VULGAR.DOC

Alexander van Suchten

OF

ANTIMONY  VULGAR

THE   SECOND   TREATISE

LONDON

Printed, and are to be sold
by Moses Pitt at the
White Hart in
Little Britain
1670

The Second Treatise

To the Honourable

JOHN BAPTISTA van SEEBACH

NOBLE SIR:

My honourable Patron and my good Friend, my humble service
in the first place presented to you: At your earnest request
I cannot but accomplish your desires, seeing you have a great
love and affection, by experience to find out the Secrets of
Nature, which at this time are known to few, and even wholly
hid in darkness. Although many of the Ancients have written
thereof, and their books dispersed, yet are they written in a
Magick stile, and profitable to none but those who from their
youth have been trained up in this Magick, or instructed by
God in such Secrets. Therefore, these Secrets for which you
humble yourself are in a deep pit, strongly locked up, so that
no man can open them unless he have received the Key from the
Spirit of Truth.Of the Magical or of that of the
Ancients will I speak no thing in this treatise, seeing that
men will know nothing of it; but what they read of it they
apply only to common  ; of the which you only desire a
treatise which I will freely communicate to you and will write,

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1. What it is. 2. Of what parts it is composed. 3. Into what
it may be resolved again.

And you shall in this treatise understand me no otherwise
than according to the Letter; for I will use here no Metaphors,
Allegories, or Similitudes; only I will describe with a
plain stile, that you may not be deceived, though you prepare
it according to the Letter, and ye shall obtain that of which
I write; by these, you may also judge whether in common
that secret, or Chymical & Physical Mystery be or not, of the
which Paracelsus and the Magicians have written.

Now as it cometh out of the Mountains, is not pure as
it should be; for it is mingled with stones of the mine. I
never saw any that came forth pure from the Mountains; there-
fore ere one use it, it must be purified, which purification
is done by digestion;but this digestion is a Sulphureous Fire.
The best is a Metalline, and though Artists do
purifie it with vegetable fire, that is with Tartar, yet is
this digestion not natural, But that the Tartar divides the
Regulus from its Faeces this is the cause that the of ,
is more Vegetable than Metalline, but you shall purify it with
that is sprung from Mercury, and not from Salts; for this
metalline will ve reduced in the Arg. vive. of into
Arg. vive, and lastly out of this Arg. vive will pure gold be
made. How this Metalline that purifieth is only in
and no where else, and this purification is done thus:
or Iron 4 (I am wont to take pieces of nails which are
neither gross nor thick) put them into a strong crucible, and
set them in a wind Furnace. Let it stand so long till you see

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the Nails or Iron are soft, then put into the Crucible 8
of , make a strong fire that the may flow well in
the , then cast into the crucible with an Iron Ladle, a
good handful of Saltpetre; then let them boil up together
in the Crucible (let the Crucible therefore be considerably
great, that it boil not out) and let it stand still till all
be quiet and flowing, then cast it forth into a casting pot
so the REGULUS setleth itself so soon as the matter is coagu-
lated in the Puckle-pot. Put it out and let it cool, and strike
the Faeces from the REGULUS, which appeareth and shineth like
a marchasite. The Faeces you may lay up till you know what to
do with it for in it is a mystery of which I will not speak at
this time. Put the REGULUS into a crucible again and let it
flow; when it floweth, then cast therein one and 1/2
of & let them flow well together, then put in as much
Nitre as you did before, and let it flow as ye did at the first
time, cast it into the Puckle, strike the Regulus off from the
Faeces. This Regulus is purer and finer than the first. Cast a-
way the Faeces for they are worth nothing. Let the Regulus melt
the third time in a Crucible, and when it flows, poure thereon
a ladle of NITRE, and when you see that the NITRE floweth on the
Metal as on Oyl (which must be done with a strong fire otherwise
the Nitre coagulateth itself and be hard) then cast it into a
puckle, strike the Regulus from the Faeces. This Regulus is
yet finer, purer and more Metalline than the former; the Faeces
are nothing worth. Fourthly, let this Regulus melt in a clean
Crucible, and when it is melted as pure , cast some NITRE
thereon, let it penetrate through each other & then cast it into
a Puckle, beat the Faeces off from the Regulus, which Faeces will

