THE TRIUMPHAL CHARIOT

OF

ANTIMONY.

THE

TRIUMPHAL CHARIOT
OF ANTIMONY.

BY

BASILIUS VALENTINUS

WITH THE COMMENTARY OF

THEODORE KERCKRINGIUS,

A Doctor of Medicine.

BEING THE LATIN VERSION PUBLISHED AT AMSTERDAM IN THE

YEAR 1685 TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, WITH

A BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE.

JAMES ELLIOTT AND CO.,
TEMPLE CHAMBERS, FALCON COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.

CONTENTS.

122.4

PAGE.

Biographical Preface ... ... ... ix.

Dedication ... i

Dedicatory Epistle .. 3

To the Reader 8

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony ... n

Appendix ... ... ... ... ... 181

On the Triumphal Chariot of Antimony,

and the Nature of the Fire Stone ... 183

Index . ... 201

BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE.

SHOULD any uninstructed per-
son who might chance upon
Basil Valentine's ''Triumphal
Chariot of Antimony " undertake to read
that work, he would probably be mystified
by much of its contents, by its references
to the Spagyric art, to the grand Magis-
terium, the true and universal Medicine,
the Tinctures which transmute metals,
with other unknown quantities and other
deep mysteries which make part of the
Sacramentum Regis. But if he were
asked what he thought of Basil Valentine
in his historical and personal character,
it is unlikely that he would suppose for
a moment the existence of any romantic
mystery encompassing the mere life of
the man. He would regard him as a
pious Benedictine monk, uncommonly
well versed for his period in certain

x. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

departments of experimental and medi-
cal chemistry, and, perhaps, as a bizarre
speculator in the cloudy borderlands of
physical science ; but such biographical
data as can be gathered concerning him
from his writings, he would naturally
accept without question, because there
would be no ground for assuming any
reason to doubt them. Yet even as
such a person would be mistaken in his
estimate of Valentine the alchemist, as
distinguished from Valentine the inves-
tigator of antimonial therapeutics, so it
is just possible that he would be astray
in his estimate of the man, being misled
by a veil of simplicity which skilfully
conceals the adept under the unpre-
tending mask of a monastic canon.
" When I had emptied to the dregs the
cup of human suffering, I was led to con-
sider the wretchedness of this world," so
Valentine tells us in his preface to " The
Great Stone of the Sages," "and the
fearful consequences of our first parents'
disobedience. Then I saw that there
was no hope of repentance for mankind,

The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony. xi.

that they were getting worse day by
day, and that for their impenitence God's
everlasting punishment was hanging
over them ; and I made haste to with-
draw myself from the evil world, to bid
farewell to it, and to devote myself to
the service of God." * After the manner
of his age, as he goes on to inform us, he
took refuge in a monastery, where the
time that he could spare from his de-
votions was made use of for "the study
and investigation of those natural secrets
by which God has shadowed out eternal
things." Here, in this pious retirement,
there was ultimately revealed to him
" that great secret which God ever con-
ceals from those who are wise in their
own conceits." As appears from the
Currus Triumphalis and other of his
works, he belonged to the religious order
of S. Benedict, and he is said to have
been canon of the priory of S. Peter in

* See Basil Valentine's treatise, entitled "Practica,
with the Twelve Keys and an Appendix," p. 313 of The
Hermetic Museum Restored and Enlarged, Vol. I., London,
4to, 1893.

xii. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Erfurt. It is further stated that his
philosophical "Last Testament" re-
mained concealed for a number of years
in the high altar of the church belonging
to the priory. There seems, at first
sight, no reason to challenge the literal
veracity of these matters ; the conven-
tual institutions of the middle ages were
frequently centres of scientific research ;
innumerable monks have practised al-
chemy ; and works which their authors
regarded as too good for the time when
they were written, have been entombed
for the benefit of a more deserving epoch
both before and after the age of Basil
Valentine. There is some occasion, not-
withstanding, for suspecting that here,
as in everything connected with the
alchemists, the most simple facts are
apparently the most deceptive. " Even
unto the points and pricks here are to be
found great mysteries." The suspicion is
not the result of an over great subtlety
on the part of modern mystical criticism,
which is accused, and not always un-
justly, of everywhere supposing the

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xiii.

wonderful ; it was far back in the early
seventeenth century that the doubt was
raised originally, and such investigations
as were possible have tended rather to
confirm than dispose of it. It is ad-
vanced that the monastic character
assumed by Basil Valentine was simply
a veil and an evasion to conceal his real
identity, and, further, that his name was
a pseudonym which was Hermetic and
allegorical in its significance. Maxi-
milian Stoel, the author of a handbook
of practical medicine, which is now most
readily accessible in its fourth edition,
adopted this view.* So also did
Boerhaave, the celebrated physician of
Leyden, whose proposed chronological
history of the alchemists has been a loss
yet to be repaired.t Jacobus Tollius
contrived to resolve the enigma of the

* See La Medicine Pratique, forming the seventh
division of the Encyclopedie des Sciences Medicates, Paris,
1834, 8vo.

t On this and other points consult Dallowe's translation
of Boerhaave's Elements of Chemistry, 2 vols., 1735? 4to ;
also Herman Boerhaave : His Academical Lectures on
Lues Venerea, translated, London, 1763, 8vo.

xiv. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

assumed name by a consideration of the
philosophical significance attaching to
the two words in Greek and Latin res-
pectively.* According to this interpre-
tation, Basil in Greek is equivalent to
royal, while Valentine is the Latin
valendo. The union of the two terms
formulates the symbol of power " which
gives the regulus for the penetration of
bodies." In another aspect, Basil
Valentine signifies " the mighty king,"
who rules by initiation and adeptship
"the three analogical worlds of occult
philosophy." This interpretation of
itself has little but a show of ingenuity
to recommend it, yet as early as the
year 1515 the identity of Basil Valentine
was involved in so much uncertainty
that the Emperor Maximilian the First,
in his passion for the sciences, searched
the Benedictine archives at Rome, and
also made many inquiries in different
monasteries about him, but without

* Jacobus Tollius : Fortuita. In quibus prater critica
nonulla,) iota fabularis historia Graca Phoenicia ^.gyptiaca
chemiam pertinere asseritur. Amsterdam, 1687, 8vo.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xv.

success. Vincent Placcius, one of the
earliest bibliographers and investigators
of the secret history of anonymous and
pseudonymous authors, affirms that the
real name of Valentine was Tholden.*
Others state that it was John Estchen-
reuter. The evidence for the statement
of Placcius is not satisfactory, and as
Prosper Marchand calls his curious work
mare magnum erratorum, it might be
unwise under any circumstances to accept
him as a guide. On the other hand,
the alternative statement, equally unsup-
ported by reference, appears in the
monographs of certain biographical dic-
tionaries which are not very trustworthy,
if only because they betray little or no
acquaintance with the works of Basil
Valentine.

In order to appreciate the assertion
of Vincent Placcius, it must be noted
that it was owing to the solicitude of
John Tholden Hessius, that is, Johann
Thoelde, that the works of Basil Valen-

* Theatrum Anonymorum et Pseudonymorum. In two
parts. Hamburg, 1708, Fol.

xvi. The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony.

tine began to be issued from the press.
Under his editorial auspices The Tract
of the Great Stone appeared in 1602,
the treatise Concerning Natural and
Supernatural Things in 1603, and The
Triumphal Chariot of Antimony in 1 604.
That Placcius was aware of these facts
seems doubtful, but he knew that in
1603 there was published at Eissleben a
work entitled Haligraphia, on the title-
page of which Thoelde is indicated as
the author.* Now in 1644, under the
auspices of another editor, a certain por-
tion of this book was translated into
Latin, and published as a work of Basil
Valentine t under the slightly altered
name of Haliographia. The claim of
its editor that it is produced from the

* Haligraphia : that is, a Complete and Exhaustive
Description of all the Mineral Salts, effectively describing
the Salt of the First Matter, the tests for Salt Waters, the
means of obtaining the Salt of the Sun through fire, by
various methods, and the improvement of the same. By
Johann Thoelde Hesse. At the cost of Jacob Apel, book-
seller, Eissleben, 1603, 8vo.

t It represents less than half the original, namely, from
p. 1 68 onwards, as far as p. 310, missing the Lonclusio
Autoris, and other matter at the end.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xvii.

manuscripts of the great alchemist seems
wholly without foundation ; its attri-
bution to Valentine may perhaps be
accounted for by a blunder ; but there is
no reason for supposing that it was other
than an original storehouse of Hermetic
theories and experiments, compiled by
Thoelde himself. That so far as he is
known at all he is known chiefly as the
editor of Valentine does not preclude
Thoelde from having appeared indepen-
dently as an author, and so early as the
year i 599 we find that he actually did
so.* At the same time, it is possible
for a mistake to have arisen through a
misconception of some prefatory verses
prefixed to the first Haligraphia.

Sic tu Mater es autorum, quos, Tholde,
sophorum,

Eruis e tenebris, dasque videre diem.
Per te Basilius lucem squallore remote,

Cernit, Basilii mater es alma tui.*

* Information concerning the Revolting Malady called
Red Dysentery, Diarrhea, and the extremely swift and dan-
gerous sickness of the Pestilence. By Johann Tholden
Hesse. Erfurt, 1599, 4to (a pamphlet of 22 pages).

* From the prefatory verses of Hermannus Kircnerus.

2 A

xviii. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

And again : —

Depromis Sal, Tholde, penu mortalibus ; ergo
Condimenta coquus, tumque Hygiea paret

Non condus sis, Basilii monumenta recondens,
Sed promus, pateat Basiliique penu.

Quo mage Basilii a doctis nunc scripta

leguntur,
Tanto major erit gloria, Tholde, tua.*

But the reference was not to the
Haligraphia, but to Thoelde's editorial
labours over Basil Valentine, then in
progress, and probably well known to
his friends.

While, however, there is no reason
for fathering the Haligraphia upon
Valentine, with Thoelde as editor, so
is there less ground for identifying
Thoelde with Valentine, or Valentine
with any of his family, which is the
course that is countenanced by Placcius
on the authority of a vague reference.

The claim of John Estchenreuter
to have worn the mask of Basil Valen-
tine, is negatively more difficult to dis-

* From the prefatory verses of M. Johannes Tanckius,
who himself shortly afterwards figured as an editor of
alchemical literature.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xix.

pose of, because nothing is known about
him, nor, indeed, has it been possible to
discover by whom his claim has been
preferred. At the period of Theolde's
activity, we find Johannes Tanckius
editing a collection of alchemical tracts,
among which there is a brief epistle by
Gallus Eschenreuter, or Schonreuter, but
there is nothing known concerning him. *
Boerhaave denies that there was a
monastery of S. Peter's at Erfurt, but on
this point there is no reasonable doubt.
A certain Mollenbseck, — whose identity
is difficult to determine, while his record
does not seem to remain, so far, at least,
as libraries in England are concerned — is
said to have visited it personally, and to
have ascertained from the prior that the
name of Basil Valentine did not appear
on the records. What is more to the
purpose is the testimony of Joannes
Mauritius Gudenus, the historian of

* See the Epistle of Ga'lus Schonreuter, Doctor of
Medicine and Ordinary Physical Chemist at Galenstadt,
addressed to William Gratalorum. It is the third tract in
the collection, entitled Opuscula Chemica. 1605, 8vo.

xx. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Erfurt, which is conclusive as to the
existence of the convent, and testifies to
the connection of the Alchemist there-
with ; though the latter point is perhaps
on the authority of the Alchemist, and
not on that of the records of the place. *

It is obvious, of course, that if the
name of Basil Valentine was assumed,
he might still have been a monk of the
convent, and he would have appeared in
its archives only under his true title.

Despite the doubts that have been
raised, the preponderating feeling of
critics inclines to the belief that a person
named Basil Valentine really existed,
and actually filled that position in the
devout life which is described in the
Currus Triumphalis. This, however,
is the utmost extent of their unanimity,

* " Dicitu r fuisse adeptus" says Gudenus, and again
" Eadem estate (Scilicet, 1413), Basilius Valentinus in
divi Petri monasterio lixit^ arte medico, et naturalium
indagine mirabilis. Insuper its accensetur quos in augn-en-
tum spei nominant aurum conjecisse, sic aliena dementia
post secula fallit, idea minima culpabilis, quod nan tnsi
decipi amantes Jacultatibus exuat. Volumen Ptimum
Rerum Moguntiacarum, 1722. Fol. The history was
published at Erfurt.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xxi.

for, on the one hand it is asserted that
he was born at Alsace, on the borders
of the Rhine, and, on the other, that he
was himself a native of Erfurt. By
some again he is referred to the twelfth
century, and by others to the four-
teenth; the year 1394 has been named
as the date of his birth, and in 1415 he
is supposed to have commenced his
literary labours in Alchemy and
Hermetic Medicine. But these dates
are unable to support any test of
examination. A passage on page 181
of the present volume is conclusive as to
the earliest period. " You should know
that Antimony is used for a good many
purposes besides those of the typo-
grapher." It is perhaps difficult to
assign the exact date when Antimony
was first used as an alloy for the
founding of metal types, but the close of
the fifteenth century is likely to have
been the earliest period. There is, how-
ever, another and more important point.
The reader of the Currus Triumphalis
will find numerous references therein to

xxii. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

the recent appearance in Germany of the
venereal scourge, which h^ calls the
French disease — -Morbus Gallicus and
Lues Gallica. Now it appears to be
certain, from abundant historical testi-
mony, that the name of Morbus Gallicus
was given to the complaint after
the expedition of the French, under
Charles VIII., to Naples, which took
place in 1495.*

Basil Valentine is one of the few
Alchemical writers who does not, at least
in the undoubtedly genuine works, such
as the Currus Triumphalis and the

* A synopsis of the testimony is as follows : In 1497,
Nicolaus Leonicenus, of Vicentia, calls it by this name,
though he denies the novelty of the disease, saying : " I can
by no means imagine, with some, that this complaint never
appeared till now." In 1498, Natalis Montesaurus, of
Verona, remarks upon '' those dispositions commonly called
A/al Franzozo." In 1499, the Spaniard, Caspar Torellf,
narrates that the disease broke out in Alvernia in the year
1493, thence making its way into Spain, afterwards into
Italy, and from Italy into all Europe. Joannes de Vigo, of
Genoa, writing in 1503, says that it appeared almost all over
Italy in the month of December, 1494, and he adds : " The
French disease, when once it comes to be confirmed, seldom
admits of any other than a palliative cure." Leonardus
Schmai, of Salzburg, in 1518, bears witness to the same date,
and makes use of the same name. In the year following,

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xxiii.

Twelve Keys, betray the approximate
date of his treatise by citations from
slightly anterior adepts. On the whole,
it is safe to place him at the end of the
fifteenth and the beginning of the
sixteenth centuries. He had probably
passed the prime of life when he entered
upon his labours in literature, and a
whole century was destined to elapse
before any of his works found their way
into the hands of the printer. The
following bibliographical list, while it
includes all his extant treatises, in the
matter of the dates appended does not

1519, Ulrichus de Hutten, a German, discoursed upon a
"method of curing the French disease by Guaiacum," fixing
1493 for the date, and Naples for the place of its appearance.
Joannes Baptista Montanus, 1550, affirms, on the other hand,
that it was the soldiers of Columbus who imported the
disease from Antigua, and the West India Islands, to the
siege of Naples, in 1496. In 1554, Joannes Langius, of
Limburg, speaks of the French disease, maintaining that
" although some would have it to be a new one," it is " no
other than a farrago of diseases known to the ancients."
Compare also Bernardinus Tomitanrus, of Padua, 1566 ;
Joannes Astruc, De Morbis Venens : Adrianus Tollius ;
Herman Boerhaave, etc. See further, John Armstrong's
" Synopsis of the HL-tory and Cure of Venereal Diseases,"
London, 1737, 8vo.

xxiv. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

necessarily determine the original period

of publication in every case.

Concerning Natural and Supernatural
Things : also concerning the First
Tincture, Root, and Spirit of Metals :
how they are generated, brought
forth, smelted, altered, and aug-
mented. A true account, by Prater
Basil Valentine, of the Benedictine
Order, printed from his own manu-
script by John Tholden Hessius,
cum privileoio. Leipzig, at the cost
of Jacob Apel, bookseller. A.D., 1603.

Prater Basil Valentine's Treatise con-
cerning the Great Stone of the
Ancients, whereat so many thousands
of Masters have worked since the
beginning of the world. Accom-
panied by his clear repetition and
reiteration, wherein the true Light
of the Wise is philosophically ex-
hibited. Together with an account
of the principal metals and their pro-
perties. II. Of the Microcosmos,
or the small world of man. III. Of
the Great Secret of the World, and

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xxv.

of the Medicine pertaining to man :
highly useful for all who desire to
know the source of wisdom. (This
tract is termed in some later editions
De Macrocosmo.} IV. Of the know-
ledge and hidden secrets of the
planets. Newly printed and pub-
lished for the Sons of the Doctrine,
with appropriate diagrams, by John
Tholden Hessius, at the cost of
Jacob Apel, bookseller, in the year
1602.

The Revelation of Prater Basil Valen-
tine, of the Benedictine Order,
concerning the Hidden Operations
directed towards the Universal
Subject. Also conclusions and
arguments from all his writings and
treatises on Sulphur, Vitriol, the
Magnet Stone, both the philoso-
phical, from which the universal
originates, and the ordinary, which
originates the particular. (The first
treatise in this volume is better
known under the Latin title, Apoca-
lypsis Chemical) Printed at the

xxvi. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

expense of John Birkner, bookseller
in Erfurt, 1624.

Prater Basilius Valentinus, of the Bene-
dictine Order : Twelve Keys, where-
by the' doors are opened to the
Ancient Stone of our Forefathers,
and wherein the inexhaustible foun-
tains of all health are found.
Frankfort, 1611. (A Latin transla-
tion stands first in the Golden Tripod
of the celebrated Michael Maier.
Other editions in German appeared
in 1677, r700> and 1717.)

Azoth ; or, the secret Aureliae of the
Philosophers, faithfully and clearly
explaining the First Matter, and the
famous Stone of the Philosophers,
unto the sons of Hermes, by way of
a Philosophical Enigma, parabolic
colloquy, the Smaragdine Table of
Hermes, and the Saturnian Parables
and Figures of Frater Basil Valen-
tine. Interpreted by M. Georgius
Beatus. Frankfort, 1613. (A French
translation of this work appeared at
Paris in 1624. It is difficult to say

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xxvii.

how much, if any, of the original is
to be attributed to Valentine.)

Haliographia : concerning the Prepara-
tion, the Use, and the Virtues of all
Salts, mineral, animal, and vegetable ;
from the manuscripts of Basilius
Valentinus, collected by And. Sal-
minicius, Bononia, 1644, ^va
(Doubtful.)

Secret Books, or Last Testament of
Basil Valentine, of the Benedictine
Order. Copied from the original
which was discovered in the high
altar of the Church at Erfurt, under
a marble tablet. Now printed in
accordance with numerous requests
on the part of the Sons of the
Doctrine. Strasburg, at the cost of
Caspar Dietzel, 1645.* (Contains
long treatises on mines and the

* " According to Glaus Borrichius, he enclosed his
writings in one of the pillars of the abbey church ; they
remained for many years in this hiding-place, but were at
length discovered by the fortunate violence of a thunder-
bolt."— Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers. But Olaus
Borrichius wrote his De Arte et Progressu C he mice in 1668,
and probably derived his information from the so-called
Last Testament.

xxviii. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

generation of metals, a commentary
on The Twelve Keys, and other
matters, but it is in all probability
spurious.)

The Fifth Part of the Last Testament
of that estimable Hermetic Philoso-
pher, Prater Basil Valentine ; part
of which has never been previously
printed, part of which is now pub-
lished in completely fresh order,
and differs from former exemplars.
All translated literally from a secret
manuscript, printed for the public
good, by John Hiskias Cardilucius,.
Com. Pal., Phil., et Med., etc. (Ap-
parently a spurious rechauffe.)

In addition to these there is the
Manifestatio Artificiorum, Erfurt, 1624,
8vo, which the present editor has
not been able to trace, except in its
French edition, published in 1646, under
the title Revelation des Mysteres des
Teintures essentielles des sept Metaux,
et de leur Vertus Medicinales. There
is also a Manuductio Medicince men-
tioned by Boerhaave, and by no other

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xxix

writer. Finally, there is the " Tri-
umphal Chariot of Antimony," which
is translated in the following pages ;
this is by far the most important, as it is
also the most lucid and simple, of all
Valentine's works ; it has done more
than any other to establish his reputation
as a chemist on the solid basis of plain,
practical experiment. It is not, there-
fore, surprising that it achieved an im-
mense success, that it has passed through
many editions, and has been translated
into various languages, while it is still a
subject of reference for the archaeology
of exoteric chemistry. Its presentation
in accessible form to the modern student
of the old alchemists will, it is believed,
prove of good service in redeeming
those profound investigators of Nature
from the undeserved disdain of to-day,
albeit Basil Valentine himself stands
scarcely in need of vindication, for even
the biographical dictionaries * of the

* "Among his discoveries, since improved on, and still
medical preparations in constant use, are sulphuric ether,
vinegar from honey- water, sugar of lead, litharge, fuimi-

xxx. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

early nineteenth century did honour to
the philosopher of Erfurt. At the same
time, there will be some satisfaction in
citing the panegyric of a French scien-
tist, Louis Figuier.

" Every one," says the author of
VAlchimie et les Alchimistes, " is
acquainted with the remarkable dis-
coveries relative to Antimony which
are contained in the celebrated work of
Basil Valentine, Currus Triumphalis
Antimonii. The German Alchemist had
so thoroughly investigated the properties
of this metal, scarcely indicated before
him, that we find many facts stated in
his treatise which in our day have been
brought forward as modern discoveries.
In the same work Basil Valentine speci-
fies many other chemical preparations of
the first importance, such as spirit of
salt, or our hydro-chloric acid, derived
after our own manner from marine salt
and oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid). He

nating gold, many mercurial preparations, empyreumatic
carbonate of ammonia, claimed as his own by Sylvius
Deleboe, etc." — Biographie Universelle.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xxxi.

gives the method of obtaining brandy
by the distillation of wine and. beer,
rectifying the product of the distillation
on calcined tartar (carbonate of potass).
He even teaches the extraction of copper
from its pyrites (sulphur), by first of all
transforming it into vitriol of copper
(sulphate of copper), with the help of
moist air, and afterwards plunging a bar
of iron into the aqueous dissolution of
this product. This operation, which Basil
Valentine was the first to describe, was
often profitably made use of by Alchem-
ists at a later date, but, notwithstanding
the fact of the precipitation of metallic
copper, they mistook it for a transmuta-
tion of iron into copper, or at least as
the commencement of a transmutation
which could be perfected by art. .
One may regard this Alchemist as
having been the first to obtain sul-
phuric ether, which he prepared by
distilling a mixture of spirit of wine
and oil of vitriol. In a word, there
are few chemical preparations known
to his period concerning which Basil

xxxii. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Valentine has not registered some valu-
able facts."

Concerning the subject matter of
the "Triumphal Chariot" it will be seen
by the general reader, who has an
elementary acquaintance with the proper-
ties of Antimony, that the account of
Basil Valentine is correct, not only as to
general characteristics, but in many
points of detail. As to the value of the
metal as a factor in the act of transmuta-
tion, the modern chemist is not in a
position to adjudicate, nor have we as
yet a canon of interpretation by which
we can distinguish the true meaning
of the adept.

The method of the translation which
follows is literal as regards all that is of
practical importance ; for the rest, while
it is by no means, and in no sense, an
abridgment, it makes for brevity by
the skilful compression of a prolix
and tautological original. The trans-
lation has been subjected to revision at
the hands of the editor, and the general
plan, it is believed, will commend itself

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xxxiii.

not only to the English reader, but to
those who are acquainted with the
Currus Triumphalis in either its Ger-
man or Latin guise.

In conclusion, it may be added that
no particulars are forthcoming as to
Theodore Kerckringius, the commen-
tator, who is interesting by his aspirations
and his modesty. He does not appear
to have entered a second time into the
field of Hermetic literature. In the year
1670 he published, at Amsterdam, a
century of anatomical observations, under
the title Spicilegium Anatomicum, a
very beautiful specimen of typography,
adorned with valuable plates, but having
no connection with esoteric medicine or
chemistry.

ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE.

3 A

TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS,
VENERABLE, SAINTLY, AND BLESSED

MEN,

ADEPTS OF THE TRUE PHILOSOPHY,

LOVERS OF VIRTUE,

LORDS OF FORTUNE,

DESPISERS OF THE WORLD,

WHOSE LIFE IS HOLINESS IN HOLINESS,

KNOWLEDGE IN KNOWLEDGE,

AND WHOSE WORK CONSISTS IN THE

RELIEVING OF THE SICK

AND POOR.

B

DEDICATORY EPISTLE.

