now fairly hope to reach the glorious goal. ButlI, having told out all that is lawful for me to utter, now commit myself to the mercy of a loving Creator, who will receive me to Himself; and I commend the gentle and pious Reader to the same great Father of All, to whom be praise and glory, through the endless succession of the ages.

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THE AuTHOR's PREFACE.

Chapter r.
7 2:

Of the need of Sulphur for producing this Elixir.

Of the Component Principles of the Mercury of the
Sages.

Of the Chalybs of the Sages.

Of the Magnet of the Sages.

Of the Chaos of the Sages.

Of the Air of the Sages.

Of the first Operation—Preparation of Mercury by means of the Flying Eagles.

Of the Difficulty and Length of the First Operation.

Of the Superiority of our Mercury over all Metals.

Of the Sulphur which is in the Mercury of the Sages.

Concerning the Discovery of the Perfect Magistery.

The Generic Method of Making the Perfect Magistery.

Of the Use of Mature Sulphur in the Work of the
Elixir.

Of the Circumstantial and Accidental Requisites of our Art.

Of the Incidental Purgation of Mercury and Gold.

Of the Amalgam of Mercury and Gold, and of their respective Proportions.