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be of a golden color and then it is prepared. The Regulus will
be as white as , and have above a fine Star; this Regulus,
if it be rightly wrought, will weigh four ounces and the work
may well be finished in two hours. Some copies say twelve
hours and in this manner is common prepared, wherein you
shall mark this piece, VIZ, what it is that thus divideth the
Faeces from . You shall not think that Nitre doth it, but
know that Antimony draweth out the soul from , that is,
his best  , and reduceth the same into ; this
is nothing else but fire, and hath the operation of fire which
digesteth the crude into and divideth the Mine from
the Metal; you shall also know that this of is hid in
this purged , under the whiteness of the Antimonial Mer-
cury; for this Lunary whiteness which you see in the Regulus
is not from his but from Arg. vive, under which lurketh
MERCURY OF MARS which is nothing else than SOL: this of
MARS is also nothing else in the aforesaid of than as
a Spirit or an air, and remaineth so long living in the Arg.
vive of till out of it be made a body again, this is
and then divideth itself from the of .

So now you understand what fire is which thus purifieth common
ANTIMONY; you must also understand what that fire is which
purifieth and digesteth magical ANTIMONY, that is, what that
SOL PHILOSOPHOR is which we call POTABILE which even so
well divideth itself in the end from PHILOSOPHOR
as the divideth itself from the Arg. vive of ANTIMONY.
Therefore, it is very necessary that you seriously consider
how it worketh, so shall you find what nature is; not only in

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common Metals, but even in all things, and in the Metals of
PHILOSOPHERS, which are known to the Wise men. The chymists do
assay ANTIMONY by iron; when they have done this, they know not
what they have made, nor the working of Nature, nor do they know
what Nature is here: therefore teach they nothing, but remain
Fools and Asses. Seeing that they have now divided ANTIMONY
from his Mineral Faeces, they should also know that in this
ANTIMONY there is as yet a Faeces, which is nothing else than a
burning ; when this is divided, so cometh ANTIMONY
again into his first matter or being, which is nothing else but
Arg. vive, and this Arg. vive is created out of the greatest
Mystery of Nature but Plato commandeth me to rest here.
(VIDE: NICHOLAS the ALLOBROGIAN.)

To divide the from the purged ANTIMONY is the clearest op-
eration but therein is a great knowledge hidden: So much thereof
as is necessary for the knowledge of this Work will I manifest;
but the other for divers reasons will I pass by.

A thing, if it be destroyed and mortified, it shall be raised
again and made living; and the same thing which is the cause of
death by separating the life must have two powers in it, of sep-
arating and vivifying; and these two must be one in power, but
two in numbers for all Mysteries spring from this Fountain and
are one essence, wonderfully distributed according to the will
of God. This Will of God is the specifick of every creature and
a being incomprehensible by sense not less than God. Now is
ARGENT VIVE dead in . Shall it be made living, so must it
be raised up by that which it hath been ere it was dead
for that life is in it very abundant and incorruptible; nothing

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which is dead can be made living but by his own and proper life
and not by the life of other things; who writeth and teacheth
otherwise is no philosopher, and the destroyed life, when it is
again made living, is the Ferment of living things by which it
was made living; and that thing is by Augmentation and Multi-
plication, Magical. Hence it followeth that in living things
there must be a disposition which is transmutable into the dis-
position of other things, if it would be raised again: for the
Will of God that all things must die, is that Specifick of all
Creatures which after death augmenteth it self infinitely.