IT is not arrogance, but reverence,
saintly and blessed men, that em-
boldens me to address you, whom
I do not know, but whom I admire, love,
venerate, and all but worship. For,
though you are strangers to me, I know
what sort of men you are, and what you
have attained ; so that even if you were
known to me, I would address you rather
as Alchemists, than by your own proper
names. In return for this dedication I
expect no reward but to bask in the rays
of your favour, and to be promoted in
the way you know, since you will see
from this book that I am in the straight
road, and am mounting to the bright
temple of knowledge by the right path.
Do not refuse me the kindness which I
here publicly confer on the lovers of
Alchemy, which also, the inventor Apollo

4 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

and lord Mercury do not forbid me to
shew forth, since, in the words of
Basilius, I have already gained a place
in a higher class. To speak to you in
your own phraseology, Mercury appeared
to me in a dream, and brought me back
from my devious courses to the one way.
" Behold me clad not in the garb of the
vulgar, but in the philosopher's mantle ! ""
— so he said, and straightway began to
leap along the road in headlong bounds.
Then, when he was tired, he sat down,
and, turning to me, who had followed
him in the spirit, bade me mark that he
no longer possessed that youthful vigour
with which he would at the first have
overcome every obstacle, if he had not
been allowed a free course. Encouraged
by his friendly salutation, I addressed
him in the following terms : " Mercury,
eloquent Scion of Atlas, and father of all
Alchemists, since thou hast guided me
hitherto, shew me, I pray thee, the way
to those Blessed Isles, which thou hast
promised to reveal to all thine elect
children." " Dost thou remember," he

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 5

replied, " that when I quitted thy labora-
tory, I left behind me a garment so
thoroughly saturated with my own blood,
that neither the wind could efface it, nor
all-devouring time destroy its indelible
essence ? Fetch it hither to me, that I
may not catch a chill from the state of
perspiration in which I now am ; but let
me clothe myself warmly in it, and be
closely united thereto, so that I may
safely reach my bride, who is sick with
love. She has meekly borne many
wrongs, being driven through water and
fire, and compelled to ascend and descend
times without number — yet has she been
carried through it all by the hope of
entering with me the bridal chamber,
wherein we expect to beget a son
adorned from his birth with the royal
crown which he may not share with
others. Yet may he bring his friends to
the palace, where sits enthroned the
King of Kings, who communicates his
dignity readily and liberally to all that
approach him." I brought him the gar-
ment, and it fitted him so closely, that it

6 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

looked like an iron skin securing him
against all the assaults of Vulcan. " Let
us proceed," he then said, and straight-
way sped across the open field, while I
boldly strove to keep up with my guide.
Thus we reached his bride, whose virtue
and constancy were equal to his own.
There I beheld their marvellous conjugal
union and nuptial consummation, whence
was born the son crowned with the royal
diadem. When I was about to salute
him as the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords, my Genius stood by me, and
warned me not to be deceived, since this
was only the King's forerunner, but not
the King himself whom I sought. When
I heard the admonition, I did not know
whether to be sad or joyful. " Depart,"
then said Mercury, " with this bridal
gift, and when you come to those dis-
ciples who have seen the Lord himself,
shew them this sign " — and therewith he
gave me a gold ring from his son's
finger. " They know the golden branch
which must be consecrated to Proserpina
before you can enter the palace of Pluto.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. J

When he sees this ring, perhaps one
will open to you with a word the door of
that chamber, where sits enthroned in
his magnificence the Desire of all
Nations, who is known only to the
Sages." When he had thus spoken, the
vision vanished, but the bridal gift that
I still held in my hand, shewed me that
it had not been a mere dream. It was
of gold, but to me more precious than
the most prized of all metals. Unto you
I will shew it when I am permitted to
see your faces, and to converse with you
freely. Till that earnestly wished-for
time, I bid you farewell. When I
behold you, the sight will be to me more
pleasant by far than that of Mercury, or
my Genius. I, your humble servant and
worshipper, shall easily recognize you by
your auroral necks and ambrosial locks,
which do give forth a fragrant odour.

To THE READER.

I WISH to deal candidly with you,
gentle reader, and I therefore pre-
sent to you here the work of Basil
Valentine in a Latin garb, in order that it
may be widely understood, with a Com-
mentary of my own. To me he spoke in
German, and without a commentator ; I
studied his work carefully, because I be-
lieved his promises, practically carried
out all his directions, yet incurred much
useless expense, made many mistakes,
and, though I went through each oper-
ation more than ten times, could not
succeed, not through the Author's, but, as
I will confess honestly, through my own
fault. For Basil is the Prince of all
chemists, and the most learned, upright,
and lucid of all alchemistic writers. He
tells the careful student everything that
can be known in Alchemy : of this I can

The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony. 9

most positively assure you, not as though
I had already attained, or knew every-
thing ; that would be a bold assertion.
But what I have already learned from
this writer fills me with hope, the aliment
of the Alchemist, that I shall attain the
remainder also. The Author needs no
further commendation ; did I add more
it would be insufficient to satisfy those
who reject this. The Commentary
which I subjoin, I do not commend. In
these notes I only give information which
in itself is humble enough, but the want
of which has cost me many thousands.
If you do not care to avoid this expense,
you may do without my guidance. You
will learn perhaps through your own
mistakes, if neither money nor patience
fail you. My guides have been constant
attention and the most careful thought ;
nor do you need any other leaders. So
therefore do without me, by all means,
if you can afford it. But if you wish to
avoid unnecessary delay, mistakes, and
useless expense, I may be to you a not
quite worthless counsellor, or at least a

io The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

humble finger-post, when perchance you
stand perplexed by the multiplicity of
intersecting roads. Farewell ! If you
will take my advice, reject not my
services, and you will enjoy many ad-
vantages. Again farewell !

THE TRIUMPHAL CHARIOT OF ANTIMONY,

BY

BASILIUS VALENTINUS,

WITH

THE COMMENTARY OF
THEODORE KERCKRINGIUS,

A Doctor of Medicine.

WHEREAS I, Basil Valentine,
belong to the religious order
of S. Benedict, and such a
life requires a higher spirit of holiness
than that which satisfies the multitude in
this profane age, I consider it my duty
to declare at the outset that it is necessary
for the disciple of the Spagyric Art to
know how he should lay stable founda-
tions, so that his structure may not be at
the mercy of the winds, or be shaken
into ruins by every stormy gust. In
dealing thus thoroughly with my subject,
I am thinking not only of the present

12 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

age, but of future generations, when we
shall be in our graves, and when of our
contemporaries, neither king nor peasant
will be surviving. This object I pursue
not only for the honour and glory of the
Divine Majesty, but also in order that
men may render to God implicit obedi-
ence in all things.

I have found that in this Meditation
there are five principal heads, which must
be diligently considered, as much by all
who are in possession of the wisdom of
philosophy as by all who aspire after
that wisdom which is attained in our art.
The first is the invocation of God ; the
second, the contemplation of Nature ;
the third, true preparation ; the fourth,
the way of using ; the fifth, the use and
profit. He who does not carefully attend
to these points will never be included
among real Alchemists, or be numbered
among the perfect professors of the
Spagyric science. Therefore we will
treat of them in their proper order as
lucidly and succinctly as we can, in order
that the careful and studious operator

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 13

may be enabled to perform our Magistery
in the right way.

First, there should be the invocation
of God, flowing from the depth of a pure
and sincere heart, and a conscience which
should be free from all ambition, hypoc-
risy, and vice, as also from all cognate
faults, such as arrogance, boldness,
pride, luxury, worldly vanity, oppression
of the poor, and similar iniquities, which
should all be rooted up out of the heart
—that when a man appears before the
Throne of Grace, to regain the health
of his body, he may come with a
conscience weeded of all tares, and be
changed into a pure temple of God,
cleansed of all that defiles. For "God
is not mocked," as worldly men fondly
suppose ; He is not mocked, I say, but
will be called upon with reverence and
fear, and acknowledged as the Creator
of all, with proper proofs of obedience.
For what has man that he does not owe
to God ? — whether you look at his body,
or at the soul which works in his body.
Does he not nourish the latter with the

14 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

word of His mercy ? and has not he
promised to it eternal life ? Does he
not give to our bodies food and clothing,
without which we could not even live ?
All this man must obtain from the
Blessed Father, who has created the
earth, things visible and invisible, the
firmament, elements, vegetables, animals,
and all things. Hence a wicked man
can never obtain the true Medicine,
much less become partaker of the
heavenly eternal bread.

Therefore, let all your hope be
stayed on God, and let constant prayer,
to impart to you this Blessing, be the
beginning of your work, in order that
you may safely reach the end, for the
"fear of God is the beginning of wis-
dom."

He who would seek the greatest of

o

all earthly benedictions, the knowledge
of all created good, and of the effectual
virtue which God has liberally implanted
in stones, herbs, roots, seeds, animals,
plants, minerals, metals, and all things,
must fling away every earthly thought,

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 15

hope only for freedom of heart, and
pray to God with the greatest humility.
Thus, the aspiration after freedom will
soon be realized. This truth no one
will call in question who knows that it
is God who redeems Israel from all
foes, and not only Israel but all that
call upon Him with a contrite and
broken spirit.

The first head of our teaching, then,
must be prayer, which we call the INVO-
CATION OF GOD, and see that it comes
not forth out of feigned lips, but is the
fruit of faith and confidence, like that of
the Centurion of Capernaum ; in humility
and contrition, like that of the Canaan-
itish woman ; in charity, like that of the
Samaritan who took up the wounded
man on the way to Jericho, pouring into
his wounds wine and oil, and paying his
expenses at the inn, with an injunction
that proper care should be taken of him ;
in brief, let the prayer be offered up in
that spirit of Christian charity which
desires to share what it obtains with its
neighbour ; then you will doubtless attain

1 6 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

the object of your undertaking, viz.,
riches and health.*

Next in order after prayer follows
CONTEMPLATION, by which we apprehend

* It is not for me to criticise by praise or blame what the
Author here says about piety, the worship of God, and the
invocation of His Name. No doubt it was natural for Basil
to write as he did, and my business does not extend beyond
the task of rendering his remarks in Latin. In the mean-
time, I have endeavoured to acquit myself of my task so as
to give as little offence as possible to more advanced thinkers.
The Scripture says that godliness is profitable to all things,
and prayer is the most important exercise of godliness. If
prayer fulfilled no other purpose, it would at least be useful
in imparting earnestness to every search, and concentrating
the mind on the object in view. It prevents all distraction,
and that perfunctory treatment of our problem which is one
of the most frequent causes of failure. It often happens in
this search that what you vainly endeavoured to understand
for many days, suddenly is rendered plain to you in a single
moment by an instantaneous flash of inspiration, which one
would be ungrateful not to attribute to Divine assistance.
But if your oration, or prayer, is to be of any avail, there
must also be co-operation on your part : the solution which
you then find, by dint of perseverance and concentrated effort,
may be fitly called revelation. This would never have come
to you without oration and co-operation ; and yet, as the
solution is nowhere contained in the process by which it is
sought, it appears to you like a marvel, and a celestial revela-
tion. Thus, if prayer be the power of concentration, we can
easily understand how it is the means of placing temporal and
spiritual blessings within our reach. Hence prayer is highly
commended by Basil, and all the Sages ; for godliness is
profitable to all things, and especially to that which is the
greatest of all earthly blessings.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 17

the essential properties of a thing, the
circumstances by which it is conditioned,
its matter, its form, its operations and
their source, whence it is infused and
implanted, how it is generated by the
Stars, formed by the elements, produced
and perfected by the three principles.

Again, it enables us to understand
how the body of anything can be dis-
solved, i.e., resolved into its first matter
or essence ; to this change I have referred
in my other writings as the transmuta-
tion of the last substance into the first,
and of the first substance into the last*

This Contemplation, which forms
the second part of our work, is heavenly,
and spiritually apprehended, for only the
spiritual mind can grasp the circum-

* Here you have an epitome of all the elaborate and
obscure teaching of the Sages, which is comprised in so
many books. The Author had a perfect knowledge of that
spirit which permeates all creation, and is the efficient cause
of all things, yet is everywhere bound up with the defile-
ments and dross of matter; if freed from this dross, it returns
to the purity of its substance, in which it produces every-
thing, and becomes everything in every form. To comment
on it, or attempt its explanation, would be trying to con-
dense the work of all the Sages into the compass of a
foot-note.

C

1 8 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

stances and foundation of all things.
Now, this Contemplation is two-fold :
one is called impossible, the other
possible. The former consists in end-
less meditations, which can have no
result because their object is intangible.
Such problems are the Eternity of God,
the Sin against the Holy Ghost, the
infinite nature of the Godhead. They
are incomprehensible, and necessarily
baffle the finite enquirer.

The other part of Contemplation,
which is possible, is called Theoria. It
deals with the tangible and visible which
has a temporal form — shewing how it
can be dissolved and thereby perfected
into any given body; how every body
can impart the good or evil, medicine
or poison, which is latent in it ; how
the wholesome is separated from the
unwholesome; how to set about des-
truction and demolition for the purpose
of really and truly severing the pure
from the impure without any sophistic
guile.

This separation is brought about by

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 19

different manual operations, and in
various other ways, some of which are
already familiar to the multitude, while
others are by no means well known.
They are as follows : CALCINATION,
SUBLIMATION, REVERBERATION, CIRCU-
LATION, PUTREFACTION, DIGESTION, DIS-
TILLATION, COHOBATION, FIXATION, and
the like. The meaning of these terms
gradually comes to be understood by the
practical experimentalist. In the same
way you come to see the meaning of the
terms : movable, fixed, white, red,
black, blue, green, viz., by sound practi-
cal experience. For the operator may
err, and deflect from the rectilineal way,
but that Nature, when rightly treated,
should ever err, is impossible.

If, therefore, the substance be not
perfectly dissolved, and set free from all
corporeal poison, know that you have
made a mistake. Retrace your steps,
learn the theory more perfectly, and en-
quire more accurately into the method
of operation, so as to find the true
foundation, and certainty in the separa-

2O The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

tion of all things — which is a matter of
the greatest importance.

This, then, is the second founda-
tion of philosophy, and follows upon
Invocation. It is the most important
aspect of our Art, and is expressed
in the following words : Seek first the
Kingdom of God, and His justice—
by Invocation — and all other things
that men need, for the support and
health of the body, will be added unto
you.

On theory, which lays bare the
most intimate relations of things, follows
PREPARATION, which is perfected by
manual operation, and yields a tangible
result. Out of preparation arises know-
ledge, which lays bare the foundations
of Medicine.

Manual Operation requires diligent
application, and knowledge is founded
on experience, while the difference be-
tween the two is set forth by Anatomy.
Operation shews how all things spring
into existence, and become visible.
Knowledge points out practical methods,

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 21

and is nothing but Confirmation ; manual
operation shewing the good, eliciting the
latent and hidden nature, and bringing
it forth into the light for good ; for as in
spiritual things the way of the Lord
must be prepared, so in this Art also
the way must be opened and made
straight, in order that the goal may be
reached without any false step or aber-
ration.*

After preparation, and especially
after separation of good and bad (brought
about by dissolution), we must proceed
to the Proportions of Weight, or dosis.
For you must avoid taking either too
little or too much : this is a point to
which the physician should pay the
closest attention, if he would not "make
a fat churchy ard."t

When the Medicine is diffused

* In this third part, manual experiment is indispensably
necessary, since without it the student is driven about by
every passing wind like a rudderless ship. Concerning this,
it is difficult to give directions in writing. One hour of
practice teaches more than many pages of the most lucid
written instructions.

t If you do not know the right quantity of a Medicine, it
may produce an effect directly the opposite of that which

22 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

through the whole body, to counteract
its defects we become acquainted with
its USES. For it may happen that a
Medicine properly prepared, and given
in proper quantity, is, nevertheless, rather
harmful than curative, in certain diseases ;
and therefore we must discover the con-
ditions under which alone it is likely to
be beneficial.

In answering this question, you
must observe whether the wound is
internal or external — for the treatment
is widely different in the two cases.
Hence you must go to the root of every
disease, and determine whether it can be
cured by external remedies only, or
whether it must be driven out by internal
applications. For if its centre lie hid
within, you want a medicine which will
penetrate to the centre and restore it ;

you contemplate as desirable. To discover the doctrine of
doses by experience is very risky, and yet this is the only
method by which it has been found out. In this matter we
may profit by the teaching of our predecessors, and withal be
rather over timid than over bold. Still, when Antimony is
properly prepared, it is as harmless as cassia or manna. But
in the first stages of its preparation, where it retains much of
its poisonous crudity, you ought to be very careful.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 23

else all your healing efforts will be
fruitless.*

An external disease, admitting of
external treatment, cannot be driven
inward without fatal results. If, while a
tree is putting forth leaves and blossoms,
you were to drive the sap inward or
downward, you would not only obtain no
fruit, but probably blast, wither, and
destroy the entire growth.

There is a great difference, then,
between fresh wounds, inflicted with a
sword or dagger, or in some other way,
and old wounds which have an internal
origin. Fresh wounds can be perfectly
cured only by external remedies ; but in
the case of internal diseases the external
application of oils, plasters, ointments, and
balms will be of little avail. The inward
fountain of the disease, whence the
morbid humours flow to the outward

*What is here said, about internal and external diseases,
merits careful attention. If the Reader be wise, he will
understand that Basilius here speaks ironically, in order to
lead all scorners and ignorant persons astray. While others
yield to indignation at his method of instruction, the true
student will gather the fruit which hangs in clus'ers among
the thorns.

24 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

parts, must be dried up. Then the flux
will cease, and the evil can be cured by
means of diet alone.

It does not require much skill to
heal a common fresh wound ; any boor
can do so with a little crude lard. But
to stop all the symptoms, by drying
up the fountain of an internal wound,
tests to the utmost the physician's
cunning.

Come hither, then, ye that claim to
be doctors of both branches of Medicine,
healers of internal as well as of external
diseases : see whether you can make
your claim good ; ask yourselves, in the
sight of God, whether you really possess
this knowledge, or whether it belongs to
you as a mere formal title of honour.
For as great as is the distance between
heaven and earth, so great is the differ-
ence between the art of healing internal
and external diseases. If your honour-
able title be the gift of God, the same
God will also follow it up with blessing,
success, and happiness ; but if your title
be a vain imagination of your own am-

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 25

bitious heart, all your attempts will fail ;
your honour will be grievously sullied,
and you will prepare for yourself the fire
of hell, which can no more be put out
than it can be explained in words. For
Christ says to His disciples: "Ye call
me Lord and Master, and ye do well."
Whoever, therefore, takes to himself a
title of honour, should be careful to see
whether he does well, whether he does
not arrogate to himself too much, more
than he knows or has learned, which
would be an abuse of the title. Who
ever calls himself a Doctor of both
branches of Medicine must be skilled
alike in internal and external pathology ;
he should also know anatomy, which
teaches the constitution of the human
body, and the part in which every
disease originates and is localized. He
must know the remedies which are
applicable to the several varieties of
disease, and the peculiar conditions of
external wounds. Good God ! If an
examination were held on these points,
how many doctors of both branches of

26 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Medicine would be compelled publicly
to declare their ignorance !

Once upon a time Doctors of
Medicine were content to cure external
wounds, and looked upon this task as
part of their duty ; but now they leave
it to ignorant and inexperienced begin-
ners, who hardly know "how to drive a
donkey out of a field." These persons
style themselves masters in the art of
healing wounds, and great Doctors ; and
I am ready to admit that they have a
better claim to such title than you, illus-
trious surgeon, who do most impudently
arrogate to yourself a false title, calling
yourself a Doctor of both branches of
Medicine.

What more would you have, my
lord Doctor ? What say you, O expert
Surgeon ? If I were to put to you
some searching questions respecting the
nature and cure of external wounds, I
should find that there is in you about as
much knowledge as there is in the brain
of a cock on the title page of a child's
spelling-book.

The Triiimphal Chariot of Antimony. 27

Hence I would thus advise men of
all ranks, who are anxious to obtain know-
ledge : Demand first of your masters true
teaching, which consists in preparation
and the proportion of ingredients ; then
you will hold your title with honour, and
give real help to your fellow-men ; you
will also have good reason to return
thanks to the Creator out of an unfeigned
heart.

Let every one seriously consider in
his own mind what he should do, what
he should leave undone, and whether his
title belongs to him of right, or not.
Whoever assumes a title should know
its meaning, and whether he is justified
in claiming it. A rational man must be
able to assign a reason for everything,
and when he smells a dung-heap of a
very penetrating odour, he should be
able to say why he calls it good dung,
and also why a certain person who has
partaken of fragrant and sweet-smelling
food, gives it out in the shape of highly
malodorous excrement. The answer is
to be found in the conditions of natural

28 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

putrefaction and corruption. The same
thing is observable in the transmutations
of all fragrant substances. Hence the
Sage should enquire what an odour is,
whence it derives its properties, and how
those properties can be turned to good
account. For the earth is nourished
with stinking dung, and precious fruits
are produced thereby. To account for
this phenomenon there is a multiplicity
of causes which it would take a whole
book to explain, if we attempted to des-
cribe, even briefly, all natural mutations
and generations. But digestion and
putrefaction are the Master Keys of the
process. Fire and air produce a kind
of maturity, by which a change can take
place out of water and earth. This is
the kind of transmutation by which fra-
grant balsam becomes stinking dung,
and stinking dung fragrant balsam. But
you will ask me why I quote such simple
and absurd examples. The example, I
confess, smacks of the stables rather than
of the drawing-room ; but the careful
student of Nature will understand me all

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 29

the better for that reason. He will see
that the highest things become the
lowest, and the lowest are changed into
the highest — i. e., a medicine into a
poison, and a poison into a medicine ; a
sweet thing into a bitter, acid, and corro-
sive substance ; and a common thing, on
the other hand, into something useful.

But, good God ! — how difficult it is
for us shortlived men to explore the
whole compass of Nature. Thou hast
reserved to Thyself many things in
Creation which are objects of marvel
rather than of knowledge. Therefore
permit me to the end of my life to keep
Thee in my heart, that in addition to the
temporal health and wealth, which Thou
givest freely, I may also obtain the sal-
vation of my soul, and spiritual riches. Of
this I dare not doubt, for Thou hast shed
the balm and sulphur of my soul on the
bitter cross — a balm which to the Devil
is deadly poison, but to sinners the most
potent medicine. I strive to heal the
souls of my brethren with prayer, and
their bodies with suitable remedies. May

3O The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

God grant that we may all dwell together
in His mansions on high !

But to return to the science of Anti-
mony. You should know that all things
contain operative and vital spirits, which
derive their substance and nourishment
from their bodies ; nor are the elements
themselves without these spirits, whether
good or evil. Men and animals have
within them an operative and vitalizing
spirit, and if it forsakes them, nothing
but a dead body is left. Herbs and
trees have spirits of health, else no Art
could turn them to medicinal uses. In
the same way, minerals and metals
possess vitalizing spirits, which consti-
tute their whole strength and goodness :
for what has no spirit has no life, or
vitalizing power. Know that in Anti-
mony also there is a spirit which is its
strength, which also pervades it invisibly,
as the magnetic property pervades the
magnet.

Now, there are different kinds of
spirits, which are partly visible, and yet
cannot be touched as the natural body of

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 31

a man can be touched. Such are
especially those spirits which have fixed
their domicile in the elements, spirits of
fire, light, and other light-dispensing
objects. Such are the aerial spirits
which dwell in the air ; watery spirits in
the water; terrestrial spirits, or "earth
men " in the earth, especially where there
are rich veins of ore. These spirits
have reason and sensation, are skilled in
the different Arts, and can assume a
variety of shapes, until the time of the
judgment, which perhaps even now God
has pronounced against them.*

Other spirits which cannot speak,
nor exhibit themselves by their own
power, are those which dwell in men
and animals, in plants and minerals.

* What is here said about spirits looks like a medley
from the works of some theologians who speak of intelli-
gence being inherent in fire, air, and the other elements, and
are ultimately doomed to eternal fire. The nature and the
fate of these spirits we will leave to the omniscience and
justice of God ; but as to the material spirits of Antimony,
and other visible objects, all that our Author ascribes to
them is true ; and the things they accomplish are far more
wonderful than the fabulous achievements of any so-called
supernatural beings.

32 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

They have an occult, operative life, and
manifest themselves by the efficacy of
their working ; when separated from
bodies by our Art they have a most
marvellous sanative virtue.

In this way the operative spirit and
virtue of Antimony bestows its gifts, and
imparts them to men, when it has been
separated from its body so as to pene-
trate other bodies with its sanative
virtue. In this process the Artist and
Vulcan (fire) must be of one mind. The
fire causes the separation, the Artist
forms the substance. So the smith uses
one fire and one material, viz., iron ; and
yet produces out of them a great variety
of different instruments, a spit, spurs, an
axe, or some other tool. In the same
way Antimony can be put to a great
many different uses, wherein the smith
is the skilled Artist, while the fire is, as
it were, the key which opens, and practi-
cal experiment results in experience and
a useful conclusion.

Alas, if men only had eyes to see,
and ears to hear not merely what I say,

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 33

but to understand the secret meaning,
they would no longer drink those turbid
and unwholesome potions, but would
hasten hither, and receive the limpid
water of the well of life !

It is my design to shew that those
great doctors, who think themselves
wise, are very fools, while my book
may make many foolish and unlearned
persons the depositaries of true wisdom.

All men who are real lovers of
knowledge, and humbly seek after it by
day and by night, are herewith cordially
invited to listen to my teaching, to pore
over my book with the greatest care, and
thereby to obtain the desire of their
hearts. Their gratitude will, after my
death, raise me from the grave, and
render my name immortal. If any one
be opposed to my opinions, he will find
a crushing reply in this work. Nor am
I fearful that my disciples who, through
my teaching, obtain the empire over
Nature, will ever suffer my name to
sink into oblivion, or to be bespattered

with vile calumnies.

D

34 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Know then, benevolent and sincere
observer of art, that there are twojdnds
of Antimony, which differ widely from
each other. One is beautiful, pure, and
, of a golden quality, containing a con-
siderable amount of Mercury. The
other has much Sulphur, is not so
friendly to gold as the first, and is known
by its beautiful, long, brilliantly white
streaks. Now, one Antimony is more
useful than the other, both for Alchem-
istic and Medicinal purposes. There
are many different kinds of flesh, the
flesh of fishes and the flesh of animals ;
and as both are flesh, so two widely
different substances may be called Anti-
mony.

Many have written about the inward
virtue of Antimony, but few know either
the true foundation of its power, or the
origin thereof. Their knowledge is
verbal erudition only ; it is devoid of a
solid grounding, and bears no fruit.

To write on Antimony, there is
needed profound meditation, a large
mind, a wide knowledge of its prepara-

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 35

tion, and of its true soul, in which
consists all its usefulness. If you are
familiar with these, you can truly tell
what is good and medicinal, what is bad
and poisonous, in it. It is surely worth
while to enquire into the essential and
fundamental nature of Antimony, and to
discover how its venomous quality,
against which so loud an outcry is
raised, may be removed, and itself pre-
pared, changed, and transmuted into a
pure Medicine, containing not a single
trace of poison.

