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Phlegm, has white Hair & Complection, which Humours, Color, & Hair are changed into that
Red which appears in Youth & Vigor.
Therefore the Philosophers say their Stone is first an Old Man that is white, & then a Young man,
which is Red. And they say further that the Old Man must be placed together with the Tree, not in
the open air, but in a House, & that not dry, but moist, with Dew. It may seem strange that Trees
should spring & grow in a close place, but if it be moist, there is no doubt of their continuance.
For the Nutriment of a Tree is moisture & Airy Earth that is fat, which can ascend into the body
& Bough, & these produce leaves, blossoms & fruit. In which Natural work then is the
concurrence of all the Elements.
Fire gives the First Motion as the efficient, Air gives Tenuity & Penetrability, Water Lubricity, &
Earth Coagulation. For when any of their superfluities ascend, Air turns into Water, & Water into
Earth. By Fire, I understand the Native Heat, which being propagated with the seed, does by the
Power of the Stars as if it were a Smith, forge out & form such fruits as are like to those things
from whence the seed ariseth. But a Dewy Evaporation is not only Expedient, to moisten the Tree
so as to make it yield fruit, but likewise the Old Man, that he may the more easily be made Young
again by that fruit. For the Dewy Vapors will mollify, fill up, & restore his dry & wrinkled skin
with temperate heat & moisture. Wherefore Physicians very rationally & with good success
prescribe Warm Baths for the atrophy ["marasmo"] or Consumption of Old Age.
But if the thing be well considered, that Tree is the Daughter of the Old Man, which as Daphne is
changed into a Vegetable of the like sort, & therefore the Old Man may not unjustly expect Youth
from it, seeing He himself was the cause of their being.
Emblem 10th
Da ignem igni, Mercurium Mercurio,
et sufficit tibi.
[Give Fire to fire, Mercury to Mercury,
and you have enough.]
Epigram 10th
Machina pendet ab hac mundi connexa catena
Tota, SUO QUOD PAR GAUDEAT OMNE PARI:
Mercurius sic Mercurio, sic jungitur igni
Ignis & haec arti sit data meta tuae.
Hermetem Vulcanus agit, sed penniger Hermes,
Cynthia, te solvit, te sed, Apollo, soror.
Discourse 10th
If this saying be taken literally, it only increaseth the quantity of Fire & Mercury, but introduceth
no new quality into the subject. For every like added to its like, makes it become more like.
Hence Physicians affirm that contraries are healed & removed by contraries. So we see Fire is
extinguished by Water, but fomented by the addition of Fire. As the Poet says: "Venus in wine, as
fire in Fire, does rage." ["Et Venus in vinis, ignis in igne furit."] But it may be answered that Fire
differs very much from Fire, & Mercury from Mercury, for there are several sorts of Fire &
Mercury amongst the Philosophers. Moreover, the same heat & cold, being distant only in place
& situation, differs from another of its own kind, so as to attract to it that which is like to itself.
So we see that Heat fixed in any part is drawn forth by the same Heat. Limbs benumbed & almost
dead with Frost & cold water will be restored by putting them into cold Water rather than by the
application of external heat. For as the greater light obscures the lesser, so also greater heat or
cold has power over the lesser, so it is necessary that the Cold or Heat that is outwardly applied
should be less than that which was before imprinted or fixed in the joints, otherwise the same
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impression would be made as before, & the like would rather be much more increased than drawn
forth by the like.
This drawing out of cold by cold water, & of fiery heat by heat, is agreeable to Nature, for all
sudden changes in contraries are dangerous & less acceptable to it, but that which comes by
degrees can more easily be endured. So we say there is one internal Fire which is essentially
infixed in the Philosophical subject, & another external. The same may likewise be said of
Mercury. The internal Fire is Equivocally so cold because of its fiery qualities, virtue, &
operation, but the External Fire is Univocally so. Therefore, External Fire & Mercury must be
given to the internal Fire & Mercury, that so the intention of the Work may be completed. For in
boiling we use Fire & Water to Mollify & mature any thing that has crudities & hardness. For
Water penetrates into & dissolves the parts contracted, whilst the heat adds strength & motion to
it. Thus we see in the common coction of Pulse ["pult�"], which, being hard in themselves, yet [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]