Secrets of the Adepts - A Bardon Companion

1. That by Wine, Spirit of Wine, and Aqua Vitæ common, is not meant Aqua Ardens, with
which it is impossible to reduce or distil common Sal Armoniack into a liquid substance, and
though it might, yet that Menstruum would be Common, not Philosophical, being made
without the Spirit of Philosophical Wine.
2. That these Menstruums are made of all Volatile Salts.
3. That the Menstruums of this Kind are the Magisteries of Volatile Salts. Mix the
Essence of Philosophical Wine with the Magistery of any Volatile Salt, and you will in a
moment make a Menstruum of this fourth Kind.
4. That these Menstruums may be also made by Parisinus his way of Cœlum melleum,
namely by Circulation, and therefore called Circulatums, common Sal Armoniack Circulated,
Salt of Urine, Blood, Harts-horn, etc Circulated, or the Water of Sal Armoniack Circulated,
the Water of the Salt of Blood Circulated, etc.
5. That it is very uncertain what Philosophical Menstruum Trismosinus meant by Spirit of
Wine: For divers Menstruums have been by the Adepts signified by the same Name of Spirit of
Wine; for the most part they meant the simple Spirit of Philosophical Wine, sometimes the
same acuated after a different manner, that is, the simple Vegetable Menstruum. So Basil in
his Book of Conclusions, prepares the Oyls of Metals with Spirit of Wine; by which he
declares himself to have meant not the simple Spirit, but a simple Vegetable Menstruum, in
the preparation of the Oyl 0f Mercury, he commanding this open Metal to be by the Spirit of
Wine, rectify’d first with Salt of Tartar, (which Menstruum we shall have in the following
Kinds) reduced into an Oyl; which the rest of the Metals being more compact, do more
require: Sometimes also they did by the Spirit of Wine intend Vegetable Menstruums
compounded; so Lully, among the other Names of Circulatum majus, reckons up also Aqua
Vitæ. This Menstruum, saith he, the Wise Men called by almost innumerable Names, the
Acetum acerrimum, which converts Gold into a Spirit; this is Aqua Sicca, Aqua Solis, Aqua
Vitæ, in Exp. 25. Yea, Mineral Menstruums also the Adepts more than often call by the Name
of Aqua Vitæ. So Albertus in suo Composito de Compositis, pag. 939. Volum 4. Theat.
Chym. Distills a Mercurial Mineral Water; of which thus: Behold, this is the Aqua Vitæ, the
Acetum Philosophorum, and Lac Virginis, by which Bodies are resolved into the first Matter.
Though therefore it be uncertain to Divine what Spirit of Wine out of such a vast number of
Menstruums Trismosinus intended; yet shall we not much err from the Truth, if we take any
Menstruum whatsoever, either Simple or Compounded, Vegetable or Mineral, instead of this
Spirit; for we may with all promiscuously perfect the same Philosophical Work, differing only
in degrees, as being stronger or weaker, which common Spirit of Wine make altogether
impossible, and fallacious: Yet notwithstanding Directions there are, which may in this
ambiguity make us more certain; as,
1. Any ambiguous, or unknown Name of any Menstruum, is easily known by its
Synonima’s, if there be any in the same Book, or other Writings of the same Adept, as for
Example: If in the Description of the Balsamum Samech of Paracelsus, you know not what the
Circulatum minus is, the Synonima’s (produced by Paracelsus himself, Lib. 10. Arch. in the
Description of the Circulatum majus, (where it is called Primum Ens Salis, and Arcanum
Salis) denoting moreover the Nature, yea, and preparation of the Menstruum, delivered here
perhaps less clearly (quatenus Menstruum) but elsewhere more plainly under the Title of
Essence or Primum Ens) do put it out of all doubt, that it is the Arcanum of common Salt. But
I said, Synonima’s in the Writings of the same, not of another Adept, because oftentimes
others intended another thing by these Names, yea that Name which hath in one Book the
same signification with the rest, hath commonly in another, though of the same Author, a
signification different from them; and therefore that Synonymum must, if possible, be had out
of the same Book, which must then be compared both with other Writings of the same Author,