Many Anatomists have subjected
Antimony to all manner of singular
torments and excruciating processes,
which it is difficult either to believe or
to describe. Their studies have led to
no result, because they did not seek the
true soul of Antimony, and, therefore,
did not soon find that fictitious soul of
which they were in search, their path
being obscured with black colours which
rendered invisible what they desired to
see. Antimony, like Mercury, is com-
parable to a circle, without beginning or

36 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

end, composed of all colours ; and the
more is always found in it, the more
diligent and prudent the search which is
made. One man's life is too short to
discover all these mysteries. It is a
most potent poison ; then, again, it is
free from poison, and a most excellent
Medicine, both for external and internal
application. This is hidden from many
through their blindness, and they judge
it to be a foolish, incredible, and vain
thing. We must excuse them on account
of their ignorance, and permit them to
plead their stupidity in extenuation of
their folly. The worst of it is that they
will not be taught.

Antimony has the four first qualities ;
it is frigid and humid, and yet hot and
dry ; it accommodates itself to the four
seasons of the year, and is both volatile
and fixed. Its volatility is poisonous,
its fixed state free from all poison. Hence
Antimony is one of the seven wonders of
the world, and many have written about
it without knowing the meaning of their
own words ; no one before me, and even

T/te Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 37

at the present time no one besides my-
self, has any real acquaintance with its
potency, virtues, powers, operation, and
efficacy. If any such person could be
found, he would be worthy to be drawn
about in a triumphal car, like great
kings and warriors after mighty and
heroic achievements in the battlefield.
But I am afraid that not many of our
Doctors are in danger of being forcibly
placed in such a car.*

Men of this world, who are at the
same time students of our art, are so
given up to the desire of gain that they
can think only of the riches which Anti-
mony is to bestow upon them ; they do
not realize that the medicinal virtues of
Antimony should be the first object of

* Read carefully all that our friend Basilius says in praise
of Antimony. You will find here no vain boasting or foolish
exaggeration, for as yet no man has been able to sound
the wonderful depths of this marvellous Medicine. We see
many things, new things are daily discovered, and still more
remain to be found out. The resources of Antimony are as
inexhaustible and infinitely varied as those of fire, which are
not diminished by taking away from them. Hence Basilius
rightly judged him who should sound the mystery of
Antimony worthy of a triumphal car.

38 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

our search, in order that the name of
God shall be glorified, and that our
fellowmen may be truly benefitted.

We admit that greater riches are to
be found in Antimony than it is possible
to imagine, even for me, though I know
much more about this matter than you
who are so exceedingly wise in your own
conceits. But let none be afraid for this
reason, or despair of ultimately attaining
to this highest felicity of human life ; for
the loving kindness of God is great in
the dispensation of His gifts. But be-
cause of the ingratitude of men, He has
covered their eyes, as it were, with cob-
webs, so that they cannot perceive the
mysteries hidden in this mineral form.

All clamour aloud : We want to be
rich, rich ! Yes, you desire wealth, and
say with Epicurus : Let us provide for
our bodies, and leave our souls to take
care of themselves. Even as Midas in
the fable, you desire to change all things
into gold. So are there numerous per-
sons who seek this coveted wealth in
Antimony, but since they do not care for

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 39

God, and have cast far away from them
the love of their neighbour, they will
look at the horse's teeth of Antimony for
ever without knowing anything about its
age or qualities. Like the wedding-
guests of Cana, they may behold the
miracle by which water is turned into
wine ; they may know that it was water,
and they may taste that now it is wine ;
yet they can never learn the way in
which the change was brought about.

Nevertheless, it is every one's duty
to investigate the mysteries and wonder-
ful secrets which the Creator has infused
into all things. We may not be able to
understand and explain everything. Yet
many things are possible to industry and
perseverance ; and though many an one
may be severely handicapped in the
struggle for wealth and health, yet,
through the grace of God, he may still
attain thereto. Therefore he should not
think any labour too great which is likely
to advance his knowledge of Antimony.
Whoever, then, would perfectly under-
stand the Anatomy of Antimony, should,

40 The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony.

in the first place, become acquainted with
the manner of its solution, so that he
may be able to seize it in the right place,
and proceed in the right way, without
entering into devious paths. In the
second place, he should learn how to
regulate the fire, so that it shall be
neither too fierce nor too feeble. Fire
is the root of the whole matter. By
means of fire the vitalizing spirits are
extracted and dissolved for the purposes
of our operation. But care must be
taken not to mortify and destroy the
spirit by means of too much heat.

The third point for consideration is
the proportion of the substance, the dis-
covery of the proper measure, as I have
already noted, when enumerating the
five points which are requisite in Al-
chemy. It is necessary to enlarge
further upon this matter.

The substance is prepared by means
of dissolution ; it is perfected by means
of coction in fire. This is the axe that
kills the ox, and divides it into parts.
But men cannot partake of the flesh till

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 41

it has been cooked over the fire, by
which means the red colour of the meat
is removed, and a white nutritious sub-
stance is substituted in its place. If a
man, driven by hunger, were to eat the
raw, red flesh, it would be a poison to
him rather than a medicine, because the
stomach has not sufficient natural heat to
digest the raw material. In the same
way, it will be so much the more danger-
ous for you to use Antimony before
separation, preparation, and coction, as
the mineral substance is more gross and
poisonous in its raw state than that
obtained from the animal body.

Therefore Antimony must be so
thoroughly deprived of its poisonous
nature that it can never again return to
it, just as wine which has once been
changed into vinegar by putrefaction and
corruption, can never again produce the
spirit of wine, but must always remain
vinegar. But when, by means of distilla-
tion, the spirit alone is removed from the
wine, so that the watery part is separated
from the spirit, and the spirit is after-

42 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

wards sublimed, the wine can never
thenceforth become vinegar, even though
it were kept a hundred years, but would
always remain spirit of wine, just as the
vinegar always remains vinegar.

This change of wine into vinegar is
a wonderful thing, for thereby something
is actually produced out of the wine
which did not before exist in its vege-
table essence. In the distillation of wine
the first product is a spirit ; in the distil-
lation of vinegar the first product is a
watery substance, and thus a spirit, as I
explained above. Hence the spirit of
wine, being itself volatile, renders other
things volatile, but the spirit of vinegar
fixes and renders solid all medicaments, //,
both mineral and vegetable, so that they
attract fixed matter and expel fixed
diseases.

Pay diligent attention to this fact,
and observe it well, for here lies the
master key of our whole Art.*

* Do not blindly believe these and similar assertions of
Basilius, but keep your eyes wide open. Herein is the first
key, herein the chief point of the whole Art. This will open

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 43

Antimony, which contains within
itself its own vinegar, should be so pre-
pared as to entirely remove its poisonous
nature, in order that he who drinks it
may not swallow with it any venom, but
rather drive away and cast out all poison
from his body.

The preparation of Antimony, or the
Key of Antimony, is that by which it is
dissolved, opened, divided and separated.
Such processes are calcination^' reverber-jlfl/vva
ation, sublimation, as we have previously
declared. In extracting its essence, in
vitalizing its Mercury, the process is
continued, and this Mercury must after-
wards be precipitated in the form of
a fixed powder. By our Art it can also
become an oil, which is a specific against
the new disease imported into this
country by French soldiers.

to you the first portal and the last, leading to the chamber of
the King. You now stand on the threshold of the work. If
you take a false turning at this point, or enter by a wrong
door, the whole of your subsequent journey will be mis-
directed. He who holds the right key in his hand, and has
that strength to turn it which is supplied by Plutus (who is
god of wealth), the entrance to the inmost shrine of
Alchemy lies open before him.

44 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

The same process may be observed,
for instance, in the brewing of beer ; bar-
ley, wheat, or other grain, must undergo
all these processes before it becomes a
palatable beverage. It must first be
mashed and dissolved in water, as I have
observed them do in Belgium and Eng-
land, when I was a young man. This is
Putrefaction, or Corruption. Then the
water is poured off, and the moist grain
is left in a warm place, till it germinates
and sticks together. This is Digestion.

Thereupon the grains are once
more separated from each other, and
dried, either in the sun or before the fire.
This is Reverberation and Coagulation.

The prepared germ is then ground
in the mill. This is vegetable Calcina-
tion. It is afterwards cooked over the
fire, and its nobler spirit is mingled with
the water in a way which would not have
been possible before it was so prepared.
Thus, water becomes beer, and this we
may call Distillation. If hops are added
to the beer they are its vegetable salt,
which preserves it from all adverse

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 45

corrupting influences. This method of
converting water into a fermented bever-
age by the extraction of the spirit of
grain is unknown to the Spaniards and
Italians, and in my native country of
Germany I have only found a few, in the
Rhenish districts, who understand such
Art.

Afterwards a new separation takes
place by means of Clarification. A little
yeast is added to the beer, which stirs up
its internal heat and motion, and thus, in
time, the gross is separated from the
subtle, and the pure from the impure.
The beer thereby becomes a perfect
beverage of great efficacy ; before this
clarification this would not be, because
such operative spirit was clogged and
hindered by its own uncleanness from
fulfilling its objects. Does not experi-
ence teach the same lesson in the case of
wine? It is not perfect, nor can it
properly fulfil its object, till it has been
freed from all impurity. Unclarified
beer or wine is not half so intoxicating
as beer or wine when it is purified.

46 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

After this, we may bring about
another separation by means of Vege-
table Sublimation. The spirit of wine,
or beer, by this process, and by Dis-
tillation, is separated, and prepared in
the form of another beverage, or ardent
spirits. Here the operative virtue is
separated from its body ; the spirit is
extracted by means of fire, and has de-
serted its inert and lifeless habitation,
in which before it was domiciled.

If such ardent wine, or spirit of
wine, be rectified, you have Exaltation.
When this is done, the spirit of wine is
several times distilled, and so condensed
by being purified from all phlegm and
wateriness that one measure is more
effectual than twenty measures were be-
fore ; it intoxicates more rapidly, and is
volatile, and subtle in penetrating and
acting upon substances."*

* Do not despise these remarks on the preparation of
beer and wine. There may be apparent repetition here, but
there is nothing superfluous. Return often mentally to this
beershop ; read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest all that is
said. It may be that in this turbid water, which looks so
unlikely, you may after all catch your fish. If the excess of

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 47

Here I exhort you, who desire
through my teaching to secure health
and riches as the reward of your study of
Antimony, not to suppose that there is
so much as a superfluous word or letter
in what I have hitherto said. I tell you
there are many words sprinkled up and
down in my writings which may make it
well worth your while to turn over the
pages again and again, and to ponder
very frequently the meaning of sentences
in which every word is worth its weight
in gold. Know that though the illus-
trations which I have given have a rustic
and simple appearance, they set forth a
grand truth of the highest moment. But
it is neither desirable nor necessary to
praise my own works : they will praise
themselves, as soon as the suggestions
contained in them are practically tried.
I purposely use rude and common illus-
trations. For it is my business to set
forth the hidden virtues of Antimony ;

light which prevails here should not enable you to see, no
amount of obscure alchemistic reading will disperse your
inward darkness.

48 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony,

and as this is a very profound and
abstruse speculation, it is useful to pre-
pare the way by throwing upon my
subject all the light which can be gained
from common and familiar things ; other-
wise, you might be in danger of losing
your road at the very outset of your
journey. Antimony is also likened to a
bird which is borne through the air on
the wings of the wind, and turns whither
it will. The wind, or air, here repre-
sents the Artist, who can move and
impel Antimony whither it pleases him,
and place it wherever he likes. He can
colour it red or yellow, white or black,
according to the way in which he regu-
lates the fire, since Antimony, like
Mercury, contains within itself all colours.
If a book be placed before an
illiterate person, he does not know what
the letters mean ; he stands staring
stupidly at the characters, like a cow at
a new gate. But if that person were
taught to read, were shewn the significa-
tion of the letters, and instructed in the
meaning of the work, he would no longer

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, 49

be a prey to stupid wonder, but the why
and the wherefore of the whole thing
would be plain and familiar to him.
Such a book is Antimony to those who
have not yet learned to read it : hence
all such persons should pay the most
careful attention to my preliminary in-
struction, and should not be offended if I
offer to teach them the alphabet of Anti-
mony. Let them study this alphabet
diligently, in order that they may learn
to read the book, and thus advance from
class to class in this our school of
Alchemy, until they have reached the
highest grade of all.

But at this point I remember that
there is, from time to time, a great
clamour, and cry of "Away with them,
crucify them, crucify them ! " raised
against those who prepare medicines out
of poisons such as Mercury, Arsenic,
and Antimony. It is averred that by
means of such medicines many have met
with a sudden death, or are dragging on
a miserable existence. This clamour is

most persistently raised by those Doctors

E

5O The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

of Medicine (save the mark ! ) who do
not know the difference between a poison
and a theriac, nor yet how a poison shall
be prepared in order that it may become
a salutary medicine, and exchange its
malignancy for health-giving qualities. I
protest against being numbered amongst
the persons who administer to their pa-
tients orpiment, arsenic, and mercury,
which, in their unprepared state, are,
of course, deadly poisons.* But after
legitimate preparation all venom is re-
moved and expelled, and there remains
only a Medicine which resists all
internal poisons, and radically removes
them. It is also the surest antidote
against every unprepared poison, and

*At the time when Basilius wrote, the ignorance of
certain physicians was so great that they administered as
medicines many poisons in their raw and unpurified state,
and ignorantly proscribed the means by which the Alchemists
rendered them truly salutary to the human system. Against
these pseudo-doctors honest Basilius and his friends were
wont to inveigh with the greatest sharpness. But in this
imperfect world truth is not necessarily victorious, and
though the Alchemists had the better cause, their opponents
had the advantage of numbers. Yet, even then, Paracelsus
foresaw the dawn of better times which should be ushered in
by the coming of the Artist Elias.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 51

changes all such into its own wholesome
nature.

This assertion will excite a fierce
controversy among Doctors, and many
will be ready to maintain to the last
breath that it is utterly impossible to
remove the deadly nature of mineral
poisons. I do not wonder at their
incredulity, since they are hopelessly
ignorant of all similar preparations, and
have no conception of the deeper
mysteries of science. Yet those who
are more reasonable will be ready to
admit that it is possible considerably to
improve a vile and worthless substance.

Moreover, you Doctors yourselves
must admit that your object is to make
better that bad thing which causes the
disease. Must you not also acknow-
ledge that the diseases of minerals, and
especially of medicinal minerals, can be
so removed that a state of perfect health
may be restored, and that the medicines
must thereby be rendered infinitely more
efficacious. But I do not expect you to
agree with me, since you are not

52 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

familiar with the method of preparation.
The unreasoning clamour of the majority :
" Poison, poison ! " will doubtless carry
the day, just as the senseless clamour
of the Jews, "Crucify, crucify Him!"
doomed to death the Saviour of the
world, Whom the multitude pronounced
a most deadly and injurious poison,
while in reality He was the only true,
noble, and effectual Medicine of our
souls, come to deliver us from eternal
death, hell, the power of Satan, and all
other evils and misfortunes. This pro-
found truth those supercilious Scribes
and Pharisees could and would not
understand, yet it was the truth then,
and will remain so throughout all eter-
nity ; nor will the devil, or death, or the
gates of hell, ever be able to prevail
against it, or to prove it a lie.

So I know that in spite of the
clamorous outcry raised against it by
quacks, mountebanks, and idle Doctors
resident in towns, yea, by all men who
profess to have any knowledge of the
noble Art which they disgrace, Antimony

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 53

will triumph and trample underfoot the
whole rout of its assailants, and its false
and hypocritical judges will receive the
same condemnation as the wicked Jews.
What a poor figure do they cut in my
eyes— all these grand, conceited magnifi-
coes who solemnly admonish Emperors,
Kings, Princes not even to touch such
medicines with their lips, because they
are poisonous, noxious, and most danger-
ous. I will not attempt to refute them,
for they speak at random without the
slightest knowledge of their subject. I
will only say this, that I offer to give to
one who has swallowed the most deadly
of all poisons so powerful an antidote,
that, if he be left altogether to my treat-
ment, the venom will at once be totally
expelled from his system.

As to the rest, I do not care in the
least whether you, Sir Doctor, who know
nothing at all about this matter, and
have never given the least thought to it,
condemn my medicine, or not ; it is
enough for me that I can prove its
efficacy, that I have prepared this Medi-

54 The TriumpJial Chariot of Antimony.

cine with my own hands, and admin-
istered it with unvarying success to great
numbers of people, who are ready to
bear me witness under their own hand
and seal.

If I ever had to dispute in the
schools with this quality of Doctor, who
cannot prepare his own medicines (such
as they are), but must leave that work to
another, I should justly claim pre-emi-
nence over him. For he does not even
know the colour of the remedies which
he prescribes. He has not the slightest
idea whether they are white or black, red
or grey, blue or yellow, or whether the
medicament is hot, cold, dry, or humid.
He only knows one thing — that he has
found the name of that medicine in his
books, and, pluming himself on the
antiquity of his hoary ignorance, he
claims the right of prior possession.

Here again I am tempted to cry
woe upon these foolish doctors whose
consciences are seared with a hot iron,
who do not care in the least for their
patients, and will be called to a terrible

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 55

account for their criminal folly on the
day of judgment. Then they will behold
Him Whom they have pierced by neg-
lecting their neighbour's welfare, while
pocketing his money, and they will see
at last that they ought to have laboured
night and day, in order to acquire greater
skill in the healing of disease. Instead
of this they complacently go on trusting
to chance, prescribing the first medicine
they happen to find in their books, and
leaving the patient and the disease to
fight it out as best they can. They do
not even trouble to enquire in what way
the medicines they prescribe are pre-
pared. Their laboratory, their furnace,
their drugs, are at the Apothecary's, to
whom they rarely or never go. They
inscribe upon a sheet of paper, under
that magic word "Recipe" the names
of certain medicines, whereupon the
Apothecary's assistant takes his mortar,
and pounds out of the wretched patient
whatever health may still be left in him.

Change these evil times, oh God !
Cut down these trees, lest they grow up

56 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

to the sky ! Overthrow these over-
weening giants, lest they pile mountain
upon mountain, and attempt to storm
heaven ! Protect the conscientious few
who quietly strive to discover the mys-
teries of Thy creation !

I will ask all my brothers in our
Monastery to unite with me in earnest
prayer, by day and by night, that God
may enlighten the ignorance of these
Pseudo- Doctors, that they may under-
stand the virtues which He has implanted
in created things, and may learn also
that they can become manifest and
operative only by means of that prepara-
tion which removes all harmful and
poisonous impurities. I trust that God
will answer our prayer, and that .some of
my brothers at least will survive to
witness the blessed change which shall
then take place on earth, when the thick
veil of ignorance shall have been re-
moved from the eyes of our opponents,
and their minds shall have been en-
lightened to find the lost piece of silver.
May God, who overrules the destinies of

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 57

x

men, in His goodness and mercy bring
about this consummation !

Since I have undertaken to publish
a set treatise on the subject of Antimony,
it is fitting that I should begin with an
explanation of its name. The Arabs, to
whom this metal has long been known,
called it As IN AT ; the Chaldeans desig-
nated it STIBIUM ; its usual name among
the Latins is ANTIMONY. The German
name (Spies^las) reflects one of the
peculiarities of the metal, viz., the streaks
by which it is distinguished, and the ease
with which it is changed into a kind of
coloured glass.*

This variety of names teaches us
two things : first, that Antimony was
known to the Arabs, Chaldeans, Latins,

* Poets sometimes commence their tale in the middle, and
then work back to the beginning, in order to sustain the in-
terest of their readers. Alchemists sometimes adopt the
same device in order that their meaning may be hidden from
all except the worthy. Here Basilius, in the middle of the
treatise, begins to discuss the name of his substance, with
which an ordinary writer would have commenced, but soon
he abandons this plan, and proceeds to answer the question,
already mooted, whether Antimony can be deprived of all
its poison, — a question which is explained by means of useful
and highly significant illustrations.

58 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

and Germans, and, second, that its vir-
tues were held in the highest estimation
among them ; but that afterwards hereti-
cal notions crept in, the potency of
Antimony was more and more forgotten,
and its glory obscured and finally ex-
tinguished. That this should be so,
must appear very natural to any one
acquainted with the wiles and cunning*
craftiness of the great Arch-enemy of our
race, who ever lies in wait to deceive the
children of men, and to rob them of the
light which they possess. And especially
does he put forth all his power in order
to induce amongst men ignorance of the
true medicine, and to discourage its use.
He knows well that thereby the glory of
God is obscured, and the sacrifice of
thanksgiving kept back which else would
rise from many a human heart to the
Giver of All, who has shed abroad among
created things the outer rays of His
glory. However, it is comparatively of
little use to speak about the name of
Antimony. Its great virtue and utility
can be known only to those who are

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 59

familiar with the method of its prepara-
tion. Hence I will rather strive to
immortalize my name by throwing as
much light as I can on this part of the
subject.

But before I attempt to declare the
virtue of Antimony, you should know
that, although Antimony in its raw state
is a deadly poison, yet poison can attract
to itself poison more effectually by far
than any other heterogeneous substance.

This assertion is proved by the fact
that the body of an unicorn, which is
entirely free from poison, repels every
poisonous thing. Place a live spider in-
side a circle formed by a strip of the skin
of an unicorn, and you will observe that
the spider will not be able to pass. But
if the circle be composed of some en-
venomed substance, the spider will have
no difficulty in crossing the line, which
is homogenous to its own nature.

Any similar experiment would yield
the same result. Hollow out a silver
coin, and let it float on the water like a
boat. Then hold close to it, yet without

60 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

making" actual contact, a particle of a
true unicorn. The coin will be as surely
repelled and moved backward as the
duck which sees the sportsman taking
aim at it with his gun.

That homogeneous substances
always attract each other you may learn
from the fact, that if you place a piece
of pure, unadulterated bread in a bowl
of water, so that it floats on the surface,
and hold, not very far from it, a piece of
true unicorn, the bread will float in any
direction in which the piece of unicorn is
moved. So great is the attraction of
like to like in Nature that poison
always draws towards it irresistibly all
that is poisonous, and substances which
are free from venom exert the same
influence over substances which enjoy a
similar immunity.

Hence poison can be removed in
two ways : firstly, by its contrary which
repels it, as the unicorn repels the spi-
der ; secondly, by its like, which attracts
it by magnetic power. The poison which
is to cure a homogeneous poison must

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 6 1

have been so prepared that it shall have
become a medicine instead of a poison,
in order that it may attract the other,
may take it up into its own nature, and
expel it.

A proof of this action of natural
affinities may be observed in the effect
of soap upon linen. Soap is composed
of oil, fat, and other greasy substances,
which seem much more likely to sully
than to cleanse linen. But by means of
digestion, and through the action of salt,
a certain rectification and separation Has
taken place, so that the soap now, in-
stead of smirching the linen, attracts to
itself all the impurities with which it is
defiled, and renders it clean and white.
In the same way poison may be so pre-
pared as to become instead a purifying
medicine, which attracts to itself all the
corruption of the human system, and
restores it to perfect soundness and
health.

As we have begun to point out to
the true student of medicine what is
good and what is evil in Nature — a

62 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

question in regard to which our so-called
doctors maintain a supine carelessness —
it will be well to set forth the truth, and
to make it plain by a few more experi-
ments and illustrations.

Let an egg, which is congealed by
the winter's frost, be placed in icy-cold
water. The shell will soon be covered
with ice, but the frost will be extracted
from the egg, and it will be fresh and
vital as before.

If any man's hand or foot be frozen, W
he should at once apply snow or ice- ru
water to it. The cold will thus be
extracted and the limb saved.

On the contrary, inflammation is
best cured by means of some hot or
burning substance. If you have an in-
flammation in your hand, apply to it
I spirit of wine (which is pure fire), or
quintessence of sulphur ; the outward
heat will attract to itself the inward fire,
and not only will you experience imme-
diate relief, but the limb will become
strong as before.

In order still further to confirm

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 63

this truth, I add yet another illustration.
Take the spawn of frogs, which is found
in March ; dry it on a plate in the sun,
place it on a wound inflicted by a viper
or other venomous serpent, and the
wound will be so prepared as to be
healed subsequently by other medicines.
Or you may spread the spawn on a linen
rag, and then apply it to the wound with
the same result.

Similarly, you may take a venomous
toad, dry it in the sun, reduce it to ashes
in a carefully closed pot, pulverize, and
apply the powder to any poisoned wound,
whereupon it will attract to itself all the
xj poison of the wound. Why? By the
combustion or calcination of the toad, its
inward efficacy is called out, and becomes
operative. The principle which we have
so largely illustrated holds good in all
cases. If you are seized with the plague,
treat it with astrum solis, or spirit of Mer-
cury, for the spirit of Mercury attracts
every poisonous matter, and purifies the
system of all its morbific particles.

The efficacy of astrum soiis (Star of

64 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

the Sun) is infinitely greater. For it
concentrates within itself all the quick-
ning power of the Sun, which is the life
of Nature. It is the Soul of Gold, and
the generative principle of all minerals
and metals. I will say more about this
wonderful astrum solis in its own proper
place.

In the same way, we must treat
Antimony, which has the like operative
qualities as the body of gold. I do not
now speak of the Star of the Sun.
"For," says Antimony, " I know that I
must quake and tremble exceedingly
before it, and though I greatly excel it
in many principal respects, yet, on the
whole, I can effect none of those things,
which the Star of the Sun, strengthened
by heavenly testimony, is able to accom-
plish. I do not speak either of the star
of Mercury, whose parentage is the same
as mine. But as to intense penetrative
virtue, I must yield the palm to the
Star of the Sun."

