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The mean also by which it is Calcinate,And ever in mind look thou bear this,That never thine Earth with Water be suffocate.Also if your Water have its proportion qualified accordingly, you maytemper it with your earth almost in an equal quality, that is, two to three, orthree to four; but be sure then of your due government of external Fire, anda just size of your Vessel, and so you may expect from this mixtureConception and Generation: for in this pondus you shall find the death ofthe Spirit, and the quickening of the Body, and the exalting of yourTincture first into white, and after that into red, which will have ingressinto Bodies, and tyne them permanently and radically. Though the Tinctureis largest where the water is most, but the work is speediest where theWater is least, the Fire is also less hazardable; but your true proportion ofyour Mercury for such a pondus is hard to be found, and thou wilt noteasily find it unless thou be very skilful; the middle proportion is lessdifficult, that of three to one is worse, for a Tyro, because he may veryeasily have his time made tedious by it. The last would be better for such aone, if it were not so hard to apprehend, for the Body would soon be madeno Body, and the Spirit mortified, and so Union would follow in a shorttime, in comparison to other proportions. So then if thou knowest how toserve thy Mercury aright for its Internal proportion, the lesser thou puttestof the Spirit, the better and quicker shall be thy Calcination andDissolution; and the more thou givest of the Water, the longer thou shalt bein attaining the mastery: but if thou glut thy Earth with Water, thou will sosuffocate the active virtue, that thy moisture will not be dried up; at least itwould require so tedious a decoction, that thou wouldest never see theeffect. But the mediocrity is for thee the best, at least at first; be not toocovetous, nor to prodigal, for over-driness and over-moisture are bothenemies to Generation, and make a barren Womb. If thou be’st witty toapprehend therefore, I shall shew you the certain way of Externalproportion; for know, that as the Water is qualified internally, so doth it actexternally, and if thou canst apprehend the sympathy that is between theinward quality, and the outward effect, thou mayst easily discern by what itapparent to sight, that which is hiddenly contained. Then for your trueinformation take this rule: Let your Body be very well subtilized, and verypure, (which is a great matter, at the least 24 Carrats) mix this at first withtwice as much of its Water, and grind it either on a clean Glass, or MarbleMortar; grind it thorowly, as Painters use to grind their Colours, and makeno a light matter of this, for lack of one half hour or hours pain in thyAmalgamation, thou mayst set thy work backward 20 or 30 days; for themore subtlely the Amalgama is mixed, the more easily and speedily itresolves into Mercury, and is wrought upon, and the signs appear. Whenthou hast soundly and well ground it, and washed it very clean, and dried it82