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

The Great Art page 92When those ignorant of Hermetic Philosophy, read the term Tincture, in the works which treat ofthis Science, they imagine that it relates simply to the colour of the metals, as orange for gold, andwhite for silver. And, as it is said, in these same works, that Sulphur is the principle of the Tincture;one works to extract this sulphur by aqua fortis, aqua regia, by calcination and the other operations ofcommon chemistry. This is not the idea of the Philosophers, either, in regard to the operations, or tothe Tincture itself. The Tincture of gold, cannot be separated from its body, because it is the soul ofit; and because one could not extract it without destroying the body; which is not possible forcommon chemistry, as all who have tried this experiment, very well know.The Tincture, in the Philosophical sense, is the Elixir itself, rendered fixed, fusible, penetrating andtingent, by the corruption and the other operations of which we have spoken. This Tincture, therefore,does not consist in the external colour, but in the substance itself, which gives the Tincture with themetallic form. It acts as saffron in water; it penetrates even more than oil on paper; it blends as waxwith wax, as water with water, because union is made between two things of the same nature. It isthis property which renders it an admirable Panacea, for all the maladies of the three kingdoms ofNature; its seeks in them, the radical and vital principle, which it relieves of the heterogeneous partswhich embarrass it, and hold it in prison, it comes to the aid of this principle, and unites with it tofight its enemies. They act when in concert, and win a perfect victory. This Quintessence drives offthe impurity of bodies, just as fire causes the humidity of wood to evaporate, it preserves their health,giving to the principle of life, strength to resist the attacks of diseases, and the property of separatingthe truly nutritive substance of the food, from its vehicle.The MultiplicationOne understands by Philosophical multiplication an augmentation both in quantity and qualitybeyond what one can imagine. That of quality is a multiplication of the Tincture by a corruption, avolatilization and a fixation reiterated as often as it may please the Artist. The second Multiplicationaugments the quantity of the Tincture without increasing its virtues.The second Sulphur is multiplied with the same matter from which it has been made, by adding to ita small part of the first, according to the required weights and measures. Yet there are three methodsof making the Multiplication, if we are to believe d’Espagnet, who describes them in the followingmanner: The first is to take one part of the perfect Red Elixir, and mix it with nine parts of its RedWater; place the Vessel in the bath, so as to make the whole dissolve in water. After the solution, onecooks this water until it coagulates into a matter similar to a ruby; one then inserts this Matter in themanner of the Elixir; and from this first operation, the Medicine acquires ten times more virtue than itpossessed. If this same process is repeated a second time, the Medicine will be augmented ahundredfold, a third time a thousandfold, and so on always by ten.The second method is to mix the desired quantity of the Elixir with its Water, while keeping theproportion between them, and after having placed the whole in a reducing Vase well sealed, todissolve it in the bath, and to follow all the regimen of the second, distilling the elements successivelyby their own fires, until the whole becomes Stone. Then one inserts as in the other, and the virtue ofthe Elixir increases a hundred fold the first time; but this way is longer. One repeats it as the first, toincrease its strength.Finally the third Multiplication is, properly speaking, the multiplication of quantity. One throws anounce of the Elixir multiplied in quality, on one hundred ounces of common mercury purified; thisMercury placed over a slow fire will soon change into Elixir. If an ounce of this new Elixir is thrownupon a hundred ounces of other common Mercury purified, it will become very find gold. The