My books and sayings are related to
each other by experience, like the metals,

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 65

one of which must be tested and known
in its relation to the rest. In like
manner, my writings and prescriptions
have one common scope or aim. The
guide who alone can lead you to the
place where Plutus sits enthroned, is
Vulcan (the god of fire). If you strike
steel with a flint, the violent collision
elicits a spark, and calls forth the hidden
sulphur, or hidden fire, which is kindled
by the air so that it burns truly and
effectually. Salt remains in the ashes,
and mercury is struck out together with
the burning sulphur.*

In Antimony, too, the mercury must,
by a natural method, be separated from
its sulphur and salt. Unless the fire
which is latent in the steel becomes visible
and tangible, it can be of no use ; and so
our Medicine will produce no effect,

* This illustration is as remarkable and suggestive as it
is simple. From cold steel there is struck out with a cold
flint a tiny spark of fire, which has power to penetrate a
whole mountain of fuel with intense burning flame. This
phenomenon is of daily occurrence, and in it the fixed
becomes volatile, and the volatile is fixed. Here is wisdom
for him who has eyes to see, and an answer for those who
doubt the power of Alchemy.

F

66 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

unless it be first separated from its gross
elements, rectified, manifested, clarified,
and prepared, that all may see how a
separation of the pure from the impure
has taken place, and that the pure metal
is purged of all earthy elements, after
which the harvest may be expected. But
this cannot take place, until the metal
has been opened and dissolved by a
carefully regulated fire.

In order that I may comprehend
much matter of importance within a
small compass, this, shortly, is the sum
of the science of Antimony.

Whatever is hidden from common
observation is the province of Art ; but
as soon as the hidden has become mani-
fest and visible, the task of our Art is
accomplished, and all that remains to be
done is purely mechanical, as I have
more than once set forth in my other
books. '

The bee extracts honey from the
flower by the art which God has given
to her ; but when once the honey is
visibly perfect, that sweet and fragrant

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 67

liquid can be prepared in such a way as
to become a most potent and deadly
poison. This is a fact which no one
will believe who has not seen experi-
mental proof of it. Nevertheless, though
a corrosive poison is prepared from
honey, no one has any right to say that
honey itself is poisonous or harmful.
Here is something which may deliver
our doctors from Divine vengeance.
Honey is indirectly prepared from the
excrements of brute beasts, with which
the meadows are manured, and whence
hundred and thousands of sweet and
fragrant flowers spring up. From these
the quintessence is sucked by the bees,
whereby there takes place an alteration
and generation of one thing into another,
i.e., into an aliment of different form and
taste, resembling its former condition in
no particular, and designated honey.
This honey may be either a pleasant
form of food for man, or there may be
prepared from it a poison of the most
deadly effect, both on man and beast.
Therefore, gentle reader, whoever

68 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

and whatever you are, follow me and
Nature. I will teach you the whole
truth without any admixture of false-
hood. I will instruct you how to
distinguish truth from error, good from
evil, the highest from the lowest. For
though Antimony be a deadly poison,
there can be prepared from it a medicine
which radically destroys all diseases, and
penetrates and consumes them, by coc-
tion, like fire.

First, Antimony must be prepared
so as to become a true Stone, which is
its quintessence. And forasmuch as in
this operation it is in all things like fire,
I call it, after its coagulation, the Fire
Stone. When this Fire Stone has been
properly prepared, according to the
directions given at the end of this
treatise, its medicinal virtue is such as to
consume all noxious humours, purify the
blood to the highest degree, and be in
all things equal to the efficacy of potable
gold.

Here I ask you, my inexperienced
doctors, not to judge me by the standard

The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony. 69

of your own ignorance. It is not enough
for you to read my book, and to become
acquainted theoretically with the prepar-
tion of Antimony ; you must experiment-
ally follow my directions, and thus gain
the knowledge which will teach you both
how to prepare and apply this medicine.*

When you have done this, you will
begin to have some notion of that which
is now hidden from your purblind gaze.

O wretched and pitiable medicasters,
who walk on the clouds, and on moun-
tains in the air, thinking highly of
yourselves in your own conceit, and yet
having no solid foundation for your feet,
take heed, I beseech you, what answer
you will make to God on the day of
judgment ! Think of the sacred duty
which rests upon you before it is too
late, and then, if you are really willing
to do that which is right, God will most
assuredly help you. But you who, in
your extreme folly and madness, do not

* Here Basilius once more yields to his indignation
against the false Doctors ; but afterwards he gives some use-
ful hints embodied in remarks on aqua fortis and spirit of
wine.

7O The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony.

care to learn, or to become any wiser,
refrain, at least, from pronouncing upon
what you do not understand, lest your
own judgment be harder than you can
bear.

It should be the principal aim of
every physician, whilst he does every-
thing he can to cure the disease, not to
hinder rather than help the cure which
Nature is trying to effect. If the spirit
of wine be added to a£ua_jortis, there
will be a strong effervescence, and these
two substances will not agree ; but if
they be properly united, by means of
philosophical distillation, they will form
a highly useful compound. Oil of tartar
and grape vinegar are similarly related.
They are as incompatible as fire and
water, although they are both prepared
from the same substance. Hence it
should be the physician's first care to
become acquainted with all the circum-
stances of the disease. These circum-
stances he should then diligently consider,
and select such remedies as are likely to
remove the disorder, lest, by giving the

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 71

wrong medicine, he does more harm than
good. For instance, if, while iron is
being dissolved in aqua fortis, you sup-
denly pour into it oil of tartar, you will
burst the glass vessel : for contrary quali-
ties, when brought into collision, generate
a consuming fire. Of these things our
solemn, begowned doctors know nothing,
and can conceal their ignorance only by
judicious silence. To you I speak, ye
solemn titular physicians, and to you,
apothecaries, who fill with your concoc-
tions dire pots as large as those which
are used to cook soup for a hundred
persons — ye that are stoneblind, pray
that your eyes may be anointed with
eyesalve, and that the thick scales of
darkness may fall from your mind !
Then you may perhaps see the truth as
in a bright mirror. Pray that you may
find the medicine which God has im-
planted in the noblest and most precious
of created things for the good of the
human race, whereby we may obtain
help at need, and health when laid low
with sickness ! Why are you, wretched

72 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

worms of the dust, and food for worms,
always stopping short at the husk, and
neglecting the precious kernel, forgetful
of your Creator, who has formed you
after His own image? Why do you not
rather thank Him by studying His works
which transcend Nature? Return, be-
hold in your heart the image of your
ingratitude, and pray that you may feel
heartily ashamed of yourself for not
having realized and accepted with a
thankful heart what God has prepared
for you !

But I must conclude this appeal,
lest, while I write, I stain the pages of
my book with tears of indignation, and
lest, while deploring the blindness of the
world, I render these words illegible,
which I wish to become known to all.
I am a man belonging to a most holy
religious order, in which I shall continue
to live so long as God is pleased to
animate this wretched body of mine with
the breath of life. Hence I must needs
write as becomes a religious man. But
if I were a secular judge, I would lift up

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 73

my voice, and speak out in loud clarion
tones, so as to force those deaf persons to
hear who now stop their ears, and blas-
pheme, despise, and ignorantly calumni-
ate the truth.

But Thou, O Lord God, Who
dwellest on high, and art truly called the
God of Sabbaoth, Who rulest heaven and
earth, which thou hast created, Who
orderest the course of the stars, Whom
the elements obey, before Whom all crea-
tion trembles and quails, both in heaven,
on earth, and under the earth, look down,
I beseech Thee, on this world, and teach
the children of men the inner meaning of
those things which Thou hast visibly set
forth before their eyes ! As for me, I
know that I am utterly unworthy of the
gifts of health and riches which Thou
hast so graciously bestowed on me. Yet,
as long as I live, I will praise and bless
Thy Holy Name. More than this, my
Father, I cannot do in this miserable and
imperfect world.

In beginning a treatise on Anti-
mony, we must first describe the root

74 The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony.

whence it receives all its glory and
strength, and is exalted to the perfection
of operation. We must shew also how it
originates in the earth, after what man-
ner it is made subject to the dominion
of the stars, by which elements it is
cooked, and by which led to maturity.
Antimony is nothing but a vapour, or a
mineral exhalation, produced by the stars
above, and digested through elementary
media to a state of coagulation and
maturity. Observe that Antimony has
originally received its virtue, essence,
properties, and efficacy from the same
planet as common Mercury ; but its
coagulation and its essence are harder.
The reason is to be found in the fact that
of the three principles, it has received
more salt than liquid Mercury. For
though salt is the least important of its
three first principles, yet it has more of
the essence of salt than common Mercury,
and consequently a more permanent
coagulation. For it is salt that imparts
hardness to minerals, and an excess of
hot spirit of sulphur keeps Mercury in a

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 75

liquid condition — nor can it be coagu-
lated, unless there are added to it certain
other metallic spirits, infused by a wond-
rous process into the Mother of Saturn.
Without this, Mercury cannot be fixed
except by the Philosopher's Stone.
Through the mediation of the Stone,
indeed, its three principles are har-
monized, and it acquires a fusible and
malleable body. Only in this way can
the volatility of Mercury be permanently
removed.

No animal or vegetable contains
anything that can avail to fix Mercury ;
the attempt to do this has always ended
in failure, because none of these sub-
stances have a metallic nature. Mercury
is both inwardly and outwardly pure fire ;
therefore no fire can destroy it, no fire
can change its essence. It flees from the
fire, and resolves itself spiritually into
an incombustible oil ; but when it is once
fixed no cunning of man can volatilize it
again. Then everything can by art be
made of it that can be produced from gold,
because after its coagulation it perfectly

76 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

resembles gold, seeing that it has grown
from the same root, and sprung from
exactly the same branch as that precious
metal. But just now I am not concerned
with Mercury. I have proposed to my-
self at present to describe the true origin
of Antimony. Nevertheless, what has
been said of Mercury is important for
the due apprehension of certain ulterior
considerations, and for the clearer under-
standing of the nature of Antimony
itself, which is sprung from the same
root as Mercury.*

Let me tell you, then, that all
metals and all minerals grow in the
same way from the same root, and that
thus all metals have a common origin.
This first principle is a mere vapour
extracted from the elementary earth
through the heavenly planets, and, as it
were, divided by the sidereal distillation

of the Macrocosmos. This sidereal hot
/H- >t.cv^ llWuMM^N

* The great question which vexes all the students of our
Art : "What is our Mercury?" is here clearly and lucidly
answered. Attend carefully to all that Basilius says. Any
light that I could add to his brightness would be darkness
indeed.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 77

infusion, descending from on high into
those things which are below, with the
aero-sulphureous property, so acts and
works as to engraft on them in a
spiritual and invisible manner a certain
strength and virtue. This vapour after-
wards resolves itself in the earth into a
kind of water, and out of this mineral
water all metals are generated and per-
fected. The mineral vapour becomes
this or that metal according as one or
the other of the three first principles
predominates, i.e., according as they
have much or little mercury, sulphur, or
salt, or an unequal mixture of their
weights. Hence, some metals are fixed,
and some are not fixed ; some are per-
manent and unchangeable ; some are
volatile and variable, as you may see in
gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead.

Besides these metals, other minerals
are generated from these three principles ;
according to the proportion of the ingre-
dients, we have vitriol, antimony, marca-
site, electrum, and many other minerals.

In its very first astrum, or star, and

78 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

its first substance, gold has more perfect
sulphur, and more perfect mercury than
the other metals and minerals. Hence
its operative virtue is much stronger and
more potent, as it is also more efficacious
than the stars of the other metals. The
qualities which are found singly in other
metals are all united, with many more, in
the composition of the solar star, which
is gold.

When the substance of gold is
matured and perfected by fire, it em-
bodies more perfections than all other
metals and minerals together. There is
only one metal (which we have already
mentioned) wherein the solar sulphur is
quite as potent, or even more potent
than in gold. Of the two metals in
which the substance strongly predomin-
ates, we can here say no more. I must
remain within the limits which I have
set myself, and confine my attention for
the present to Antimony.

Antimony is a mineral made of a
terrestrial vapour changed into water,
which sidereal change is the true Star of

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 79

Antimony. This water has been extrac-
ted from elementary earth by the stars
and the fire which is contained in the
air. Through coagulation it has then
become a tangible essence. This tan-
gible essence encloses a large quantity
of predominating sulphur ; after it comes
mercury, and of salt there is least of all,
yet it has enough salt to make it hard
and immalleable.

Its chief quality is hot and dry — of
frigidity and humidity it has very little
indeed. The same is true of common
Mercury, and of gold, which has more
heat than frigidity.

Enough has been said about the
substance and the three radical principles
of Antimony, as also of its perfection
by the Archseus in elementary earth.
Students of Alchemy do not care to be
told where to find the Star to whose
influence Antimony is subjected ; they
rather desire to be instructed in its pre-
paration and its uses. They wish to be
able to test for themselves the truth of
all the wonders that have been related of

8o The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Antimony at all times by men of all
classes. Both the learned and the un-
learned look directly for satisfaction of
this their burning and insatiable desire.
Therefore, I will not try the patience of
my readers by any unnecessary delay,
but will briefly set forth the results of
my diligent researches as to the nature
of Antimony, though human life is too
short for any one to be fully acquainted
with all its secrets. For in the pre-
paration of Antimony miracle follows on
miracle, colour upon colour, and the
potency and operation of each succeeding
degree is greater than that which went
before.

To begin with, Antimony is a rank
and deadly poison, which may cause the
death of men and beasts, so thoroughly
has the destructive essence pervaded
every part of this mineral. Hence the
universal outcry, which is raised both by
the vulgar and by those doctors who
are ignorant of the real nature of Medi-
cine. All exclaim with one accord :
" Poison, poison, poison ! " Now we do

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 81

not advise any one to apply common
Antimony as a Medicine, because its use
would really be fatal to health and life.
Both at the courts of the princes and in
towns the brethren of the profession
warn kings, courtiers, and burghers not
to have anything to do with Antimony.
This outcry has actually brought the
substance into evil repute, and to this
very day no one ventures to avail him-
self of the wonderful and various medi-
cinal qualities latent therein. Yet I
solemnly declare, in the presence of God,
the Creator of heaven and earth, and of
things both visible and invisible, which
we either know now or shall one day
know, that there is not beneath the
sun any more efficacious Medicine, or
stronger pillar of health, than this very
same Antimony.

Hearken diligently to my wrords,
and ye, wise men of this world, observe
well the announcement which I shall
make concerning Antimony : for my
theory is based upon Nature, and my

practice on experience. I am fully pre-

G

82 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

pared to admit, and I have already
admitted, that, before its preparation,
Antimony is a poison, and nothing else.
Nevertheless, you Doctor, or Master of
Arts, or Bachelor of Arts, or whatever
your title, on the strength of which you
speak ignorantly and arrogantly about
things which you do not understand :
listen carefully to my words, and hearken
to what I have to say to you.

Antimony, you affirm, is a poison :
therefore let every one beware of using
it ! But this conclusion is not logical,
Sir Doctor, Magister, or Baccalaureus ;
it is not logical, Sir Doctor, however
much you may plume yourself on your
red cap. Theriac is prepared from the
venom of the viper, the most deadly
poison in the world. Does it therefore
follow that Theriac ought not to be used
as a Medicine ? You know that it is so
employed ; and, similarly, Antimony can
be so freed of its poison by our Spagyric
Art as to become a most salutary Medi-
cine, just as the viper's poison acquires
medicinal properties after its conversion

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 83

into Theriac. Without preparation, in-
deed, Antimony can do no good, but
only harm.

Whoever desires to become a dis-
ciple of Antimony, let him, after earnest
prayer and calling upon God, betake
himself to the school of Vulcan (fire),
who is the Master and Revealer of all
arcana. This teacher is scorned and
despised by the wise of this world,
because, through their own carelessness
and stupidity, they have learned nothing
of him. Yet no medicine can possibly
be prepared without Vulcan, whatever
any persons, in their ignorance and
senseless arrogance, may affirm to the
contrary.

But I must now proceed to declare
the processes by which Antimony is pre-
pared. I know that I shall meet with loud
and sustained opposition. But I do not
care ; I will ask my opponents one ques-
tion, and one only : Can they produce
anything that is better than Antimony,
seeing that from Antimony it is possible
to prepare medicines equal to those

84 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

which exist in gold and mercury, with
the exception of the Star of Sol ? From
this can be prepared potable gold
(against leprosy), spirit of mercury (that
sovereign remedy for the French disease),
and many other medicines. I pity the
ignorance of our adversaries, for they
speak of those things which they do not
understand, and, therefore, no weight
whatever can attach to their words. In
vain would the stable boy attempt to
teach the donkey to tune his voice to
sweet harmonious music, for he cannot
learn. In our Art only those are
qualified to deliver a sound opinion who
have listened to the voice of experience.
Any other person, whatever high-sound-
ing title may be attached to his name,
is no better than an ignoramus and a
charlatan.

But, before I go on to the practical
part of this treatise, someone may ask :
How minerals and metals come to contain
poison ? What poison is ? How anything
can be purified, and have its envenomed
nature removed? These and similar

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 85

enquiries I desire first to answer briefly
and clearly.

The origin of poison is either
natural or supernatural. One reason
why God has implanted poison in
created things was His purpose to
shew us His wonders, and to teach us
how to distinguish good from evil —
how to choose the good and eschew
the evil.

In the same way the tree of life was
set in Paradise. Its proper use would
have tended to our benefit. Its abuse
brought about our fall, and all the suffer-
ing that has followed from it.

The second reason that there is
such a thing as poison is God's purpose
that we should thereby learn the ugliness
and hatefulness of evil, and conceive a
desire to substitute that which is good in
its place. For God hates nothing that
He has made, but rather desires our
moral and physical amendment. By
eschewing poison we are to be taught
how to avoid the evil and choose the
good.

86 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Poison is also produced by contrary
oppositions and conjunctions among the
stars, which infect the elements, and
are the cause of the plague and other
contagious diseases in this nether world.
This is clearly seen in the case of
comets.

Poison is further occasioned by hos-
tile extremes — for instance, by excessive
anger, or by drinking cold water when
you are very hot. Deadly weapons may
also be enumerated among causes of
poison, though when used in self-defence,
they are rather of the nature of medicines.

The natural origin of poison is as
follows. Whatever is repugnant to
Nature is poison ; as, for instance, if
anyone takes food which does not agree
with him, that food is poison, because
repugnant to his nature. Yet to another
with whom it may agree, it is medicine.

But poison is specially attracted to
bodies in the earth, where a certain
crude, undigested mercurial essence (I
speak of mineral poisons), which has not
yet undergone any proper coction, so

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 87

pervades the whole body as to make it a
crude, immature, undigested mineral.
For instance, if a man were to eat raw
grain, his stomach would be too feeble
to digest it, because it has not sufficient
natural heat. Grain which is first digested
by the fire of the great world, must be still
further digested by the little fire, in order
to be easy of digestion in our little world.
It is the same with raw meat— and,
similarly, crude Antimony is not yet
sufficiently digested to be capable of
assimilation by a feeble human stomach.
All cathartics, both animal and vege-
table, as well as mineral, contain a certain
volatile, undigested Mercury. This vola-
tility is the cause that all other things
in the human stomach are expelled by a
cathartic, though the root of the disease
itself is left untouched, and can be re-
moved only by a fixed medicine. Only
fixed medicines can cope with fixed
diseases, but these purgatives are like
water dashed on the pavement, which
cleans the stones outwardly, though it
does not enter them. Fixed medicines

88 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

attack the seat of the disease, and are
not content with a mere external wash-
ing away of impurities. Hence we
admonish all and sundry that Antimony
has to be freed of its crudeness and
poisonous indigestibility before it can be
safely applied as a medicine ; and this
transformation is effected by fire, and by
fire only. Vulcan is the only arbiter of
such a purifying process. What Vulcan
(fire) of the upper sphere has left crude
and unfinished is accomplished by the
Vulcan of the lower world. He matures
the immature, digests the crude with his
heat, and separates the pure from the
impure. By the separation and fire
which perfect fixation, its poisonous
nature is removed, and all that is evil in
Antimony is changed into something
good. Fire purges away the deadly
nature of our medicine, as is known only
to those who have fraternally co-opera-
ted with Vulcan, and have seen the bride
cleansed of all impurity in the fiery bath,
which enables her to lie in the bridal bed
with her chosen spouse.

The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony. 89

Woe unto you, who neither under-
stand, nor care to understand my words !
If you knew the meaning of fixation and
volatility, and of the separation of pure
and impure, you would cease from your
foolish occupation and follow me alone.
It is I, Antimony, that speak to you. In
me you find mercury, sulphur, and salt,
the three great principles of health.
Mercury is in the regulus, sulphur in the
red colour, and salt in the black earth
which remains. Whoever can separate
these, and then re-unite and fix them by
art, without the poison, may truly call
himself blessed ; for he has the Stone,
which is called fire, and in the Stone,
which can be composed out of Antimony,
he has the means of perfect health and
temporal subsistence.

In Antimony you will find all
colours, black, white, red, green, blue,
and an incredible number of mixed tints
(besides grey and yellow), which must
all be severally known, and used in their
own proper order.

Now I will declare how the medi-

go The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

cine should be prepared and fixed, and
how all that is good in it may be in-
creased, and all that is bad diminished
and destroyed.

Here let me advertise the lover of
art that the virtue of Antimony is not
one among many precious stones, but it
combines the virtues of all other precious
stones, as is sufficiently evidenced by its
colours. Its red represents carbuncle,
pyropus, and coral ; its white, diamond
and crystal ; its blue, sapphire ; its green,
emerald ; its yellow, jacynth ; its black,
granite. As to the metals, its black cor-
responds to Saturn, its red to iron, its
yellow to gold, its green to copper, its
blue to silver, its white to mercury, its
mixed colours to tin. And not only does
Antimony contain the colours, it also
contains the virtues and qualities of all
other stones and metals, only human life
is too short for any one to learn how to
educe all the potencies that lie concealed
in the heart of Antimony. You may get
from it, by distillation, an acid humour,
like pure vinegar. By another way, you

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 91

may prepare a red pellucid substance, as
sweet as refined sugar or honey — or you
may obtain a bitter substance, like ab-
synth— or an acid substance, like salt
oil. At one time it is red, yellow, or
white, and is borne upward like a flying-
eagle. Then, again, it exhibits various
colours, and is driven downwards, and,
by reverberation, becomes a metal, like
lead. Sometimes it looks like transpa-
rent glass of a red, yellow, black, white,
or variegated colour. All of these it is
inadvisable to use in medicines unless
they have been subjected to some other
test. It may also become a variety of
subtle oils, whose medicinal virtue trans-
cends their outward appearance ; their
use is chiefly for applications to wounds
and ulcers. The manifold variations
which it undergoes might puzzle the
oracle of Delphi.

Out of it we may evolve living
mercury, and sulphur which burns like
common sulphur ; moreover, a grey pow-
der can be prepared from it, with real
natural salt and many other things.

92 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

We will therefore now speak of its
preparations, its magistery, arcanum, and
tincture, its elixir, and its special essence,
which you will be able to extract when
I have told you about the Fire-Stone and
its preparation, and many other arcana
and secrets, of which the wise men of
this world know nothing, and to which
too little attention has been paid since
the decay of the Egyptians, Arabs, and
Chaldeans. These truths are of the
greatest importance in the study of the
true medicine.

Take care that the different opera-
tions shall follow each other in the exact
order in which I declare and describe ;
for if the result is to be perfection, every
part of the work must be properly
attended to. Now, fixed medicines ex-
pel and eradicate fixed diseases ; but
Antimony, in its crude state, is only a
purgative, which does not touch the real
root of the disease.

I will therefore declare the pre-
paration of all things which belong to
Antimony ; I will deliver up the keys

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 93

thereof, and earnestly ask the student to
bear in mind that fire is the sure key by
which access is obtained to most of the
secrets of our Art. This mineral pre-
paration of Antimony is prepared in
various manners by the regimen of fire
and by a multiple manual operation,
whence its medicinal activity, virtue,
potency, and colour flow and emanate.

As Antimony is distinguished by a
crude, black colour, variegated with white,
I will now speak of the first operation to
which the substance is subjected, viz.,
calcination, or incineration, which
carried out in the following manner :

Take best Hungarian Antimony, or
any kind you can~get ; pulverize it asTine-
ly as possible, spread thinly on an earth-
enwarejdish (round or square) provided
with a low margin ; place the dish on a
calcinatory furnace over a coal fire, which
should at first be moderate. As soon as
you see smoke rise from the Antimony,
stir it about with an iron spoon, and con-
tinue doing so till there is no more
smoke, and the Antimony sticks together

94 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

in the shape of small globules. Remove
it from the fire, pulverize again into a fine
powder, place it on fire, and calcine, as
before, till there is no more smoke. This
calcination must be repeated not only till
the Antimony gives out no more smoke,
but does not conglomerate into globules,
and has the appearance of pure white

y ashes. Then has the calcination of

Antimony been successfully completed.

Place this calcined Antimony in a
crucible, such as goldsmiths use for
melting gold and silver, and set it over
a violent fire, either lighted in a wind
furnace or increased by means of the
bellows, till the Antimony becomes
liquid like pure water. To test whether
Antimony has acquired its proper glassy
transparency, dip in it an oblong piece of
cold iron, and examine the Antimony
which clings to it carefully. If it be
clear, pure, and transparent, it is all
right, and has attained its due maturity.
The tyro, or beginner, should Icnow
(these remarks are addressed to begin-
ners who are students of the Spagyric

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 95

Art) that glass, whether prepared from
metals, minerals, or any other substance,
must be subjected to heat, till it has
attained._tojnaturity, and exhibits a clear
and pellucid transparency. Let all and
several remember that that maturity and
this transparency are performed solely by
Vulcan operating on the secret and con-
cealed nature. Otherwise, it is unprofit-
able for any further medicinal develop-
ment. *

When Antimony has become vitri-

fied in the way described, heat aTS0
__ - _

* It is obvious that Basilius is here writing for beginners —
so clearly and circumstantially does he describe the very
rudiments of the work. Yet even veterans may now and
then find it no easy task to put his directions into practice.
In such difficulties I hope that my commentary may prove
useful. I have paid for the experience which it contains
with much time, labour, and expense ; and therefore I have
thought it my duty to warn and instruct those who after me
should travel the same road. I cannot say that I greatly
pity people whose minds are set only on wealth ; but I do
wish to help those who have undertaken this study for the
sake of their suffering neighbours. Such persons I exhort to
read my commentary : for one word from me may often save
them endless trouble and expense. Such a warning in time
might frequently have been worth several thousand florins to
me. I do not undertake to give elementary instructions to
the beginner, but only to remove certain obstacles out of the
way of the student.

