Pernety - A Treatise On The Great Art.pdf - cyjack.com

The Great Art page 63There is, properly speaking, only one Salt in Nature, but it is divided into three kinds to form theprinciples of bodies. These three are NITRE, TARTAR and VITRIOL; all the others are composed ofthem.NITRE 42 is made from the first Salt by attentuation, subtilization and the cleansing from the crudeand cold terrestrial parts, which are mixed with it. The sun concocts it, digests it in all its parts, makesin it the union of the Elements, and impregnates it with seminal powers, which it bears with the raininto the earth, the common matrix.The Salt of TARTAR 43 is the same matter more digested by the heat of the matrix in which it wasplaced, because this matrix serves as a furnace in Nature. Thus from Nitre and from Tartar vegetationis formed. This salt is found wherever Nitre has been deposited, but especially on the surface of theearth, where dew and rain furnish it abundantly.VITRIOL is the same Salt Nitre, which, having passed through the nature of Tartar, becomes amineral salt by a longer coction in hotter furnaces. It is found abundantly in the cavities and openingsof the earth, where it is united with a viscous humour which renders it metallic.Of Metallic PrinciplesFrom the salts of which we have just spoken, and from their vapours is made the Mercury which theancients have called mineral sperm. From this Mercury and from Sulphur, whether pure or impure,are made all the metals, whether in the interior of the earth, or on its surface.When the Elements, corporified by their union, take the form of Saltpetre, or Tartar, and of Vitriol,the Fire of Nature, excited by solar heat, digests the humidity which the dryness of these salts attracts,and separating the pure from the impure, the Salt from the Earth, the homogeneous parts from theheterogeneous, it thickens the mineral sperm into quicksilver, then into a metal pure or impure,according to the mixture and to the quality of the matrix.The diversity of Sulphur and of Mercury, more or less pure, and more or less digested, their unionand their different combinations give rise to the numerous family of the mineral kingdom. Stones,marcassites, minerals, differ according to the variety of their matrices and the greater or less degreeof coction.Of the Matter of the Magnum Opus in General 44Philosophers have seemingly spoken of this Matter only to conceal it; at least when there is aquestion of designating it particularly. But when they speak of it in general they enlarge very muchupon its qualities and properties; they give to it all the names of the individuals of the Universe,because they say it is the principle and basis of them. “Investigate, say the Cosmopolite, (Tract I), andsee if what you propose to do, is conformable to what Nature can do. See what materials she employsand what vase she uses. If you wish to do only what she does, follow her step by step. If you wish todo better, see what can best serve for this purpose; but remain always in natures of the same kind. If,42 It is the Serpens Terrenas of Basil Valentin.43 A Solvent, according to Basil Valentin and a few other Philosophers.44 The matter of the Great Work was Gold and Silver united to Mercury and prepared in a special manner. Gold waschosen for its abundance of Sulphur, Silver as containing a very pure Mercury, as for quicksilver, it represented the Salt,mean for uniting both Sulphur and Mercury.Albert Poisson: Théories et Symboles.