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

after some days ye shall open it, and there shall ye find the iron plates already liquefied ; while on thfe lid of the vessel ye shall find globules. For when the fire is kindled the vinegar* ascends, because its spiritual nature passes into the air, wherefore, I direct you to keep that part separately. Ye must also know that by multiplied^ decoctions and attritions it is congealed and coloured by the fire, and its nature is changed. By a similar decoction and liquefaction Cambar is not disjoined.! I notify to you that t The number three is indicated by the second recension.

* Among the Greek technical treatises there is one entitled The Work oj the Four Elements, and this contains a brief section on the Nomenclature of the Divine Vinegar and the Divine Water, which is worth citing in connection with the question of the unity of subjects amidst the multiplicity of names. Here is what the Philosophers say on this subject : " Divine water, divine vinegar, white magnesia, water of calx, virgin's urine, mercury, sea water, virginal milk, milk of the she ass, the bitch, the black cow, alum water, ash of cabbage, of natron, occidental matter, vapour. There is the substance which whitens the body of magnesia, that is, burnt copper, &c."

} The second recension says that it is disjoined.

174 ^''^ Turba Philosophorum.

by the said frequent decoction the weight of a third part of the water is consumed, but the residue becomes a wind in the Cambar of the second spirit.* And know ye that nothing is more precious or more excellent than the red sand of the sea, for the Sputum of Luna is united with the light of the Sun's rays.t Luna is perfected by the coming on of night, and by the heat of the Sun the dew is congealed. Then, that being wounded, the dew of the deathdealer is joined,! and the more the days pass on the more intensely is it congealed, and is not burned. For he who cooks with the Sun is himself congealed, § and that signal whiteness causes it to overcome the terrene fire.

• " Which Cambar and its spirit bears in the belly thereof," is the alternative reading.

t According to the second recension, the sand is " the spume of the Moon, which is joined to the light of the Sun, and is congealed."

J Omitted in the second recension.

§ For this nonsensical passage the second recension substitutes : "That which is cooked by the heat of the Sun is congealed."

The Turba Philosophorum. 175

Then saith Bonites : Do you not know, O Balgus, that the Spume of Luna tinges nothing except our copper ? And Balgus: Thou speakest truly_ And he: Why, therefore, hast thou omitted to describe that tree, of the fruit whereof whosoever eateth shall hunger nevermore ? And Balgus : A certain person,* who has followed science, has notified to me after what manner he discovered this same tree, and appropriately operating, did extract the fruit and eat of it. But when I inquired of him concerning the growth and the increment, he described that pure whiteness, thinking that the same is found without any laborious disposition. Then its perfection is the fruit thereof. But when I further asked how it is nourished with food until it fructifies, he said : Take that tree, and build a house about it, which shall wholly surround the same, which shall also be circular, dark, encircled by

* In the second recension this person is referred to as Tulleas.

176 The Turba Philosophoram, dew, and shall have placed on it a man of a hundred years; shut and secure the door lest dust or wind should reach them. Then in the time of 180 days send them away to their homes. I say that man shall not cease to eat of the fruit of that tree to the perfection of the number [of the days] until the old man shall become young. O what marvellous natures, which have transformed the soul of that old man into a juvenile body, and the father is made into the son ! Blessed be thou, O most excellent God !