96 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

broad copper dish over the fire, pour into
it the Antimony in as clear and thin a
state as possible, and you will have pure,
yellow, pellucid glass of Antimony. This
preparation of what I call the glass of
Antimony is the simplest, best, and most
efficacious with which I am acquainted.*

* This is a now familiar way of preparing glass of Anti-
mony. It is serviceable in many cases of illness, but (so
precarious a thing is the human constitution) its use may
now and then, in one case out of a hundred, be attended
with fatal results. I once saw a man who had taken a
quantity give up the ghost after much vomiting and violent
purging. Such casualties give a handle to the enemies of
Alchemy, but the medicine in question is administered only by
unscrupulous pseudo-Alchemists, who do not mind how
many people they kill, so long as they cure some, and gain
for themselves the reputation of great doctors. The fact is,
that the emetic virtue of Antimony inheres in its salt, which
salt harbours all its poisonous qualities. Hence feeble per-
sons derive more harm from its poison than good from its
medicinal properties. But if Antimony produces beneficial
results even when it still has an admixture of poison, how
much more beneficial is it when the poison has been re-
moved. The following is a recipe for the glass of Antimony,
which may be used without any fear of fatal results :

Take the pure glass of Antimony (of Basilius), melt in
crucible till one-third part evaporates, pound into fine
powder, pour on it best rectified spirit of wine, which must
cover the powder to the height of three inches, close, allow to
circulate for three months, and extract, spirit of wine by dis-
tillation. If the tincture be red, as it will be invariably
' should the operation have been rightly conducted, decant it

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 97

Glass of Antimony may also be
prepared with an admixture of borax, as
follows :

Take one part of crude Antimony";
and two of Venetian borax ; pound finely,
place in crucible, melt them together in
a reverberatory furnace, or by a fire kept
up with the bellows, pour into hot copper
dish, and prepare as before ; you will
then have a beautiful, pellucid Antimony ^
like pyropus.*

The redness of this Antimony may
be extracted by means of spirit of
wine.j"

\v
'

and set it apart as an excellent medicine. Once more place
the body which remains in a crucible, and melt and mould
into whatever manner you please. In artistic shapes it may
be worn as an ornament on a ring. This substance, when
dissolved overnight in a glass of wine, will act as a gentle
purgative or emetic if taken by a sick person the next
morning. The dose (two ounces or less) must be adapted to
the strength of the patient.

* This colour is only obtained by a very powerful fire.

\ Not common spirit of wine, which would be useless for
this operation, but that of the Sages, which is prepared as
follows for the extraction of this tincture : Take four ounces
of thrice-sublimed salt of ammonia ; of spirit of wine distilled
over salt of tartar, so that it is quite clear — ten ounces ; place
in phial over digestive fire till the spirit of wine is filled with
the fire or sulphur of the salt of ammonia, distil thrice in the-,

H

98 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Transparent white glass of Anti-
mony, after its commixture, is further
prepared as follows: Pound, together,
one part of Antimony till it becomes a
fine powder, and four parts of Vene-
tian borax ; melt in crucible till the
substances are in flux, when they will
become first yellow, and then white as
glass, for, under the continuous regimen
of the fire, the yellow here gives place
to the white, and a beautiful glass
results. The white colour is matured
as before, and is tested, in like man-
ner, by the insertion of a piece of cold
iron.

There are many other ways in which
Antimony may be vitrified.* I only
describe the results of my own practical
experience, and the first way of prepar-
ing Antimony, or glass of Antimony, is

ic, and you have our true menstruum, whereby the
colour is extracted out of glass of Antimony. The
tincture of this glass is also extracted by means of its
own vinegar, and thence, in this last operation, is ob-
tained a most excellent medicine.

* The curious reader may find such methods in Hart
mann, Crollius, Beguinus, and others.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 99

the very best that can be conceived for
all practical purposes. We thus purge
out the black colour, which has evapora-
ted in a volatile form through the
chimney. Nevertheless, the Antimony
still retains a considerable amount of its
poisonous nature, and I will now pro-
ceed to declare to you how the poison is
separated from the medicine, the pure
from the impure, in return for which
instruction I expect the everlasting
gratitude of all my readers, and the
approbation of all discerning men in
every part of the world.

The first separation of sulphur from
its body, and the extraction of the Tinc-
ture from its salt, are performed as
follows :

Take pure glass of Antimony pre-
pared in the first way, and uncombined
with any foreign matter ; pound it as fine
as the finest flour, and place in a broad-
bottomed glass vessel, called Cucurbit.1*

* In order that the powder may be as fine as required,
mix the Antimony with some distilled vinegar into a thickish
paste, and pound in a mortar of porphyry.

ioo The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Pour over the Antimony some
highly rectified vinegar, subject to di-
gestive fire, or, in summer, expose to the
rays of the sun, shaking it once and again
every day.*

Let this slow digestion be con-
tinued till the vinegar assumes a yellow,
or rather a reddish, colour, like that of
well purified gold. Then pour off this
clear and pure extracted substance, add
more vinegar, and repeat the same pro-
cess till no more gold-coloured Tincture
can be extracted. Mix all the extract,
filter, place in cucurbit, put on lid, distil
the vinegar in S. Mary's Bath, till there
remains at the bottom a gold-coloured
powder approaching red ; pour on this
powder distilled rain water ; let it evapo-
rate by distillation, add more rain water,

* When I followed this latter direction literally, the sub-
stance became solid like a stone, and stuck to the bottom of
the vessel, so that I could not get it off. At length, being
warned by experience, I shook the vessel five or six times
daily, stirring the substance with a wooden spoon, and you
will be wise if you profit by my experience in this matter, not
only as regards the present experiments, but in the prepara-
tion of the glass, and in every exti action of the tincture of
Antimony.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 101

k(V /"and repeat this till all the acidity is
,> washed out, and there remains a sweet
Land pleasant powder.*

This sweet powder you should pound

in a hot marble or glass mortar, place in
» cucurbit, pour on it best highly rectified
j spirit of wine till it covers the powder
I to the height of three inches ; expose
> to gently digestive heat, as above, and

there will be extracted a beautiful red
1 Tincture with an earthy sediment at the
, bottom.

* The Author's directions are correct, but if you have
much extract, you must take a large vessel ; yet the vessel
should not be larger than the quantity of the extract requires
— else the fire necessary to bring about the distillation will
h^ve to be fiercer than the Tincture can bear. When two-
thirds of the Tincture have evaporated, change the vessel,
and distil the remaining Tincture in a smaller vessel, till
there is left a thickish paste. If you drain the powder
altogether of moisture, it will be burned. The method by
which you may know whether the powder is as sweet and
free from acid taste as it should be, is to taste a little of the
water which you have drained off by evaporation. If you
are not careful, however, you may still make a mistake, and
spoil everything. For you must distinguish carefully between
the acidity of the vinegar and the acidity of the Antimony ;
else you may go on with the distillation after all the acidity
of the vinegar has been removed, and distil all the acidity,
i.e., all the strength out of the Antimony.

IO2 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

The extract is sweet and pleasant
to the taste ; the sediment still retains its
poisonous character, but the Tincture is
a wonderfully potent external Remedy,
both for man and beast, passing almost
the possibility of belief in any one who is
inexperienced in this matter.

Three or four grains of this medi-
cine will cure leprosy, and the new
French disease. It purifies the blood,
dispels melancholy, resists every
poison, removes asthma and all chest
complaints, including difficulty of
breathing, and relieves the stitch in the
side. Moreover, this Remedy cures
many other diseases, if it be properly
applied.*

The yellow powder mentioned above,^
from which the extract has not yet been l

* This Medicine, which has no violent cathartic or pur-
gative effects, acts gently on our spirits, imparting to them
the Universal Spirit of Nature, and insensibly restoring the
whole organism to perfect health. But before its purification
it is like a jewel on a dung heap, and utterly unable to mani-
fest or exhibit its virtue. The Tincture spoken of in the text
has all the virtue ascribed to it by the Author. But its use
should be continued for some time, in order to secure its full
benefits.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 103

made by means of spirit of wine, should
be pounded on a hot stone, and placed in
n egg, boiled hard, from which the yolk
has been taken out ; leave the powder in
a humid place, till it is dissolved into a
yellow liquid. This Tincture, used as a
liniment, is an excellent remedy for all
fresh wounds and bruises. The wound
should be painted with it by means of a
soft feather, and then bandaged with
clean linen. The cure will be effected
without putrefaction, inflammation, or
suppuration, and that so completely as
to call forth adoration and thanks unto
Him who hath created heaven and earth,
and hath permitted such a medicine to
exist therein.*

You may use this extract or balm of
Antimony for the cure of all inveterate,
inflamed, or corrosive wounds, and it will
never fail you ; lupus and cancer yield to
it ; so does caries, and the most malignant

* Take care, in removing the yolk, not to tear or disturb
the thin pellicle which separates the white from the yolk— or
else your Tincture will get mixed with albumen and the
greater part will be lost to you.

IO4 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

and neglected of ulcers, even those that
are alive with worms cannot withstand
it.*

I am acquainted with two methods
of reducing the glass of Antimony to an
oil by means of distillation in the alembic.
Take glass of Antimony, just as it is7
:> composed from the minera of Antimony,
pound to fine powder, extract its tincture
by means of distilled vinegar, remove all
traces of acidity (as above), add spirit of
wine, and circulate in a pelican vessel,
well closed, for a month ; dexterously

* If our Surgeons believed the words of Basilius, how
ea -jer they would be to obtain this balm of Antimony ! And,
indeed, the Author rather underrates the virtues of this
remedy than otherwise, as I myself can testify. A woman
of 40 years had for seven years suffered from a hard
malignant swelling in her left breast. All the Doctors and
Surgeons whom she consulted declared her disease to be an
aggravated case of cancer. A most celebrated physician
said that the only means of cure was the amputation of the
breast. To this doubtful and desperate course the woman
would not consent, and, as a last resource, she came to me.
I thought that, in an extreme instance like this, where one
breast was twice as large as the other, and filled with
cancerous matter, I might venture to employ the balm of
Antimony, even for a disease in which Basilius does not
authorize its use. The upshot of the matter was that, in less
than two months, the woman was restored to perfect health.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 105

distil it,* without adding anything, and
you will have a red oil, from which the

Fire Stone is afterwards formed, which,
also, is a sweet, pleasant, and wonderful
Medicine.

This oil is the quintessence, or the
highest form of Antimony. There must
be four preparations before Antimony is
perfect, and the fifth point of consid-
eration is its USES and its APPLICATION to
the human body. The first preparation
is calcination and liquefaction into glass ;

* The great difficulty which puzzled me for many years,
is how to bring about this dexterous distillation. Shall I
describe it to you in a riddle ? Haste slowly ; " a bitch in a
hurry brings forth blind pups." By mean of Bacchus, Juno,
and Vulcan, you must give your substance wings, but restrain
it from flying away. Let Mercury instruct it in the Art of
flying. Hold it at first by a string, lest it rise upward beyond
your reach before the time and fall headlong, like Icarus, with
scorched wings. In due season, you may suffer it to spread
its wings, for then it will wing its flight to the Isles of the
Blest. Do you accuse me of mocking you after the manner
of Tantalus ? What would you have ? I may not cast pearls
before swine, or lightly make the mystery of mysteries the
common property of fools and knaves. Those who under-
stand the Art, understand me. If you do not understand
me, ponder, read, and study the books of the Sages ; com-
pare their parables with mine, and you will see that I have
shed much ?dditiona.l light on the subject.

106 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

the second is digestion, by which the ex-
tract is perfected ; the third is coagula-
tion ; the fourth is its distillation into an
oil, the subtle being separated from the
gross. Then follows fixation by the last
coagulation, and thereby you obtain the
pellucid fiery Stone - which can operate
on metals only when it is fermented, and
rendered penetrative. Even so, it can
only act in a particular manner, as I
shall explain further on, when I speak
of the Fire Stone.

The distilled oil, of which I have
spoken, accomplishes all purposes for
which it can be employed by the phy

sician.*

* If I did not know that Basilius is here declaring no
more than the bare truth, I should take him for one of the
quacks and mountebank charlatans of the market place.
But experience has taught me that he rather understates than
exaggerates his case. If you do not believe me, the way is
open for you to try. I repeat that this Oil, if properly used,
is truly an Universal Medicine. The body must, however,
first have been purged of its gross humours by means of
general remedies. Moreover, there are some diseases which
are incurable, r.nd I do not say that our Oil is of any avail
against these. I have the most irrefragable evidence that this
medicine acts like magic in all fever, and especially the quartan
fever, the reproach of the old system. In 1665 I cured a

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 107

The proper dose of this oil before
coagulation is eight grains dissolved in
pure wine. It restores youth and dis-
pels melancholy ; the hair and the nails
are renewed, and the whole frame is
renovated, as the Phcenix is said to be
renovated by fire. It destroys all ad-
verse symptoms like a consuming fire,
but itself cannot be consumed by fire ;
its action is as universal as that of
potable gold. The Star of the Sun, if
properly fixed, alone excels all other
remedies ; for the Star of the Sun and
the Star of Mercury arise from one

very bad case of dropsy < a girl of twenty-one) by two doses
of this medicine daily for twenty days ; at the end of that
period the body had been reduced to its proper dimensions
by means of profuse perspirations and other modes of excre-
tion. Notice, O lover of learning, should you chance to
prepare it yourself, or to receive it prepared by another, that
this oil does not imitate the operation of other diaphoretics, the
first dose of which provokes perspiration. But if it be placed
in a body obstructed by humours, the first dose effects nothing,
except slowly opening the pores ; on the second day it
gently stimulates perspiration ; on the third day there is
profuse sweating ; on the fourth day water is removed from
the system in large quantities. But this is a matter for the
physicians ; the Key of Hercules is useless if it be iiot in the
hands of Hercules.

io8 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

mother's blood, and from one fountain
of vitalizing health.*

No one need be afraid that this oil
of Antimony, distilled with vinegar,
afterwards with the purest spirit of
wine, then most skilfully extracted, and,
lastly, though of all most important,
exalted by means of fire, will ever act
as a purgative ; it purifies the body by
means of perspiration, and by means of
urinary and salivary excretions.

Common glass of Antimony is pul-
— ^ verized ; six grains or more are absolved
in warm wine overnight ; in the morn-
ing the wine is drunk without the
sediment, and purges, both by laxation
and vomiting, on account of the poison-
ous crudeness which still remains in
glass of Antimony. f It is impossible

* The gold and the Mercury here spoken of are not the
common metals, but the gold and Mercury of the Sages,
more precious by far than is any ordinary metal, more
powerful than all other Mercury, that even which was
fabled to restore the dead to life. Therefore, I advise you
not rashly to spend your money on that which cannot profit.

t This emetic is now commonly used by all quacks, but
not always with happy results. It is as with the sword of
brave Scanderbeg, the Castriot. The Sultan Mahomet

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 109

that I should be acquainted with all the
secrets of Antimony, as my life is short,
and I am only a man ; but even in the
grave I will praise you, if by careful
study and experiment you succeed in
improving upon and supplementing my
discoveries. Common glass of Anti-
mony may be reduced into an oil, which
will be quite safe, and of great value, in
epileptic cases, as I shall at once pro-
ceed to explain.

Pound the glass of Antimony intoTl
as fine a powder as possible, add ompha-
cium, digest for some days in a broad-
bottomed cucurbit well-closed with clay, N

desired to see this miraculous sword which had wrought
such wonders in the battlefield. But when it was sent to
him, he could perceive nothing remarkable about it. " No
wonder," said a courtier, "for Scanderbeg has sent his
sword, but he has not sent his arm. " The best medicine in
unskilled hands may produce fatal results. In order to be
quite safe, I prepare this emetic as follows : R. Four ounces
of pure glass of Antimony, and half-an-ounce of Venetian
borax ; melt them together, when you will have a green glossy
substance like emerald ; pound fine, and put into French
wine ; keep it in a warm place for some days ; then give to
the patient, according to his strength, one to two ounces of
this mixture. This emetic is quite safe, and if you pour
more wine on the sediment it will be just as efficacious an
emetic as the first.

no The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

IV

till all the moisture is abstracted ; pound
with a double quantity of clarified sugar,
moistened with spirit of vinegar ; place
in a retort, and distil, in the name of
God, at the end, with a strong fire ; you
will then have a red oil — which must be
clarified to transparency with spirit of
wine.*

To this oil add a little spirit of salt,
and pour the whole into a subtle prepa-
ration of "calx of gold," which has
previously been prepared with its water,
after a manner which I have laid down in
my other writings ; it will then transcend
the alembic. When they are thus dis-
tilled together, it assumes the Tincture
of gold, and leaves the body intact, t

* This process is somewhat difficult. Basilius would say
thxt the oil must be carried across the alembic. It is the
" dexterous distillation " which I explained to you above.

t Do you understand the riddle, my friend ? You can-
not understand it, unless there come an CEdipus to solve it
_ for you, or an Alexander to cut the Gordian Knot. The
difficulty lies in the fact that all solvents by which tinctures
are extracted must themselves be colourless ; for, unless they
) are so, how can you know whether you have really extracted
the Tincture, or only recovered your solvent ? I will tell you
\_briefly how I carried out this operation in the year 1665. I
V rectified the red oil in the retort, and obtained a white oil of

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, in

When this fermentation has taken V
place, the medicine which results is so
wonderfully efficacious that I might fill
several books with an enumeration of its
virtues.

But any physician, who will dili-

a pleasant acid taste ; I poured to it half as much spirit of T
salt, digested the two together for a month in a retort, in
order to effect their conjunction, and then still further amal-
gamated them by distillation ; then I poured them on the
calx of gold, and digested the mixture for a month, till it was
of a golden colour, approaching red. Thereupon, I gently
poured out the tincture, and softly removed the moisture after
it had been placed in a retort. A reddish powder then re-
mained at the bottom, which I sweetened with distilled rain
water, and again extracted the Tincture with spirit of wine.

Then I restored that winged red dragon, gave him his tail to 1 (\ I fo
eat for six whole months, and obtained a most sweet and
pleasant Tincture, ten or twelve grains of which remove, by

»%-n"irt »-».-. ^-T t-v/avc-r-viwof 4/^*1 tit A Y>-n-\vV»i£r» *v»o f f/av *~f t*\7f*r\r i^iirfaVilf*

means of perspiration, the morbific matter cf every curable
disease. The solvent which is employed must not only be
sweet and free from corrosive properties, it must also be of
a nature homogeneous with that of the substance on which it
is poured, in order that it may extract from the mercury of
the body a good and pure sulphur. Rectified spirit of wine
is the most congenial to the sulphur of our substance, which
does not amalgamate with the spirit of salt. But as to the
Tincture which is obtained in this way, you must not suppose
for a moment that it is the Potable Gold of the Sages. That
would be a serious mistake. The Tincture is most precious,
but it has only the colour, and not the weight of potable ,
gold. About this potable Tincture of Gold it is not my.
business to speak in this place.

1 1 2 The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony.

gently and philosophically consider the
subject, will discover fresh virtues in
this Medicine every day, and will learn
more from its use than from his whole
Pharmacopoeia beside.

When you have prepared Antimony
to this point, you may justly boast that
you have solved the enigma of the
Sages, and that you have learned the
Magistery which is known only to few.

This Magisterium, when mixed
with a solution or tincture of corals, and
taken in some cordial water, heals all
diseases which proceed from some im-
pure condition of the blood, strengthens
the nerves, promotes chastity and good-
ness, and makes a man fit for every
business which he takes in hand.

We should, therefore, at all times
thank the Creator for implanting such
wonderful virtues in created things, and
for supplying us with the means of dis-
pelling every disease and weakness.

We will now briefly continue our
instruction concerning the Arcana of
Antimony.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 113

Take one part, of finely pulverized
Antimony, and "„ pulverized salt-armo-

niac,* so called because it comes from
Armenia ; mix these together, place
in a retort, and distil together, t On
the product of this distillation pour hot,
distilled (common) rain water, removing
thereby every salt and acrid taste. Then
the Antimony will be of a pure, brilliant,
and feathery white ; dry with subtle heat,
place in the circulatory vessel called
pelican, pour to it highly rectified spirit
of vitriol, and circulate till they are
properly amalgamated. J Then distil

* The quantities of the two should be equal.

tThe retort should be of the kind exhibited on page
114, consisting of A Furnace, P. Retort, C Receiver, D Tube,
between Receiver and Alembic E. F is a furnace which
sublimes by its moderate heat all that is in the Receiver into
Alembic E ; and so the substance which is distilled from the
Retort B is immediately sublimed by the fire of the furnace
F. This retort is useful in every kind of sublimation.

JThis union must be so close that in distillation the
two shall rise together, otherwise you will lose both your
oil and your labour. Amalgamation in Alchemy is not
merely mixing two liquids : the union must be inseparable,
and the ingredients must really change and modify each
other. The union should be like that of male and female
seed, which produces a real organism, that is, something more
than a mere mixture of the two ingredients. Later on in

I

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 115

together, pour to mixture spirit of wine,
and circulate again. Remove the sedi-
ment, which will have settled at the
bottom, and you will then have the
arcanum thoroughly amalgamated with
the spirits of vitriol and of wine. When
this arcanum has been rectified a final
time, one drop of it mixed with rose
water has greater medicinal value than
a whole potful of herbs ; it is a good
appetizer and digestive, purifies the
blood, and cures colic as by magic.

After the arcanum of Antimony
comes its Elixir.* In the name of the
Lord, take some good minera of Anti-
mony, pulverize it finely, sublime with
half as much salt of ammonia ; put all
that is sublimed into a glass retort, distil
thrice (always removing sediment), ab-
stract salt by edulcoration, reverberate

this work I give a drawing of the vessel in which I effect this
union between different substances. Spirit of wine easily
unites with other substances, but is as easily separated
from them.

* This operation is easy, and we say nothing about it,
to shew that we have not written our commentary for the
purpose of putting ourselves forward.

•

u6 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

T the Antimony over a moderate fire in a
] well-closed vessel, till it becomes red,
add strong distilled vinegar of wine,
extract its redness, remove vinegar, till
there remains a powder (by means of
S. Mary's Bath). Extract with spirit
of wine, so as to remove the sediment :
you will then have a clear and pure
Tincture. Place this spirit of wine with
the tincture in a broad-bottomed cucur-
bit, add some tincture of corals, and
quintessence of rhubarb, and administer
a dose of three or four drops. It acts
as a painless purgative, and has an
exhilarating effect on the animal
spirits.

Some physician may wonder that a
mixture of Antimony and rhubarb, which
are both violent in their action, should
answer for a gentle laxative. Let such
an one know that purified Antimony
does not affect the bowels at all ; the pur-
gative action proceeds from the rhubarb,
which is rendered more soothing by the
Antimony. By means of the clearance
which the rhubarb effects, the Antimony

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 117

is enabled to work more successfully on
the system.*

The Elixir prepared in this way has
the same power of penetrating and per-
vading the body with its purifying-
properties, that Antimony has of pene-
trating and purifying gold. If I were
to count up and describe all its virtues,
I should have to ask God to grant
me a longer life, in order that I might
be able to explore so many wonderful
properties.

In fulfilment of my promise, I here
describe those experiments which I have
myself carried out. It would not become
me to speak of that which I do not know.
I have quite enough to do to commemo-
rate that of which I have had practical
experience. There is plenty of scope
for those who come after me to inves-
tigate the marvels of Antimony. No
one is more acutely sensible than myself

* The difference between the purgatives of Medicine and
the purgatives of Alchemy is as follows : the former cause
violent purging, but have no power to set up a curative pro-
cess ; the latter possess the double virtue both of purging and
healing.

1 1 S The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony.

that I have by no means exhausted the
subject.

This much, however, I have proved
beyond a possibility of doubt — that
Antimony not only purifies gold, and
frees it from all foreign matter, while it
also ameliorates all other metals, but it
does the same for animal bodies, as re-
gards both men and brutes. I may
illustrate this by a simple experiment. If
a man wishes to fatten a pig, let him
give to the pig, two or three days before
he begins to fatten it, half a drachm of
crude Antimony, so as to cause a thorough
cleaning out of the bowels ; the pig will
then eat more freely, fatten more quickly,
and be freed from any bilious or leprous
disease to which he may be subject.

This illustration may seem some-
what unpolished and unsavoury to the
great ; but it has the strong recom-
mendation of being familiar and apposite,
and of rendering the matter really clear
to the general body of my readers. Of
course, I do not advocate that crude Anti-
mony should be administered to human

The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony. 1 1 9

beings : the brutes can digest raw flesh,
and many other things which would
overpower the strength of the human
stomach. Amongst different individuals
of the human family, there are also con-
stitutional and other differences, which
tax the skill and knowledge of the
physician in determining the quantity
that will be relatively suitable for a strong
young man and a feeble old woman.

I will now proceed to speak of the
further preparation and fixation of Anti-
mony. Antimony, in its fixed state,
resembles the spirit of wine which is
separated from its body, and warms the
body of man inwardly, while, if applied
outwardly, it attracts to itself all the heat
of an inflamed part. But wine which has
become vinegar cools both inwardly and
outwardly. Yet both spirit of wine and
vinegar are preparations of the same
substance.