Now it followeth farther that those living things which are
serviceable to our work and manual operations, by which the
Metals are also transmuted into Sol, must also have such a
Specifick in that they can be brought thus by no art without
Regeneration as the senseless Alchmysts give forth; for were
there no Specifick therein, how could they be transmuted, be-
cause Species is not transmuted into Species; for if transmu-
tation be not done, so can also no seed grow and augment itself;
for that is against Nature. Therefore must that living have the
nature of water, as you can see that a grain of Corn cast into
the Earth is made living by water, that is, in the Grain is a
dead water, which is by water made living again, and the Fer-
ment of water is that which giveth the water his Specifick
Nature, so do infinite grains grow from one. So understand in
this operation that the ARGENT VIVE of ANTIMONY is dead,
and can never be made living but by ARGENT VIVE. In this manner
is corruption regenerated, and multiplication in the form of
Metal made.

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You may here demand, Seeing the water multiplieth the grains
in the earth, and is transmuted into very grains, if also the
ARGENT VIVE of Metals multiplied with common , may be made
again into a Metal? To this I answer that this is not possible
in common Metals, but in Philosophical Metals it may be done
very easily for our MERCURY layeth his Specifick from him, and
taketh it again by Art; that is, from him may be made SOL and
LUNA, which it was before, but why this cannot be done in common
Metals, there are many Reasons, which I will pass by at this time.
Now the MERCURY of ANTIMONY shall be living; that is Arg. vive
shall be made per Arg. vive; but this cannot be done without
mixture, and farther, we see that Regulus will not mingle in it
with common Arg. vive because of the which is in the Regu-
lus; for seeing the same is not Metalline, it hath no communion
with the Arg. vive that is common, and it hindereth the mixture.
Therefore must there be a medium betwixt common ARGENT VIVE and
the MERCURY OF ANTIMONY; this medium must be a separative power,
which is not in common Arg. vive, for in it is no Specifick;
and the separative power is a Specifick which coagulateth Mer-
cury. God hath made this ARGENT VIVE in the will of man, which
notwithstanding is nothing else than common MERCURY and that of
the Philosophers. These two remain two in the will of man, that
he can bring a Specifick to them, which is necessary for there
is none there: according to these things, viz, the separative
is a Specifick MERCURIAL, but one must know in what MERCURY it
is to be found, and by experience it is found that it is in no
other MERCURY than in the MERCURY OF LUNA.

Therefore, take of LUNA PURISSIMAE one ounce, REGULI PRAEDICI

half an ounce, let the glow well in a crucible, afterwards

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cast the Regulus on it, so will they melt presently and stand
in the Crucible as fine Arg. vive, cast them into an ingot,
and you shall find a Mass metalline of the colour of Lead; beat
this metalline mass to a powder, which will easily be done.
Afterward, take fine Arg. vive, four or five ounces, pour it
in a small Phyal-Glass and then pour the powder on it, let it
stand a night and day in B.M., so goeth the powder into Arg.
vive; stir it well together and when the powder is well ming-
led with the common Arg. vive, then pour it out and amalgam
it well on a stone, so will the Amalagam thereof be red. Put
thus Amalagam into a wooden dish, and rub it well with a
Pestel, so will the water be black; cast this water off in
part and put more water on, and rub it till this water be
black also. Do this so long till the Amalgam be made white,
the blackness which is washed from the Amalgam settleth it-
self in the bottom of the water, which keep, and cast the
water away again, put this Amalgam again into a Phyal, let
it stand in a B. a night, pour it out and wash it again. So
giveth it a blackness again, which pour to the other, wash
it so long till it give no more blackness; you may also grind
this Amalgam with pure, clean salt, so cometh the blackness
the sooner from it. Now when the Amalgam is made clean again,
set it again in a Phial in a B. a night and wash it again.
Reiterate this work so often till no more blackness goeth from
the Amalgam, then will it be pure, clean, bright and white; and
mark the more blackness the Amalgam giveth, the more MERCURY
is resolved from the ANTIMONY. So soon as no more blackness
showeth itself (ABSTRACT AND COHOBATE IT 7 OR 9 TIMES, THEN
'TIS PHILOSOPHICAL ) in washing presently, then distill in
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