The Turba Philosophorum (complete) — trans. A. E. Waite (1896)

therefore, that sulphur, calx, and alum which is from apples, and Kuhul, are all nothing else but water of sulphur. Know ye also that Magnesia, being mixed with quicksilver and sulphur, they pursue one another. Hence you must not dismiss that Magnesia without the quicksilver, for when it is composed it is called an exceeding strong composition, which is one of the ten regimens established by the Philosophers. Know, also, that when Magnesia is whitened with quicksilver, you must congeal white water therein, but when it is reddened you must congeal red water, for, as the Philosophers have observed in their books, the regimen is not one.* Accordingly, the first congelation is of tin, copper, and lead. But the second is com-

* " There are other denominations," says Synesius in his letter to Dioscorus. " Thus whitening is a calcination, and yellowing an igneous regeneration ; for some of these (substances) calcine themselves, and (other some) regenerate themselves. But the Philosopher has designated them under sevei;al names, and sometimes in the singular, sometimes in the plural person, in order to test us and see whether we are intelligent."

The Turba Philosophorum. 147

posed with water of sulphur.* Some, however, reading this book, think that the composition can be bought. It must be known for certain that nothing of the work can be bought, and that the science of this Art is nothing else than vapour and the sublimation of water, with the conjunction, also, of quicksilver in the body of Magnesia ; t but, heretofore, the Philosophers have demonstrated in their books that the impure water of sulphur is from sulphur only, and no sulphur is produced without the water of its calx, and of quicksilver, and of sulphur.

The Forty-Ninth Dictum. Belus saith : O all ye Philosophers, ye have not dealt sparingly concerning composition and contact, but composition, contact, and congelation are one thing ! Take, therefore, a part

* Or, " with sulphur and the water thereot." t The second recension reads : " It is nothing but vapour and water, while the regimen is nothing but the sublimation of quicksilver and its union with the body of magnesia."

148 The Turba Philosophorum.

from the one composition and a part out of ferment of gold,* and on these impose pure water of sulphur. This, then, is the potent (or revealed) arcanum which tinges eveiy body. Pythagoras answereth : O Belus, why hast thou called it a potent arcanum, yet hast not shown its work ? And he : In our books, O Master, we have found the same which thou hast received from the ancients ! And Pythagoras : Therefore have I assembled you together, that you might remove any obscurities which are in any books. And he : Willingly, O Master ! It is to be noted that pure water which is from sulphur is not composed of sulphur alone, but is composed of several things, for the one sulphur is made out of several sulphurs. t How, t According to the second recension: "the clean water which is from sulphur is not derived from sulphur

* The ancient Latin treatise which passes as the work of Morien, says sententiously : " The ferment of gold is gold, even as the ferment of bread is bread." The statement is reproduced literally by the Rosary of the Philosophers.

The Turba Philosopfiorum. 149