The reason of this difference is that
vinegar has undergone only digestion,
i.e., putrefaction of the wine, with vege-
table fixation. But the spirit of wine is

I2O The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

prepared by separation, i.e., distillation,
or vegetable sublimation, which renders
the spirit volatile. In the same way,
Antimony has different effects in accord-
ance with the difference of its preparation.
Its fixation is brought about in the
following manner : Pulverize some Anti-
mony, place it in a broad-bottomed dis-
tilling-vessel, namely, in a cucurbit, pour
upon it aqua fortis to the height of six
inches, close well with clay, and expose
to gentle heat for ten days, to accomplish
extraction : decant the pure and clear
extract thus obtained, free it by filtration
from all faecal impurities, place in glass
vessel, and remove all the aqua fortis
by distillation in the ashes. There will
then remain at the bottom a dry, yellow
powder of Antimony : pour on it dis-
tilled rain water, expose in similar glass
vessel to moderate heat, and you will
have a red tincture (or extract) ; filter,
distil the rain water gently in S. Mary's
Bath, and there will remain a red pow-
der. Pour on it strong distilled vinegar,
which, in time, is coloured red, like blood,

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 121

and deposits a sediment. Distil this
vinegar again, and again there remains a
red powder. Reverberate this powder
continuously for three days over an open
fire, and extract from it the tincture with
spirit of wine ; then strain off the sedi-
ment that remains from the Tincture.

Again remove by distillation the
spirit of wine (by S. Mary's Bath), and
there will remain a fixed red powder of
wondrous efficacy/''" Half a drachm
should be taken thrice daily, in the
morning, at noon, and in the evening.
It cleanses all ulcers, radically cures the
French disease (syphilis), and renovates
the whole frame.

It is now desirable that I should
proceed to describe the preparation of
the Flowers of Antimony, which is per-
formed in various manners, j"

* This is not the fixed Antimony sold by apothecaries :
no, our fixed red powder is not to be bought either with
silver or with gold, seeing that it is infinitely more precious
than either. Let him that has this fixed powder use it in
chronic diseases, especially where it is important to excite
perspiration, and he will see the most wonderful effects.

t From the following pages, as from all contemporary
literature, you may see in what evil repute the Art of

122 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Of these flowers of Antimony the
world knows little or nothing, and it
will not be able to appreciate my pre-
scription. The students and friends of
this Spagyric Art, on the other hand,
will estimate it at its right value.
Nevertheless, I warn you, my disciples,
that if you desire to be true and earnest
Alchemists, you must take your cross
upon you, and follow me. You must
learn, as I have learned, to suffer, to
submit to persecution, to knock at the

Alchemy was held in the time of Basilius, and how many
theological and political authorities were to be found in the
army of ignorance arrayed against it. Now, you should
understand that I do not blame these writers for visiting
with the most severe invective those mountel ank quacks
who practised their criminal intrigues under the cloak of
this Art. Such persons I consider as deserving not only
emphatic censure, but the most severe punishment. But
men of education and piety should not have been so blind
as to confound the innocent with the guilty, and to involve
honest Alchemists in one sweeping condemnation with these
charlatans. In our times the dense cloud of ignorance is
here and there shot with light ; physicians do not venture to
condemn Alchemy, and even prescribe Alchemistic remedies.
When will the darkness be utterly dispersed by the advent,
of the Artist Elias, which Paracelsus predicts in some of his
books, as, for instance, in the 8th chapter of his treatise De
Mtnerahbus : " The common things God permits us to
make known, but the more momentous secrets cannot

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony* 123

gate of God's mercy without ceasing,
and to work patiently and unweariedly.
Then God will never leave you nor
forsake you, as He has never forsaken
me. But as to the flowers of Antimony,
you should learn that they may be
prepared in different ways, which all
students of Alchemy know. Some mix
them with salt ammonia, drive them
through the retort, and then wash out
the ammonia. These flowers are of a
beautiful white colour. Others sublime

become public property till the coming of the Artist Ettas/'
And to the same notion he gives expression in another place
( Lib. Min. Tract. 7.) : " It is indeed true that many things
still remain hidden in the earth of which I, as well as others,
am ignorant. But this I know, that God will successively
reveal many marvels, and will bring to light many more
things than have hitherto been known to us all. This is
true — there is nothing hidden which shall not be uncovered.
After me there shall come one, whose equal does not live, and
who shall reveal many things." Therefore take heart, good
student of Alchemy, and prepare the way of EJias, who will
reveal more than has ever been known on earth before,
because of the wickedness of men. Give to the world as
much of this medicine of 1ruth as, in its present condition,
it can assimilate, in order that it may gradually get well,
and be prepared for the times of Elias. " For the arts,"
adds Theophrastus, " equally possess their Elias, and it is
understood of the rest."

124 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

them over a strong fire, and, by placing
three alembics on each other, they
manage to prepare white, yellow, and
red flowers at the same time. I have
tried these ways, and find them useful ;
but the most potent and efficacious
flowers of Antimony are prepared as
follows : Mix red flowers of Antimony
with colcotar of vitriol, and sublime the
mixture thrice. Then the essence of
vitriol ascends with the flowers, and
they become more effectual. Extract
the flowers with spirit of wine, remove
sediment, distil spirit of wine in Bath of
S. Mary, till there remains a dry
powder, which represents the purified
flowers of Antimony. These I have
shewn to the other friars, and to many
who have consulted me in their spiritual
and physical difficulties.

These flowers act as a gentle pur-
gative ; they cure tertian and quartan
fever, and most other diseases, so much
so that I have determined, by the help
of my Saviour Jesus and the most holy
Mary, His Mother, to bequeath in my

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 125

will to suffering humanity all the reme-
dies which I have extracted from the
bowels of the earth. The sublimed
Antimony, called flowers of Antimony,
is like the springs which well forth on
high mountains. Water is found both
by digging in the deep places of the
earth, and it rushes forth with great
force on the summits of high mountains.
How is this most remarkable fact to be
explained ? I believe that the womb of
waters in the earth is more copiously
stored in some places than in others, so
that while you have to dig for water in
certain districts, in others, owing no
doubt to sidereal influences, it is drawn
upward with great force to the snowy
summits of the Alps, and to the pin-
nacles of the Tower of Babylon.* If
any foolish person should read these

* This parable is so clear to those from whose eyes the
cataract has been removed, that to explain it would be like
lighting a candle at noonday. Those who do not under-
stand it should ponder it again and again, and let that which
they read to-day explain the difficulties of yesterday, and the
studies of to morrow throw light on the uncertainties of to-
day.

126 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

words, he will think that I am either
mad or drunk with wine. Well, I shall
then only be subjected to the same
suspicion as the disciples of the Saviour.
The water which rises by sublimation to
the mountain tops is purer and more
wholesome than that which is found in
the bowels of the earth. But if it be
driven upward, the earth still remains to
the Sages, and the salt can be extracted
as a means of separating the good from
the evil, the pure from the impure, the
gross from the subtle, the medicine from
the poison. Just in the same way, we
sons of earth are laid in the earth, and
there putrefy and are corrupted, till at
the last we are sublimed by the fire and
heat of heaven, and are purged of all
our sins and impurities, and become sons
of God and heirs of eternal life.

Let no one be offended at this
comparison of earthly and temporal
sublimation to heavenly and spiritual
sublimation. What I say, I say ad-
visedly, and yet I know very well the
difference between black and white,

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 127

between the gloom of earth and the
serene brightness of heaven. Let us,
therefore, proceed to describe another
preparation of Antimony. All the dif-
ferent extracts of Antimony exhibit the
most striking diversity in their practical
effects. Yet their substance is the same,
and they all are produced from the same
source. It follows that their practical
difference is altogether due to their pre-
paration.

For instance, whatever is extracted
from Antimony, or from anything else,
by means of spirit of wine, acts quite
differently from that which is extracted
by means of good vinegar. Extracts
made by means of spirit of wine have a
strongly purgative effect ; extracts due to
vinegar are rather constipating, because
the volatile is thereby fixed and solidified.

This is a great arcanum, and of
much more profound application than
the common herds, whether they be
masters or slaves, learned or unlearned,
will be disposed to think.

Extracts are made from Antimony

128 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

either by means of spirit of wine, or by
means of vinegar. Extract of glass of
Antimony purges when made in the
former way ; but made in the latter way,
it does not occasion purgative action,
and rather the reverse. Such facts as
these, with which I have dealt at some
length in my other writings, should set
thoughtful men meditating, and may
open up to them the inmost shrine of
philosophical knowledge.

First of all, it is wonderful that
every extract made with spirit of wine
should have purgative properties ; while
an extract of glass of Antimony, first
made with vinegar, and (after the
purging away of the vinegar) extracted
with spirit of wine, retains not a trace of
its purgative properties, but cleanses the
system by means of sweats and salivary
excretion through the mouth, purifies
the blood, cures pulmonary disease, re-
lieves asthma, and the most inveterate
coughs and colds ; and is a most ad-
mirable medicine.

Another extract of Antimony is pre-

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 129

pared in the following way : Pulverize
crude Antimony, pour to it strong min-
eral vinegar, put in vessel, close well,
and expose to the gentle rays of the sun.
After some time the vinegar will assume
a blood-red colour. Filter the extract,
and distil again in an alembic ; it will
then exhibit some admirable and beauti-V
ful colours.

This oil is red as blood, has a
considerable sediment, and is of the
greatest medicinal value, especially in
the cure of leprosy.* It heals the new

* How timid has the wickedness of his contemporaries
made our Valentine ! He does not tell us that from this
oil is prepared the quintessence of all things, extolled by
Peter of Spain as the greatest secret of philosophy. He
speaks so obscurely here of this all-important matter that it
is clear he has only written it in order to let the initiated
see that he was acquainted with the mystery. But in order
that you may not have spent your money in vain in buying
this book, and your time in reading it, I will give you clear
and straightforward directions which you must take care to
follow out in every particular. Take best friable Antimony, •
for the crude kind, in spite of the advice of Basilius, is of <
no use, because in its first distillation it has been deprived of
its most subtle sulphur ; pulverise finely, pass through fine
sieve, place in broad-bottomed distilling vessel (cucurbita),
add vinegar, distilled from its own proper minera, digest for
forty days. The vinegar will then be tinged, as it were, with J

K

1 30 The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony.

disease which has only recently made its
appearance among our soldiers (venereal
disease), and utterly consumes all morbific
matter. Hence the physician should not
grudge the time and trouble which must
be given to the preparation of this
Remedy.

Another extract of Antimony is
prepared as follows : In the name of the
Lord, take Antimony and crude tartar in
equal parts, pulverize well together, place
in strong crucible, which will not let the
spirits escape ; calcine the substances in

r

blood. Pour this red Tincture into a retort, gently remove
the vinegar by distillation^ Make an extract of the powder
which remains with spirit of wine, which will be of a blood-
red colour. Pour into a circulatory vessel, like that repre-
sented on page 131, which is the most suitable I have met
with for the volatilisation of substances. Digest the extract
in S. Mary's Bath, till you see the tincture rise upward, and
pass in a volatile state through the alembic. Let it cool.
Place the whole substance in a glass cucurbit, distil the
spirit according to art, and when it passes through the
alembic it will be of a blood-red colour. Remove the spirit
, of wine, and you will have a thick, heavy oil. How this
oil is united with its salt, and is then most valuable for the
amelioration of metals, I will tell you in another place.
In the meantime you may use the oil as a most efficacious
Medicine, which prevails in desperate cases, accomplishing
its purpose by profuse sweating.

132 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

a wind furnace till the tartar is entirely
burned ; pulverize the burnt substance,
pour over it common hot water, and
cleanse and sweeten the substance with
lye. It will then become a " liver"
(hepar), a name given to it by the
ancients.* Dry this "liver," place it in
a cucurbit, add pure spirit of wine, ex-
tract the spirit by distillation in S.
Mary's Bath, so that a third part of it
remains. (First strain the spirit, etc.,
through a piece of paper.) This extract
should be used with great caution. It is

* The liver is a thing highly esteemed by gourmands,
and so is liver of Antimony among Alchemists. The opera-
tion is greatly improved by substituting salt of tartar for
plain tartar. Nor does Basilius tell us that the mortar in
which they are pounded must be hot ; also he forgets to
specify the quantity of the water in which the powder must
be dissolved that it may assume a more beautiful colour.
Now, in this exaltation of colour there is a great inhering
virtue. Further, he omits to say that the precipitation of
the "liver" in the water takes place by means of vinegar.
Moreover, this fusion of Antimony, like all such fusions,
must be carried out on a bright sunny day. For, if you
laugh at me when I affirm that the heavenly bodies have
an important influence on the operations of the Alchemist,
I also will laugh at you when your experiments come to
nought. I know better than to waste any elaborate refu-
tation on those who make our Art and its claims the subject

TJie Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 133

a remarkable fact that the spirit of wine
thenceforward refuses to mingle with the
red extract whence it is derived, but
floats on it, like oil upon water. But if
the tincture of spirit of wine be poured
on the Hver__of\Antimony, it will attract
it, yet the two will not amalgamate with
the first extract. Who can declare all
the wonders of God ? Or who can
rightly value the gifts which He has im-
planted in His creatures?*

I have spoken of the extract made
from glass of Antimony by means of

of their scorn. For we speak of what we have seen with our
eyes, and handled with our hands — but those ignorant per-
sons suppose that they can establish a claim to wisdom by
sneering at that of which they can know nothing. True
lovers of Alchemy refuse to cast their pearls before swine. I
affirm, then, that at certain seasons of the year, the liver of
Antimony has a deeper colour and greater efficacy than that
prepared at other times, its curative potency being greater
both with regard to metals and to human bodies. As to the
virtues of this medicine, there is no need of any elaborate
recommendation. Everyone who has tried it knows its
value, and is ready to exchange for it its weight in gold.

* In the following passage the Author speaks like a. faith-
ful teacher, who again and again inculcates the same truths
upon the minds of his disciples. Yet he says that he does not
u>e a single word too many, and therefore it will be well for
you to keep your eyes open, and to listen with both your ears.

1 34 The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony.

vinegar, and also by means of spirit of
wine. Now I say that when this extract
has been made with vinegar, and the
vinegar removed (in S. Mary's Bath),
the powder which remains is dissolved
in a moist place into a yellow liquid.
This liquid is wonderfully effective in
the cure of old and fresh wounds, and my
hand would weary of holding my pen if
I attempted to set forth all its virtues.
The same efficacy belongs to an extract
from this powder before the solution
with spirit of wine has been made. In
the matter of internal disorders, it yields
nothing to other medicaments.

I have described this preparation at
some length in this treatise on Anti-
mony, as well as in my other writings,
because I know its value ; and I, there-
fore, trust and hope that my readers will
not think the apparent repetitions in my
books tedious. For though I may seem
to repeat myself, I can assure you that I
do not write a single word which does
not demand the most careful attention on
the part of the reader. Children and

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 135

fools suppose that all is easy, because
they do not understand it — but my true
disciples will in course of time, and by
dint of steady thought, apprehend my
meaning.

Another extract is obtained by
means of caustic water in the following
manner : Take equal parts of vitriol and
of common salt ; from these distil a water
through the side.* The product, after
violent heat, is a substance like melted
butter, or olive oil. Reserve it for use.
Pulverize the caput mortuum very finely,
dissolve in water, strain through paper ;
take Hungarian Antimony, pulverize
finely, place in broad-bottomed cucurbit,
add to it water, and subject to heat.
After remaining there for a certain time,
it becomes like an amethyst, of a dark
violet ; increase the heat of the fire till

* I will tell you how to do this, in order to avoid burst-
ing your vessels, during the distillation of the spirits of
metals. Put the substance into an earthen retort A, through
opening B, but gradually ; close up the opening ; the spirits
then pass into recipient C, thence through D into recipient
E, and thence again into receiver F ; the grosser spirits (G)
remain at the bottom of receiver C, the more subtle spirits
settle at the bottom of receiver F. See page 136.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 137

the substance becomes blue like a sap-
phire ; from this is precipitated a white
powder by the effusion of common water.
This powder is an emetic and purgative
like the red^ extract of glass of\Ajritimony.
In the first solution made of the caput
mortuum, you may subject thin plates of
iron to coction, and will then truly trans-
mute Mars into Venus, as experience
shews us. Again take the distilled oil
or water before mentioned, pour over it
crocus of Mars, reverberate with sulphur
until it becomes red, expose to heat,
and the tincture of iron, like blood, will
be extracted. Take one part of this ex-
tract and three parts of the red extract
of Antimony, which was prepared with
burnt saltpetre and spirit of wine.*

* In the next sentence Basilius asks us to use water of
Mercury, whose preparation he describes in the tract called
Supplement. Moreover, there must be an opening in the
retort, through which the water of Mercury is gradually
poured in. If you put in too much of the Mercury at once,
it may burst and overturn the retort and the furnace as well ;
hence you should have a succession of retorts (as on page
136) all in communication with each other. But as every
true chemist is familiar with the potency of this Mercury in
the resolution of metals, I will not enlarge on this point.

138 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Inject gradually, by means of a long tube,
one part of water of Mercury ; add half-
a-part of calx of gold dissolved in caustic
water ; distil all together over a gentle
fire, and there will remain at the bottom
a beautiful fixed solution.* The sanative
virtues of this fixed solution are great,
especially in the cure of open wounds.
From the dead body which remains is
prepared a solvent far more acrid than
the strongest agua^fortis. The white
powder is prepared from Antimony in
the following way : Pulverize pure Hunj
garian Antimony, and an equal quantity
of thrice-purified saltpetre ; burn this

* This solution is not yet fixed, but may become so by
dint of patient work. Its chief use, which Basil does not
even allude to, consists in the perfection of metals. For this
purpose an extract must be made from the powder with strong-
est vinegar ; remove vinegar by distillation, sweeten what
remains at the bottom with distilled water ; make a second
extract with spirit of wine, abstract spirit ; the red powder
which remains should be mixed with fixed salt prepared from
the sediment which remained after the removal of the vinegar.
After three months they should become fixed, and able to
remain unchanged in the fire, as in their own proper element.
When you have done this, you have made the fixed volatile,
and the volatile fixed, and are not far from the fulfilment of
your heart's desire.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 139

composition all together in a new glazed
pot, which is free from all grease, over
a circulatory fire, but not all at once.
(This operation the ancients called deto-
nation.) Then pulverize the hard matter
which remains in the pot ; pour over it
moderately hot ordinary water, and when
the powder has settled at the bottom, add
more water, till all the saltpetre is ex-
tracted.* Dry the substance, and again
add to it its own weight of saltpetre ; burn
again, and repeat this operation three
times ; pulverize what then remains, add
best spirit of wine, circulate diligently for
a month in a well-closed cucurbit or cir-
culatorium ; pour to it, and remove, spirit
of wine nine or ten times. Gently dry

* At this stage the substance is the powder of Ruland,
with which he performed so many medicinal miracles. It
should be prepared under a certain heavenly conjunction,
and is the better the redder it is : for its colour is its soul.
This is the true " crocus of metals," though not like the
emetic which is sold under that name in shops. Take 8, 9,
10, or 1 1 grains of this powder, according to the strength of
the patient ; pour on them 3 or 4 oz. of wine ; distil for
four or five hours; the tincture of crocus of metals which
is then extracted, is like blood ; give it to the patient as a
gentle purgative ; it will radically cure any disease in the
treatment of which it may be employed.

140 T/te TrininpJial Chariot of Antimony.

powder ; heat for a whole day in crucible,
such as is used by goldsmiths for the
melting of silver and gold ; dissolve
powder in a humid place, on a stone table,
or in a hard-boiled egg. Dry the liquid
which results, and restore to a pulverized
condition.* The medicinal efficacy of
this powder is great, but it requires time
for its operation. If a man suffers from
an internal tumour and takes a quarter of
a drachm of this white fixed powder of
Antimony in generous wine, five or six
times, the tumour will be emptied of its
corrupted blood without any prejudice to
vital processes. It also consumes the
new soldier's (venereal) disease, and ex-
pels it from the body. It renews the
hair and the whole frame, invigorates
the blood, and does more good than I
am able to describe.

It would not be right for me to set
down the whole of this Art so plainly
and clearly that any one, even the most

* If you have experienced the virtues of the detonated
powder, you will not be a Thomas as to the potency of this
powder, which has been thrice detonated.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 14 T

ignorant, might, on its perusal, become a
perfect adept ; just as it is not well for a
country bumpkin to eat the finest baker's
bread.*

If any one should marvel because
my book describes some operations which
apparently differ from those of other
Sages, let him know that the style of
the Sages exhibits many important points
of difference from that of other writers.
You must not, therefore, quarrel with me :
for I only adopt the necessary rules laid
down by the ancient Masters of our Art.

The balm of Antimony is prepared,
not of crude Antimony, but of the
Regulus of Antimony, whence the living
Mercury of Antimony is derived, and in
the following manner.

* Yet Valentine has revealed the secrets of this Art more
clearly than his successors, who have been busily employed
in obscuring his light. Hence they do not praise him in the
market place, though they esteem him most highly in the
laboratory ; and they do not translate him into other tongues,
though he is worthier than any other to speak all the
languages of the world. But, of course, Basilius cannot
describe the Art so clearly that any one, on taking up the
book in an idle moment, may at once become a master of our
noble Magistery.

142 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Take equal parts of best Hungarian
Antimony and crude tartar, and half the
quantity of saltpetre ; pound together,
melt over wind fire, pour into copper
dish, allow to cool, and you will find the
Regulus.* The Regulus is thrice, or
oftener, purified with tartar and saltpetre
till it becomes of a brilliant silvery white.
Pulverise finely, place in vessel, add oil
of juniper, or spirit of terebinth, which
must have been previously distilled and
must be pure as spring water ; digest in
closed vessel in S. Mary's Bath ; the oil
of juniper, or spirit of terebinth, will
become red, like blood ; pour it out, and
rectify with spirit of wine. The virtues
of this balm of Antimony are the same
as those of spirit of sulphur, which I will
describe hereafter.

* As in the preparation of liver of Antimony, so here,
you should take salt of tartar instead of crude tartar. The
sal nitri is useless in this operation. Do not throw away
the glassy substance ; for from it an useful cordial (dose 30
to 50 drops twice or thrice a day, in a suitable liquid) may
be prepared by pounding it in a hot mortar, protecting it
well from the moisture of the air ; place it in a vial, extract
its tincture with alcohol of wine : it will be of a beautiful
red colour.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 143

Three drops of this balm, taken
thrice a week in warm wine, cure pul-
monary complaints, coughs, colds, and
asthma.

Many other oils are prepared from
Antimony, some simple and some com-
pound. But the effects of all are differ-
ent according to the difference in the
method of their preparation. This fact
may be illustrated in the following way.
There are many living beings which
dwell in and on the earth ; many have
their abode in the air, many in the water,
and some in the fire, like the salamander.
Moreover, there are in tropical climes
other animals of which we know nothing,
except that they can live only in the
warmth of the sun. In the same way,
Antimony assumes a different nature
according as it is prepared with water
or with fire, only fire is in all cases indis-
pensable. Again, the addition of earth
produces a totally different compound to
that produced by the addition of water ;
and the result is quite different, again,
when Antimony is sublimed in the fire.

144 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

The way of preparing simple uncom-
pounded oil of Antimony, and true
sulphur, is as follows : Place pulverised
Hungarian Antimony in a glass cucur-
bit ; add true vinegar of the Sages,
rendered more acid by means of its salt.
Close the cucurbit, plunge it in horse
dung, or S. Mary's Bath, for forty days,
till the matter putrefies and the vinegar
turns a deep red. Decant this vinegar,
and keep adding more till no more red
colour can be extracted. Strain off all
the vinegar, pour into a clean vessel,
plunge in horse dung, and allow to
putrefy for forty days. Then the body
is again dissolved, and the substance
becomes as black as ink. This is the
sign that the true solution has taken
place, which will ultimately effect the
separation of the elements.

Place this black substance into
another cucurbit, and on an alembic ;
distil the vinegar over a moderate fire,
and it will rise as a clear fluid, while
there remains at the bottom a dirty sub-
stance. Pulverise this, sweeten with

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 145

distilled rain water, dry gently, and place
in a long-necked circulatory vessel. The
circulatory vessel should resemble three
hollow balls placed one on the other, and
communicating by means of tubes with
a long neck at the top. Add highly
rectified spirit of wine, so that it covers
the substance to a height of two or three
inches ; close the vessel well, and expose
to gentle heat for two months, when
the spirit of wine will become of a bright
red ; pour out the extract, filter, place in
a cucurbit, and remove the black sedi-
ment, which is of no further use to us.

Place the alembic on the cucurbit,
and distil gently ; the spirit of wine will
carry the tincture of Antimony upward,
the elements are separated, and the
alembic and receiver present the aspect
of bright gold. Finally, some few dregs
remain, but the gold colour in the glass
utterly perishes. Place the red sub-
stance, which by distillation has passed
into the receiver, in a circulatory vessel
for ten days. By means of this circula-
tion separation takes place ; for the oil

L

146 Tke Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

has thereby acquired gravity, and sinks
to the bottom, while the spirit of wine is
limpid, as at first, and floats above the
oil. Then separate the oil from the
spirit in a separatory vessel.* This oil is
of remarkable sweetness, most pleasant
to use, and free from all corrosiveness.

No one can understand or compre-
hend the incredible virtue and potency
of this Royal Oil. I call it the Balm of
Life, because it can help, by the grace of
God, those whom all physicians have
given up. It renews a man's system
just as if he were born again, purifies
the blood, and, in conjunction with tinc-
ture of corals, casts out leprosy, drives
away melancholy and sadness, braces up

* This is the substance of which all the Sages and
Alchemists have written. This is the goal of all Alchemists,
the oil of Antimony, which is soon to be converted into the
Fire Stone. It is a Proteus which appears to us under
different forms, and yet is ever the same. If you put
together all the different operations which have been des
cribed, and regard them in the light of my commentary, you
will have all the parts of the process by which our Stone is
evolved ; you will make the volatile fixed, and the fixed
volatile, and then you have the great treasure coveted by the
multitude. If you do not understand me, three shiploads of
hellebore will not cure your folly.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 147

the joints and the heart, improves the
memory, and is our great sheet-anchor in
consumption.

But why should I continue to enu-
merate the blessed virtues of this Oil ?
Few indeed of our doctors and medical
magnificoes will credit a tittle of what
I say. Those, on the other hand, who
have experienced the magical potency
of our Medicine, and do listen to my
teaching, will believe me without much
praise and recommendation, nay, will
bless my memory when I am moulder-
ing in the grave. Another way in which
this Oil may be prepared, is as follows :

Place Regulus of Antimony, well
pulverised, in a great round glass vessel,
over a gentle fire in the sand. Brush off
all that is sublimed, so that it falls down
again to the bottom, and continue to do
this till no further sublimation takes
place, but the whole substance remains
at the bottom. Then the Regulus of
Antimony has been fixed without any
addition. But, in order to bring about
this result, you need patience. Pulverize

148 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

the red precipitate, place on a smooth,
clean stone in a humid cave ; leave it
there six months, till the precipitate
resolves itself into a pure red liquid, and
a sediment is separated from it, i.e., the
salt of Antimony only is dissolved. Fil-
ter the liquid, place in cucurbit, extract
phlegm, place again in the cave, and it
will crystallize beautifully ; separate from
the phlegm ; the crystals are pellucid,
mixed with red colour. When they are
again purified, they become white.* Dry
this Salt of Antimony, mix with it three
parts of Venetian earth (called tripel),
and distil over strong fire. There will
be sublimed first a white and then a red
spirit, which also becomes white. Rectify
gently in a dry bath, and you have
another white oil distilled from Anti-
mony, but it is by no means so good as
the former salt made of the red Tincture.
This spirit, or salt, distilled after a
spiritual manner, is useful in quartan

* '' Like to like" is a Greek proverb, and certainly this
salt is more effectual in making extracts from Antimony than
even from other metals.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 149

fever, and in the breaking up of vesical
stones, as also in gout ; it purifies wounds
inflicted with iron, and the blood gener-
ally. Yet it is not as perfect in its
operation as the red oil of Antimony,
the sulphur of which is highly and per-
fectly digested.

I have spoken of the salt and sul-
phur of Antimony, and have described
their medicinal uses ; I now proceed to
discuss the medicine, which is profoundly
hidden in its Mercury.

Take eight parts of Regulus of
r^Antimony, one part of salt clarified and

; sublimed from human urine, one part of

I A

( sal ammoniac, and one of salt of tartar ;
mix well in vessel, add strong vinegar,
and close up with the clay of the Sages ;
digest the salts with vinegar a whole
month over a suitable fire. Put all into
a cucurbit and distil vinegar in ashes.
Mix to salts, thus dried, three parts of
Venetian earth ; distil with strong fire
through the retort, and you have a
marvellous spirit, which add to the
pulverized Regulus of Antimony ; let

150 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

them putrefy two months, then distil
vinegar gently, and mix with that which
remains a fourfold weight of steel filings ;
distil over a strong fire through the
retort ; the spirit of salt will then carry
the Mercury with it in form of smoke ;
let it be driven into a large glass receiver
full of water : the spirit of salt then
mingles with the water, but the Mercury
is precipitated to the bottom, as true
Mercury.* This is the way in which
running Mercury is prepared from Anti-
mony : we must now go on to describe
its uses.

Take, in the name of the Lord, one
part of this Mercury, and strain it
through leather ; take four parts of
highly rectified oil of red vitriol ; extract

* Certain secrets which were deeply concealed in the
days of Basilius are now included among the common pro-
cesses of chemists No person could now be regarded as a
true chemist who is ignorant of the method by which Mer-
cury is composed out of Antimony, whether that which
Basilius teaches, or anolher method, for various artists have
excogitated various ways, and that which has been success-
fully proved by one is by him favoured in proportion. How
many Alchemists in those times could elicit the Mercury of
Antimony ? Yet they looked down on Basilius, forsooth, and
upon his whole system.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 151

the oil, when there will remain its spirit,
with the Mercury ; sublime over a strong
fire, and place all that is sublimed again
at the bottom of the vessel. Pour to it
as much of the oil of vitriol as before,
and repeat the process three times. At
the fourth time place all that is sublimed
with the sediment ; pound, and it will be
pure and bright as crystal ; place in cir-
culatory vessel, add the same quantity
of oil of vitriol, and three times as much
spirit of wine ; circulate till separation
takes place, and the Mercury is resolved
into oil, floating over the rest like olive
oil. Separate this oil from the re-
mainder, place in circulatory vessel, pour
to it strong distilled vinegar, and leave
for twenty days ; hereby the oil recovers
its gravity, and drops to the bottom,
while all that was poisonous in it remains
in the vinegar.*

* No candle is needed at midday, nor need the com-
mentator speak when the author is so clear and lucid. Only
go forward bravely, planting your feet firmly at every step,
and you will at last obtain the golden branch. For this oil
itself possesses marvellous efficacy in the improvement of
metals, and yields only to the King of Kings himself.

152 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

This is that great wonder, by which
the oil first floats, and then becomes
heavy and sinks to the bottom. Observe
that the oil of vitriol is also heavy, but
at first the Mercury is rendered lighter
by the impurities which still adhere to
it ; subsequently those impurities remain
in the vinegar ; the Mercury recovers
its proper gravity, and is precipitated to
the bottom. This oil of Mercury is the
fourth pillar of Medicine. It stimulates
the vital action of the brain, makes men
active, and cures both leprosy and
paralysis. If any one who has been
suffering from chronic disease uses this
oil daily for some time, his nails and
hair drop off and grow again, his whole
frame is rapidly renovated, his blood
purified, and all morbid matter expelled.
The French disease is easily and radi-
cally cured by this remedy.

Let us, then, thank God from the
bottom of our hearts for this Medicine
which He has so graciously bestowed
upon us ! And you, Doctors and Sur-
geons, you I exhort to come to me, a

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 153

monk, and servant of God, and I will
shew you what your eyes have never
seen ; I will point out to you the way of
health, along which you have never led
your patients. If any one should under-
stand this Art better than myself, let
him not be silent, nor attach a padlock
to his lips. I shall not be ashamed to
learn of him. I have often said that our
life is too short for one man to investi-
gate all the mysteries of knowledge. On
the other hand, let those be silent who
know less than I, who also do not even
understand my books ; let them refrain
from hasty reprehension, and from teach-
ing their schoolmaster the alphabet.

My terminology has a different
sound and a different meaning from that
of my opponents, who are too lazy and
indolent to plant and graft trees, and,
therefore, never get beyond their wilding
plants or withered branches carelessly
stuck in the ground.

Be not over hasty in judging and
condemning that of which you know
absolutely nothing. You may be one of

154 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

those who suppose, with the multitude,
that in winter fishes are frozen to death
in the water. But that is a notion in
support of which not a tittle of evidence
has ever been produced.

The reason that fishes sometimes
die in the winter is to be sought in the fact
that no animal can live without air, and
when the ice is frozen over the fish
are frequently suffocated. Now, if Anti-
mony is to bear its own proper fruit, it
must not be suffocated in the bowels of
the earth ; but it must be dug out, and
prepared by the auxiliary media of water,
air, and fire, lest its fruitfulness be
strangled in the earth. It must be made
manifest by many laborious preparations
of the artist, in order that it may be
effectual for the healing of diseases and
for the perfecting of metals.

What, then, can you say, or what
argument can you bring forward that is
of the slightest weight ? Since you are
so densely ignorant as to have not even
the slightest idea of the composition of
Antimony, you do well to keep your own

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 155

counsel, and to suffer this tempest of
rebuke and censure to sweep over your
bowed head, lest you suffer shipwreck of
reputation as well as of knowledge.

In order that you may escape this
danger, call at once upon your sleeping
Master, as the disciples of Jesus called
upon their Lord while He slept ; invoke
Him with an unfeigned heart, and you
will be helped, and will see the wind
and waves obedient to His Word, while
your undertaking will be brought to its
desired close. If men would only be
more earnest in their endeavour to know
the truth, God would then give them
grace and wisdom, and they would in due
time find the precious corner-stone on
which the whole structure rests. Then
the ears of students in the schools, and
the heads of patients in sick-rooms,
would no longer be tormented with the
absurdities of the old system of medicine.
The stone-built citadel of our Art cannot
be so quickly destroyed by fire as a
dovecote or a stork's nest made of rotten
wood, and dried day after day by the sun.

156 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

But you who are true disciples of
this Art, strive to penetrate to its centre ;
be not content to linger on the surface.
Pursue your object as the hunter pursues
the quarry, and take care that you do
not catch a hind for a buck, or a fox for
a hare. Cast your nets well, and you
will enclose a great multitude of fishes ;
lay your traps discreetly, and the birds
will not escape. Let the fowler place
his snares with due regard to the wind ;
let the mariner, who is driven hither and
thither by the tempestuous heavings of
the vast ocean, look well to his compass,
and then his ship will surely return with
a rich cargo of merchandise.

But why do I waste my time, like
those empty-headed boasters, in treading
out straw ? Nay, but I am not threshing
empty straw, for there is not a single
word in my books that is without its
significance and utility.

Now I will fall back one step, like
the gladiators, and introduce a new sub-
ject, viz., the way in which Antimony
should be prepared for the treatment of

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 157

external wounds. I have already briefly
described the preparations which are
most useful from a medical point of
view; I will next mention some other
preparations which will one day revolu-
tionize the Art of the surgeon.

Young man, you who desire to know
the secret things of Nature, and to bring
to light her hidden mysteries, listen to
me, that you may be able to distinguish
day from night, and the clear from the
obscure. Take one part of Hungarian
Antimony, half a part of common salt,
six parts of unburned clay ; pound to-
gether and distil vehemently, without
intermission, till the oil passes upward ;
then remove its thickness by distillation,
so that a red dry powder remains at the
bottom of the cucurbit ; pulverize, dis-
solve on a slab of marble, and you have
a red, brilliant balm for wounds, which
far excels all other similar remedies. Its
utility is great in the case of wounds
which have been open for a long time.*

* A prudent general so arrays his forces as to place the
good soldiers in the front ranks, the best in the rear, and

158 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

The open wounds, in the treatment of
which this balm produces striking results,
are especially those on which the medical
profession have brought their plasters,
ligaments, and ointments to bear in
vain.

You see that I speak out with great
simplicity, for I am a monk, and know
not the ways of the world. Yet I can-
not always discourse so plainly and lucidly
as the nature of the subject would
seem to require.

This oil is very helpful in serious
cases of accident, and more especially in
old wounds, so that few medicines can sur-
pass it. That oil which is prepared with
the common sublimate of the apothecaries
has equal efficacy, and, frequently, as ex-
perience has taught, is superior in cancer,
lupus, and similar complaints. But in
ordinary cases of fistula, and in bruises
and ruptures, this balm has great efficacy.
I do not mention all its marvellous effects,

those that are less good and brave in the middle. The
orator arranges his arguments on the same principle, and
Basilius follows their precedent.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 159

which only experience can prove, lest I
should be thought to be excited by am-
bition, or by desire for fame. I declare
I have sought or desired neither. I deny
that either can be sought with righteous-
ness. The other oil is prepared in the
following manner :

Take mortified Mercury, sublimed
into a state of great brilliancy (this may
be bought at the apothecary's), and Anti-
mony in equal parts ; pulverize together,
distil thrice out of a retort which retains
the spirits, rectify the oil with spirit of
wine, and your oil will be of a blood-red
colour. At first, however, it is white
like ice, or coagulated butter. This oil
exhibits its efficacy in all desperate cases,
and especially in the perfect emendation
of the evil into good.

By means of an addition, you may
also prepare another oil for external
wounds, which will be of palmary utility.
It is composed in the following manner :

Take one part of Antimony, one of
sulphur, half a part of salt ammoniac, or
purified salt of urine, and two parts of

160 T/ie Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

quicklime. Expel the oil strongly, pound
all that is sublimed with the dead body,
pour to it oil a second time, distil thrice,
and the oil is prepared.

In cases where old wounds resist all
other remedies, you may use this oil.
For it is strong, potent, and penetrative,
and lays a good foundation for other
medicines.

An admirable balm for old wounds
is prepared with various ingredients in
the following manner :

Digest four ounces of sulphur and
half a pound of Mercury over a moderate
fire, stirring with a wooden spoon ; pound
fine till they form one solid mass (for it
is made as cinnabar is usually prepared),
and with it four ounces of Antimony,
four ounces of red arsenic, and two
ounces of ''crocus of iron." Place in
glass cucurbit, and sublime. As the
result of this operation you will have
pyropus stones the colour of which is
fully equal to those of the East, except
that they are not fixed, and vanish in

* Sulphate of iron.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 161

the fire. In order that the artist may
separate the pyropus stones from the
cinnabar, which during sublimation as-
cends, pulverize, and make an extract
with strong distilled vinegar. Distil
vinegar gradually in S. Mary's Bath, and
there remains a powder ; further pulver-
ize, place in another glass vessel, extract
tincture with spirit of wine, and throw
away the sediment. Digest the extract
in a well-closed bath for a month, remove
spirit of wine by distillation, place the
remaining powder on a flat glass dish in
a tub full of water, so that the plate floats
on it like a boat ; in a few days the
powder will resolve itself into a clear
liquid.

This tincture is useful in the treat-
ment of old open wounds, and is sure to
be highly efficacious in cases where all
other remedies have failed. Open ulcers
which have their origin in internal con-
ditions, must be treated internally, and
thus radically extirpated. But ulcers
caused by inflammation may be success-
fully cured with this Tincture.

M

1 62 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

If men would consider the mass of
suffering which the sin of our first parents
has brought upon our race, and the sor-
row, disease, misery, and pain which have
followed in the train of that first fall, they
would be more industrious in seeking the
salvation of their neighbour, proffered at
so great a price by the Chief Ruler of
Heaven. But alas, great numbers of
men live on from day to day without thus
redeeming the time for the glory of God
and the good of their neighbours ! They
are afraid, forsooth, of soiling the very
tips of their fingers, just as if they
grudged the grocer the profits which he
derives from the sale of soap. But do
we not all live in this world as the vas-
sals of God, and are not all our goods
His feudal possessions, granted to us
during life only? Let us, therefore,
make a good and kindly use of them in
order that we may be able to render a
joyful account in the presence of the
Great Master, instead of being, by reason
of our ingratitude, cast into outer dark-
ness, where there is weeping and gnash-

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 163

ing of teeth. If all were inspired and
actuated by this solemn thought, there
would be less sin and more persevering-
effort for the good of the whole race.
But for these things worldly men do
not care. Their one desire and aim
is gold, and only gold ; the powerful
seek to obtain it by violence, and the
poor by crying servility — that they, too,
may be partakers of the Mammon of
iniquity.

But beware lest you be choked by
the bone in your greedy throats, and lest
the fish bones pierce your hearts ! And
you who will not listen to exhortation,
hear a parable. When I was, in pursu-
ance of a vow, performing a pilgrimage
to San Jago, I prayed that God might
grant me a safe return to our monastery.
God answered my prayer, and I believed
that my return would give great and
sincere joy to all ; for I brought back a
large number of relics for the honour of
our monastery, and the relief of the sick
and poor. Yet I am afraid that few men
derived wonderful benefit from these

164 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

relics, or were grateful to God, but per-
sisted in their mockery and scorn.

The following preparation of Anti-
mony is useful against fevers and the
plague itself, as I have myself experi-
enced : Pulverize Antimony, place in a
glass retort, distil over a strong fire three
or four times ; let it be kept in a large
vase till it becomes a red powder ; ex-
tract with vinegar, circulate, extract ten
days over a gentle fire, remove vinegar
by distillation, and transfuse what re-
mains by a skilful process into an oil.*

Four grains of this oil, taken with
St. Benedict's cordial, cures quotidian,
tertian, and quartan fevers, if the patient
be well covered and perspire freely.
The same dose is an efficacious remedy
against the plague, being mingled with
spirit of wine or distilled vinegar, accord-
ing as the disease first makes itself felt
in an excess of heat or cold. Three
friars in our monastery, who had already

* This extract must be made volatile with spirit of wine,
as above. Let the humidity of the oil be removed by cir-
culation, so that it becomes a dry powder.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 165

made their wills, were thus restored, and
ever since that time their gratitude in-
duced them to take a great interest in
our Art, and to assist me as much as
they could during their spare time.
For all the help so kindly rendered to
me, I would have allotted to them a
prominent place in my last will, but
they have now gone to their rest before
me, and I commit them to the Great
Physician who is in heaven. May
He give them a good recompense of
joy which was denied them here on
earth !

Another oil, which is good for the
cure of wounds, is prepared from Anti-
mony in the following manner : Take of
Antimony, sulphur, and saltpetre, equal
parts ; detonate under a bell, like the oil
of sulphur. This method of preparation
was early known to the Ancients. It is
better still to take an alembic instead of
the bell, and place near it a receiver ;
thus you obtain more oil, and of the
same colour as that extracted from
vulgar sulphur, but highly superior as to

1 66 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

its strength and efficacy.* We use three
drops of this oil with the spirit of wine
internally against pulmonary consump-
tion ; used outwardly as a liniment,
covered with a stiptic plaster, it is most
efficacious in the treatment of foul or
festering wounds and sores.

Another oil of Antimony for the
cure of cancerous and corrosive wounds
is prepared as follows : Pound together
one pound of Antimony, half a pound of
common salt, and five pounds of broken
latera ; place in retort and distil a yellow
oil, when all the spirits will pass away.
Pour into fresh vessel, and remove its
oiliness ; there remains a powder, which,
spread on a stone, in a humid place, and
you will have a humid balm which is of
great efficacy against foul wounds, and
cancer in the face, or when it attacks the
breasts of women.

* If you use the vessel roughly sketched on page 167,
you will get as much oil of sulphur from one ounce, as from
a pound by the ordinary method, i.e., from sixteen ounces of
sulphur you will get half-an-ounce of oil, for which you would
otherwise require sixteen pounds.

1 68 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

I would dilate still further on
the virtues of this oil, only I am
afraid that some foolish member of
the profession may charge me with
saying more than I know, and com-
mitting to paper mere wild specula-
tions.

Another oil is prepared as follows :
Let one part of Antimony be sublimed
with a fourth part of salt armoniac.
The salt raises the sulphur of Antimony
to a bright red. Pound the sublimed
substance, and if at the first you have
taken one pound of Antimony, pound
with it again five ounces of Antimony ;
sublime as before ; and dissolve the
sublimed substance in a moist place.
Sweeten by removing the salt added to
it ; dry gently, and you have a sulphur
which burns like that of the apothecary.
Extract its tincture with distilled vinegar.
Remove vinegar gently in S. Mary's
Bath, transtil the remaining powder very
gradually, and — if you have made no
mistake — you have an excellent oil,
sweet, pleasant, and grateful in its use,

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 169

without any corrosivity or danger.*
There are other effects which this
Medicine has in common with other
preparations of Antimony, and, there-
fore, I do not enumerate them, in order
to give no occasion to the adversary, and
to avoid wearying the reader by repe-
tition. The liquid, which is dissolved in
a moist place, is an external medicine,
and very useful in skin diseases. Mixed
with oil of tartar, and applied to a whit-
low, it produces marvellous effects ; it is
also of great utility in the treatment of
scrofula.

Sulphur of Antimony may also be
prepared in the following manner : Pul-
verize the Antimony, and digest for two

* This is another way of preparing the balm or quint-
essence of Antimony — for by that latter name Basilius
describes it in his other writings. There is, of course, a
difference, e.g., here the separation is made with salt of
ammonia, and there it was made with vinegar. But even
these slight divergencies afford scope for the ingenuity of the
operator. This oil cures consumption and all pulmonary
complaints ; it relieves asthma and difficulty of breathing.
Take two grains in spirit of wine in the morning, and in the
evening, before retiring, in elixir or spirit of wine. It will
enlarge the chest, and purge out all phlegm and every
obstruction.

170 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

hours, or longer, in a strong lye made of
the ashes of beechwood. Strain, add
vinegar, and the sulphur will be of a red
colour, and sink to the bottom ; pour off
the liquid, and dry the powder gently.
Distil this powder with grape vinegar,
extract the tincture, and treat the sulphur
as in the last operation, i.e., convert it
into oil by distillation. The sulphur
mentioned above has indeed greater
potency, because it was sublimated and
better dissolved at the beginning with
salt armoniac.

The other preparations of Antimony
which the Spagyrist should be able to
make, are the Vinegar of Antimony, the
Philosophical Signed Star, and the Lead
of the Sages, concerning which there has
been much vain speculation, it being said,
for instance, that genuine Mercury could
be prepared from it. But Mercury, as
the first substance or first water of the
metals, and the seed thereof, whence the
Stone of the Ancient Sages is evolved,
is not found in Antimony, but in another
mineral which has a more potent metallic

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 171

action than Antimony ; yet Antimony
supplies a particular and most useful
operation. The Alchemist should know
exactly the uses of Antimony, both as an
external and internal medicine, and also
the distinctive aspects of Antimony as
compared with metals, for not until then
will he have a perfect judgment on these
points.

I will now proceed to satisfy my
disciples, and give them proper instruc-
tion how they are to separate the good
from the evil in the preparation of
vinegar from Antimony.

Pulverize ore of Antimony, place in
round glass vessel, with an oblong neck,
pour on it distilled rain water, so as to
half-fill the cucurbit ; close well, and
plunge in horse dung for putrefaction, till
the ore begins to effervesce and deposit
a foam on the surface. Then it is time
to take it out, as it is a sign that the body
has opened. Place in another cucur-
bit, close well, and extract water, which
will have an acid taste. When all the
water is distilled, increase the heat, and

172 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

the substance will be sublimed. Pound
again with the sediment and add the same
water, and again extract, when it will
already be much more acid. Repeat the
operation till the water is as sour as ordin-
ary vinegar. The oftener the process is
repeated, the less there is of the sublimed
substance. Pour this vinegar over some
more of the raw ore to the height of
about three inches. Digest in a pelican
for twelve days, till the vinegar becomes
red, and more acid than before. Decant
and distil in S. Mary's Bath, without
addition of anything ; the clear vinegar
will then rise, while the red powder
remains at the bottom, and if an extract
be made with spirit of wine, it is an
excellent medicine. Rectify the vinegar
once more in S. Mary's Bath, to free it
from its phelgm. Dissolve in its own
salt, i.e., one ounce in four ounces ; sub-
lime in ashes, and the vinegar will be more
acid, and acquire greater strength and
efficacy.* This vinegar has a wonderful

* This vinegar is one of the principal preparations
from Antimony, and therefore I subjoin the following par-

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 173

cooling effect, being far more potent in
this respect than is ordinary vinegar ; it
stops gangrene and heals cancerous
wounds by outward application, if it be
made into an ointment with Soul of
Saturn. It also soothes and relieves
inflammation, when mixed with endive
water to which sal prunella has been
added. The activity of inflamed blood
is also soothed thereby. At the time of
plague the vinegar (one spoonful) is a
wonderful preventive, and extracts the
poison from the boils, if applied as an
ointment. For this purpose it should be

ticulars, which will enable you to carry out the directions of
Basilius more perfectly. To six pounds of Antimony you
require fourteen pounds of distilled water ; the success of the
next distillation is ensured by placing the alembic so that its
spout is immersed in water (see p. 174), else more than one-
half of the spirit of Antimony will be lost. When, after the
distillation of the water, the fire is quickened, you should
keep it up for three days and three nights ; then let it cool,
and mix that which is sublimed with fresh Antimony ; resume
the process again for three days and three nights, and so a
third time. If you convert the vinegar into a tincture with
some more ore of Antimony, you will have the tincture
which Basilius calls the balmof_life. Did men only know
the mysteries which lie concealed therein, I know not
whether any other operation upon Antimony would be
attempted. Verily, this contains them all.

(pf

;' ; (•••,-,' " ;'

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 175

mixed with a third part of water distilled
from -frog's spawn.

Many have esteemed the Signed
Star of Antimony very highly, and
spared neither labour nor expense to
bring about its preparation. But very
few have ever succeeded in realizing
their wishes. Some have thought that
this Star is the true substance of the
Philosopher's Stone. But this is a mis-
taken notion, and those who entertain it
stray far afield from the straight and
royal road, and torment themselves with
breaking rocks on which the eagles and
the wild goats have fixed their abode.
This Star is not so precious as to contain
the Great Stone ; but yet there is hidden
in it a wonderful medicine, which also
may be prepared from it. The Star is
compounded in the following way :

Take two parts of Hungarian Anti-
mony, and one part of steel ; melt with
four parts of burnt tartar in an iron basin,
such as those in which goldsmiths refine
gold. Cool, take out the Regulus, re-
move all impurities and scoriae, pulverize

176 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

finely, add to it, after ascertaining its
weight, three times as much burnt tartar ;
melt, and pour into basin as before. Re-
peat a third time, and the Regulus
becomes highly refined and brilliant. If
you have performed the fusion properly
— which is the point of greatest impor-
tance— you will have a beautiful star of a
a brilliant white.1* The Star is as
distinct as if a draughtsman had traced
it with a pair of compasses.

This star with salt armoniac is re-
duced to a red sublimate, for the tincture
of iron ascends. This sublimate may
be dissolved into a liquid of highly
surgical utility, f

This Regulus, or Star, may be very
often carried through the fire with a
stone serpent, till at length it consumes
itself, and is completely joined to the

* In the third fusion of the Regulus the fire should be
most intense, so as to remove any remaining impurity.

t The said sublimate, before being placed in a cave for
dissolution, should be purged of its salt armoniac with
distilled water. For want of such trifling hints much
labour and expense may often be vainly incurred.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 177

serpent.* The Alchemist has then a hot
and ignitable substance, in which won-
derful possibilities are latent. It is dis-
solved into an oil, which should be
purified and clarified by transfusion and
distillation. Three drops of this oil in
two ounces of wine may be administered
internally, but with great caution, and
not oftener than twice a week. The
proportion should be determined by the
peculiar circumstances of the disease,
which should, therefore, be known to the
physician.

This is a remarkable acrid sub-
stance, comprehending within itself
many arcana, but there is no need to
reveal everything at once to the ignorant.
Some Arts must be kept secret, in order
to stimulate the spirit of enquiry, f Who-
ever would follow in my footsteps should

* The serpent is that which mingles with the King,
and he calls it a serpent of stone, because it is a salt.

t Whoever understands the immense importance of
extracting essences from metals will value this acrid oil,
which is really the great metallic solvent, and without
which the entrance to the Great Arcanum, and to the
throne of the kingdom of chemistry, would be closed.

N

1/8 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

never grow weary in the search, but do
in all things as I have done, and he will
attain to the same result.

This is a book which sets forth the
rudiments of the Art. Many spend
their whole life in trying to master the
elements, and never attain to the real ob-
jects of their search. In order to prevent
the recurrence of such fruitless lives, I
have here set down a full account of all
that is necessary for the beginner to know.

In this oil wonderful effects lay
hidden. For if circulated a long time,
it finally forms into crystals, and after
three days and three nights calcination
there is elicited from them a salt ; and
then this oil is again distilled through the
retort. In this way is prepared a medi-
cine which dissolves vesical stones, and is
of great efficacy in many other complaints.

As to the Lead of the Sages, let
me tell the student that there exists a
great affinity between common lead and
Antimony. As some trees separate
through their bark a certain resin or
gum, like that of the cherry tree, for

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 179

instance, which gum bears no manner of
resemblance to the tree itself, or to its
natural fruit, differing as it does from
them in taste and in its other properties -
so the earth brings forth certain abor-
tions which are separated and purged off
from the pure metals.

Though lead has a close affinity to
Antimony, yet Antimony has been cast
out by lead on account of its excess of
sulphur, so that it could not bring its
viscous body to perfection, and takes its
place among the minerals. Its abund-
ance of sulphur has hindered the coagu-
lation of its Mercury, and thus prevented
it from becoming a malleable body.
There is no lead in Antimony but its
Regulus, though this Regulus has not
yet attained to its brilliancy, and though
the Philosopher's Stone cannot be evolved
from it. The reason why lead is called
tke Regulus, or King, is as follows :
If the King which Antimony gives out
in the preparation of glass be taken and
placed in a fire-resisting and well-closed
crucible, with salt of Saturn, and melted

i8o The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

in a wind furnace till the Regulus is
extracted, it is rendered more viscous
and ponderous than before ; for it has
received ponderosity from the spirit of
salt, and consistency as well, its body
having become compact and heavy. *
Hence I say that there is no very great
difference between the Signed Star and
the Lead of Antimony ; for both are
prepared from glass of Antimony, and
their medicinal effects are the same. But
now I will break off, and, after setting*
forth my appendix, I will explain the
meaning and the nature of the Fire Stone.
Bestow upon us Thy blessing, O
God, and open the hearts of my readers
that they may see, know, and acknow-
ledge Thy omnipotence and wonderful
working in Nature, for Thy glory, and
the healing of the sick ! Amen.

* Let this Regulus, which is rendered malleable with
salt of Saturn, be mixed with equal parts of Mercury, con-
densed with Saturn ; let them be lused and well combined
in a hot furnace, and you have a substance which in its out-
ward appearance resembles silver, but in its properties is
far more precious than silver. Hammer into thin plates,
and apply to any inveterate wound, fistula, or ulcer, which
has resisted all the plasters and ointments of the profession.

APPENDIX.

IN conclusion, you should know that
Antimony is used for a good
many purposes besides those of
the typographer. Under a certain
favourable stellar conjunction there are
cast from it certain characters and
amulets of great virtue and potency.
In the same way metal mirrors may be
prepared which possess all but magical
properties. There are also founded
from it bells of great sweetness of
sound, images of men, and many other
things besides.* But as these matters

* Without yielding to the temptation of taking up the
lamentation of Basilius over the folly and carelessness of men,
who are so engrossed with the greed of gold that they do not
bestow much attention on the wonderful virtues which God
has implanted in created things, let me at least make the
following remark : Antimony is a mineral in which so won-
derful a spirit is hidden, that its virtues are inexhaustible,
and its powers transcend human knowledge. Nor do I

1 82 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

have nothing to do with my vocation
and calling in life, I leave them to those
who can do them more justice than
myself.

believe that in other things Antimony would possess less re-
markable capabilities than in Alchemy and Medicine I will
not tell you what I think of the characters and amulets which
Basilius mentions ; but it is a fact that Antimony exhibits far
more sympathetic affinity to the stars than any other metal
or mineral.

ON THE TRIUMPHAL CHARIOT OF

ANTIMONY, AND THE NATURE

OF THE FIRE STONE.

BEING removed from all worldly
care by the fervour of prayer
and heaveniy thoughts, I deter-
mined to yield up my soul to those
spiritual inspirations without which it is
impossible to have a right knowledge of
created things. I proposed to furnish
myself with wings wherewith I might
ascend to the stars and inspect the
heavens, as Icarus had done before me,
if we may believe the old writers.*

But, when I approached the sun too
closely, my feathers were consumed by

* We cannot wonder if here, where he has reached the
climax of his work, and is about to explain the secret of
secrets, Basilius hides his meaning from the foolish and
the scornful under the guise of a parable. The true disciple
of our Art will be all the more encouraged to press onward,
and to remove the veil which hides the secret.

1 84 The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony.

his burning heat, and I fell headlong into
the sea ; then, in answer to my prayer,
God sent an angel to help me, who bade
the waves be still, and caused a great
mountain to arise in the midst of the
water. I ascended it to see whether
there really existed that correspondence
between things below and things above
of which so much has been said, and
whether the stars possess the power of
producing things resembling them on
earth.* As the result of my investiga-
tion I found that what the ancient Doc-
tors have delivered to their disciples was
God's own truth. Therefore I rendered
profound thanks to the Lord of Heaven
and earth for His wonderful works.

To put the matter briefly, I find
that all that is dug up from the bowels
of the mountains is infused by the stars
and celestial bodies, and derives its
origin from a certain aqueous vapour,
which, after being nourished by the
stars for a long time, is reduced to a

* This correspondence exists, and no one who has the
Jeast Alchemistic experience can be disposed to deny it.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 185

tangible shape by the elements. Further-
more, as the fire, with the aid of air,
gains the ascendency, that aqueous sub-
stance becomes dry ; out of water is
produced fire, and out of fire and air we
obtain earth ; all these elements are still
found in all bodies before their separa-
tion. Water, formed into earth by fire
and air, is thus the first substance of all
things.*

The Fire Stone which is prepared
from Antimony, which also I have
promised to describe, does not only cure
the diseases of men, but it removes the
imperfections of metals. I must proceed
to tell you what the Fire Stone is ; what
is its ore ; whether it can be prepared
without a proper substance ; wherein
consists the difference of the stones ;
how many kinds of them there are ; and,
finally, what are their uses. May God

* This, as all Sages agree in telling us, is the substance
from which is prepared the lesser Fire Stone, and the Great
Stone of the Philosophers. It is the Water of Anaxagoras,
the Fire of Empedocles, the First Substance of Aristotle.
It is that by which trees grow, men are nourished, and
metals generated.

1 86 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

illumine my mind by His Holy Spirit
that I may perform this task aright, and
be able to appear before Him with a
clear conscience on the day of judgment,
when sentence will be pronounced upon
the lives of all men !

Above everything you should know
that the true tincture of Antimony,
which is the Medicine of men and
metals, is not prepared from crude,
melted Antimony, which is bought in
shops, but from the ore of Antimony, as
it is dug up from the mine, and is first
formed into glass. The great and im-'
portant question is : How is this tincture
extracted ? Know also that the prepared,
fixed, and solid tincture of Antimony, or
Fire Stone, as I prefer to name it, is a
pure essence of penetrative, spiritual,
and igneous quality, and is reduced into
a coagulated substance, which, like the
salamander, rejoices in the fire as in its
own proper element.

But the Fire Stone is not an
universal Tincture, like the Philoso-
pher's Stone, which is prepared from the

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 187

essence of gold* Our Fire Stone tinges
silver into gold, and also perfects tin
and lead, but does not transmute iron
and copper, nor does it impart to them
more than can be obtained from them
by separation. One part of this tincture
has no power to transmute more than
five parts of any imperfect metal. The
great Philosopher's Stone, on the other
hand, has infinite power of transmuta-
tion. Yet the precious metal produced
by the Fire Stone is pure and solid gold.

The ore from which this tincture is ^
prepared, is, as I have already stated,
the earth of Antimony. In the mean-
time, let the reader observe that there
are many kinds of stones, which tinge
in a particular way. All fixed powders
that have the power of tinging, I call
Stones. The first and foremost of
all Stones is the Philosopher's Stone ;
then comes the Tincture of the Sun
and Moon in the white ; then the

* As far as the heaven is from the earth, so far is the
true Philosopher's Stone from this Fire Stone. I confess
that though I have found the Fire Stone, I have yet much
to learn concerning the more potent tincture.

1 88 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

Tincture of Vitriol or Venus ; and also
the Tincture of Mars. The two latter
include the Tincture of the Sun. Then
come the Tinctures of Jupiter and
Saturn, for the coagulation of Mercury,
and, finally, the Tincture of Mercury
itself. All these different Tinctures are
generated from one_original mother, to
which the great Universal Tincture also
mito&u^i owes its birth ; but apart from these
there are no other tinctures. It is not,
however, my business, in this place, to
describe these tinctures or stones, be-
cause they have no medicinal value.
The animal and vegetable Stones, in-
deed, have certain curative properties ;
but all these are contained and summed
up in the great Philosopher's Stone.

The salts have no power of tinging,
but are only keys in the preparation of
the tinctures which we have named. *

* The salts open the chest in which the treasure is pre-
served, but are not themselves the treasure. You should, of
course, distinguish between those salts which have a dissolv-
ing action, and those which coagulate and enter into the
composition of the Stone — a distinction that is implied in
the text.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 189

Metallic salts should by no means be de-
spised nor rejected in the preparation of
the tincture, since they form an indis-
pensable element in their composition ;
for they contain the precious substance
which is the cause of all fixation.

Next, the question arises whether
the Stone can be prepared without a sub-
stance. The answer is in the negative,
for everything must have its substance.
Animals, vegetables, and minerals, have
each their own particular first substance.
But no substance can be of any use in
the generation of our Stone without fer-
mentation. From the tangible and for-
mal body we must elicit the spiritual and
celestial entity (I hardly know what
expression to use in describing it). This
entity, or essence, has first been infused
into the body by stellar influences, and
perfected and digested by the elements.
By the digestion and regimen of the
lesser fire, the spiritual entity must
become a tangible, fixed, and solid
substance.

But to what purpose do I speak,

igo The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

and what do I say ? I speak as one who
has temporarily lost control over his
organs of speech. If an atom of judg-
ment still remained to me, I should not
have opened my mouth so wide, and I
should have stayed my hand, even at the
last moment*

All tinctures should be so prepared
as to have an irresistible attraction to-
wards the metals, and an irresistible
inclination to mingle with them, and per-
fect them by removing their infirmities.
It is the same as with human beings who
are inflamed with mutual love, and can-
not rest by day or night till they are
brought together in loving union, and
satisfy their desire ; after that they rest,
and multiplication takes place according
to the order of Nature.

Man is subject to many grievous

* Are you in your right mind, Basilius, so to prostitute
the Stone, which has hitherto been so carefully kept a secret
by all the Sages ? You have here let out the whole secret,
and now we see how the pure and the impure are separated,
how the fixed become volatile, and the volatile fixed. Now,
you, my reader, attend carefully ! There is here for you a
precious pearl ; do not resemble the fowl in the fable.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 191

diseases, some of which so weaken and
impair his vitality that he cannot be re-
restored to perfect health by any means.
But love is a disease to wrhich no other
disease can be compared, which can be
cured only by the production of its
counterpart ; nor is either of the two
natures satisfied until the desire of both
parts has met with fruition. Love assails
the young as well as the old, the poor as
well as the rich, the woman as well as
the man, and will take no denial. Those
whom it attacks it pervades, body, soul,
and spirit. In the heart it kindles a
torch, whose fire is diffused through the
veins, the arteries, and all the limbs of
the body. Where love once has struck
root it enslaves the whole man, and he
forgets God, heaven, hell, honour, the
present life and the life to come, in the
frenzied pursuit of his desire. Such a
person tramples underfoot the wise and
sober counsel of parents, and breaks loose
from all restraint. Love renders a man
blind, deaf, and dulls all other feelings
and thoughts ; it robs him of his sleep,

192 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

his appetite for food and drink, and ren-
ders him incapable of exercising prudent
forethought with regard to the future ; it
makes him forget his calling, vocation,
study, prayer. If the lover does not ob-
tain what he desires, or if his wishes are
not immediately fulfilled, by what melan-
choly, sorrow, and anguish is he tor-
mented ! How soon he wastes away to
a mere shadow ! How often does he
not die of a broken heart! In short,
such persons think very slightly either of
this life or of the life to come, until they
have been satisfied with the enjoyment
of the loved object.

But I, as a monk, must not dilate
any further upon the symptoms of this
unholy and consuming passion. I have
kept myself pure from it all my life, and
pray God that He may preserve me
faithful to my holy spouse, the Church,
even to the end. Even what I have
said was only mentioned for the purpose
of shewing by what passionate love the
tinctures should be violently attracted
towards their metals, in order that they

T/ie Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 193

may penetrate them wholly, and thus
bring them to perfection.

Our Stone is digested and matured
by fire, like all things else that are found
in this world. Nevertheless, different
substances require different fires for their
development.

The first fire is that of heaven, and
quickens in our hearts love towards God
our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ
our Saviour. The faith enkindled by
this love can never forsake us in any
trouble or distress.

Another fire is the elementary heat
of the Sun, which brings everything in
the great world to perfection.

The third fire is that corporal fire
with which we cook our food and medi-
cines— without which we could not
maintain our health, or even our life.
The fourth fire is that mentioned pre-
viously, which will one day consume
the visible world. The fifth fire is the
instrument of everlasting punishment, in
which the devils and wicked men will be

tormented for ever and ever. I exhort

o

194 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

all men to seek God, and to listen to His
gracious voice while it may be heard, in
order that they may escape from the
terrible fire of hell.

Our Fire Stone should be pre-
pared and matured, like our food and
all other medicines, by the corporal fire
which reigns in the little world. Where
the solar fire of the great world leaves
off, there our corporal fire begins a new
generation. Corn grows and ripens by
the heat of the great Fire ; but a new
process of cooking and maturing is
brought about by the action of the little
fire, in order that men may be able to
use it for their bodily sustenance.

The oiljrf Antimony, from which
our Fire Stone is prepared, is exceed-
ingly sweet. It is rendered so brilliant
by the removal of its earth, and of all
impurities, that it may be compared to a
bit of crystal on which the meridian rays
of the sunshine fall. The method of its
preparation is as follows :

Take, in the name of God, equal
parts of the ore of Antimony^ obtained

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 195

after sunrise, and of saltpetre ; pulverize
finely, mix well, place over a gentle fire,
bake dexterously (and the method of
this baking is the key of the whole
work). There will remain a blackish
substance. Out of this prepare glass,
which pound, extract its red Tincture
with strong distilled vinegar (made of the
same ore), and remove the vinegar by
distillation in the bath. There remains
a powder from which you should make a
second extract with highly rectified spirit
of wine. ' Let the faeces settle. You
have then a beautiful, sweet, red extract
of great medicinal value. This is the
pure Sulphur pf^Antimony. If you have
two pounds of this extract, take four
ounces of salt of Antimony (of which
I have given the receipt). Pour over
these the extract, circulate for at least a
month in a well-closed vessel, when the
salt will unite with the extract of sul-
phur ; remove sediment, if any, extract

* Take care at this point not to scorch the pinions of
your bird, which is already winging its flight above the
hills.

1 96 The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony.

spirit of wine in S. Mary's Bath, sublime
the powder which remains, and it will
be distilled in the form of a many-
coloured, sweet, pellucid, reddish oil.
Rectify this oil in S. Mary's Bath, so
that the fourth part remains, and it is
then prepared.

Then take living Mercury of Anti-
mony, which I have taught you how to
compose."5'" Pour to it red oil of vitriol,
made over iron, and highly rectified ;
remove by distillation in sand the vis-
cidity of the Mercury, and you will have
a precious precipitate of a glorious
colour, which is of the greatest medicinal
value in chronic diseases and open
wounds. For it quickly dries up their
symptomatic humours, which represent
the radical moisture of the disease.

Take equal parts of this precipitate
and of our sweet oil of Antimony ; put
into a well-closed phial ; if exposed to

* That is, the Mercury of the Sages so often alluded to.
Whoever tells you the secret of this Mercury will be your
Pylades, and you will be his Orestes. I, for my part,
shall be glad to make a third in such a company.

The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 197

gentle heat, the precipitate will gradually
be dissolved and fixed in the oil : for the
fire consumes its viscidity, and it becomes
a red, dry, fixed, and fluid powder, which
does not give out the slightest smoke. *

When you have reached this point,
my friend, you have the Medicine of
men and of metals ; it is pleasant, sweet,
and penetrating, and may be used with-
out any risk. Without being a purga-
tive, it expels all impure and morbid
matter from the body. It will restore to
you health, and relieve you of want in
this life ; nor can you ever discharge to
God your obligation of gratitude for it.
I fear that as a monk and religious man
I have transcended the proper bounds of
reticence and secrecy, and spoken out
too freely, t At any rate, I have told

* Keep reverent silence : for now the King enters his
bridal chamber, where he will delight himself many
months with his spouse : and they will only leave the
chamber when they have grown together, and produced a
son who, if not the King of Kings, is at least a King, and
delivers his subjects from disease and want.

t Our Author fears that he has said too much. If you
share this opinion, his anxiety will be joy to you. It is
marvellous that when a Sage has thrown ever so little light
on this subject, he immediately regrets having done so.

198 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony.

you enough ; and if after all that has
been said you do not discover the secret,
it will not be my fault.

I have spoken as lucidly and openly,
nay, I fear, more openly, than the rules
of our brotherhood permit. For it is
not lawful for every one to eat of the
Tree of Knowledge which stands in the
midst of Paradise. I will now proceed
to describe the uses of this Elixir.

With reference to its medicinal
application to the human body, the dose
ought to be regulated and determined
by careful observation of individual
peculiarities of constitution. Neverthe-
less, an excessive quantity is not really
dangerous, as there is no poison in our
Elixir. Three or four grains at a time,
given in spirit of wine, are sufficient for
the cure of every disease ; for this
Medicine penetrates every part of the
body, and contains within itself the
potency of many arcana. It removes
dizziness and all pulmonary complaints,
as well as coughs and all difficulty of
breathing. It is a wonderful remedy for

The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony. 1 99

leprosy and the French (venereal)
disease. It cures the plague, dropsy,
and all kinds of fevers, and constitutes
a powerful antidote to poison. It in-
vigorates the brain and the whole nervous
system, the stomach, the liver, and the
kidneys, breaks up the calculus and
expels it, restores the vital spirits, pro-
motes the menstrual discharge, removes
barrenness both in men and women.
Taken internally, and aided by suitable
external plasters, it cures cancer, fistula,
caries of the bones, and all corroding
ulcers. In short, it relieves and finally
removes all symptoms which indicate
disease in the human body, as you will
soon discover, if God has called you
to be a physician.*

I have now told you all that I know
about Antimony ; it is my prayer that

* You see Basilius speaks only of the medicinal virtues
of this Fire Stone. For he assumes that you are chiefly
inspired by the wish to help your suffering neighbour, and
that you despise all sordid thoughts of filthy lucre. Fare-
well, gentle Reader, and if this Book has revealed to you
the Grand Secret, shew your gratitude to God by kindly
help rendered to your suffering brethren.

2OO The Triumphal Chariot of A ntimony.

you may discover the rest, so that the
fulness of God's wonderful gifts to men
may be made known before the end of
the world. I return to my Monastery,
where I mean to devote myself to further
study, and, if possible, to elucidate the
secrets of vitriol, common sulphur, and
the magnet, their origin, preparation,
and virtues.

May the God and Lord of Heaven
and Earth vouchsafe unto us health in
time here, and hereafter salvation, with
eternal rest to our souls, on thrones of
joy and gladness, world without end !
Amen.

Thus I conclude this Treatise on
Antimony. Pay particular attention to
what has been said of the red oil of
Antimony, which is prepared from highly
purified sulphur, and of the spirit which
is prepared from its salt ; compare these
operations with what I have written con-
cerning the Fire Stone, and then put the
two together. For in this way you will
run down the deer which you have been
pursuing for so long.

INDEX.

Aerial Spirits, 31.

Antidotes, 53.

Antimony, Spirit in, 30 ; two
kinds of, 34. ; anatomy of,
35> 39; mysteries of, 36;
qualities of, ib. ; riches of,
38 ; solution of, 40 ; dangers
of its unprepared state, 41 ;
vinegar of, 43 ; key of, ib. ;
hidden virtue of, 47 ; colours
of, 48, 89, 90, 91 ; names of,
57 ; toxology of, 59, 80-82;
Mercury , of, 65, 142, 198;
medicine of, 68 ; stone of, ib. ;
quintessence of, ib., 105, 169;
root of, 73, 74 ; components
of, 74 ; Antimony and Mer-
cury, 74, 75 ; what Antimony
is, 78 ; star of, 79 ; miracles
of, 80 ; crude Antimony, 87 ;
Antimony and precious stones,
90 ; oils from Antimony, 91 ;
purgative nature of crude
Antimony, 92 ; mineral pre-
paration of, 93 ; calcination
°f> 93» 94 j vitrification of,
95, 96 ; a method with
borax, 97 ; transparent white
glass of Antimony, 98 ; other
methods of vitrification, ib. ;
red tincture of, 100 ; yellow
tinctuie of, 103 ; balm of,

id., 141 ; reduction of glass
of, 104 ; distilled oil of, 106 ;
common glass of, 108 ; oil of
the common glass, 109 ; Ar-
canum of Antimony, 113;
elixir of, 115 ; Antimony and
purgatives, 1 16 ; Antimony
and gold, 117, 118; prepa-
ration and fixation of Anti-
mony, 119, 120; flowers of,
121-125 ; various extracts of,
127, et seq. ; friable Anti-
mony, 129 ; liver of, 132 ;
regulus of, 141, 142, 147,
179 ; various oils of, 142,
&c. ; royal oil of, 144 ; salt
of, 148 ; sulphur of, 149, 168,
l69> r95 J medicine hidden
in the Mercury of, 149 ; Anti-
mony for external wounds,
156; other Antimonial oils,
159 ; balm for old wounds,
1 60 ; Antimony against fevers,
164 ; another oil for wounds,
165 ; vinegar of Antimony,
170, 171 ; signed star of,
I7°> !75» 1 80; Antimonial
lead of the Sages, 170; vari-
ous uses of Antimony, 181 ;
fire stone of, 185, et seq,. ;
ore of, 195 ; red oil of, 200.
Apollo, inventor of Alchemy, 3.

2O2

Index.

Aquafortis, 70, 71, 138,
Archseus, 79.
Arsenic, 160.

Astrum Solis, 63, 77, 78, 84,
107.

Bacchus, 105.

Basil, the Prince of Chemists, 8.

Blessed Isles, 4.

Calcination, 19, 43, 93. 115,

130.

Cathartics, 87.
Caustic Water, 135.
Christ the True Medicine, 53.
Circulation, 19, 145.
Clarification, 45.
Clay of the Sages, 149.
Coagulation, 44, 79, 106.
Cohobation, 19.
Contemplation of Nature, 12,

16-20.
Crocus of Mars, 137, 160; of

metals, 139.

Deficiencies of Medical Art, 24-
26, 50, 54-56, 69, 71-73, 83.

Desire of the Nations, 7.

Detonation, 165.

Digestion, 19, 28, 44, 100, 106,
119.

Diseases of Minerals, 51.

Dissolution, 40.

Distillation, 19, 44, 104, 132,
i6r.

Earth-Men, 31.
Edulcoration, 115.

Exaltation, 46.
Excrement, 27, 28.

Fermentation, in.

Fire, regulation of, 40 ; various
kinds of, 193.

Fire Stone, 68, 92, 104, 106,
146, 185, 194.

First Key of Art, 42.

Fixation, 19, 106, 119, 120.

Fixed Medicines, 87.

Foundations of Hermetic Prac-
tice, 12.

French Disease, 43, 102, 121,
130, 140, 152, 199.

Gold, 64, 75, 187 ; calx of,
no; tincture of, ib. ; potable
gold, in.

Grape Vinegar, 70, 71.

Great Arcanum, 177.

Honey, toxology of, 66, 67.

Invocation of God, 12, 13-16.
Isles of the Blest, 105.

Juniper, oil of, 142.
Juno, 105.

Key of Hercules, 107.
King of Kings, 5, 6.

Latera, 166.

Lead of the Sages, 170, 178.

Liquefaction, 105.

Macrocosmos, 76.
Magisterium, 112.

Index.

203

Medicine of Men and Metals,
197.

Mercury, 4, 6, 74-76, 87, 89,
91, 105, 150, 152, 159, 160,
170, 179 ; Water of Mercury,

137, 138.

Metallic Salts, 188.
Mineral Vapour, 77.
Mother of Saturn, 75,

Oil of Tartar, 70.
Omphacium, 109.
Operative and Vital Spirits, 30.

Planetary Influences, 184.

Pluto, 6, 43, 65.

Poison, origin of, 85, 86 ;

poison as medicine, 49.
Preparation, 12, 20, 21.
Profit and Use. 12.
Proportions of Weight, 21.
Proserpine, 6.
Purgatives, 117.
Putrefaction, 19, 28, 44, 119.
Pyropus Stones, 160.

Quicklime, 160.

Quintessence of all things, 129.

Reverberation, 19, 43, 44, 115,

1 16.

Rhubarb, 116.
Root of Metals and Minerals,

76.

Saint Benedict's Cordial, 164.

Saint Mary's Bath, 100, 116,
120, 121, 130, 132, 134, 142,
144, 161, 168, 172, 196.

Sal Prunelloe, 173.

Salt, 89, 91, 99, 135, 138, 149,

157, 166 ; spirit of salt, no.
Salt of Ammonia, 97, 113, 115,

123, 159, 168, 176.
Salt of Saturn, 1 79.
Saltpetre, 137, 138, 139, 142,

165.

Soul of Gold, 64.
Soul of Saturn, 173.
Spagyric Art, n, 12.
Spawn of Frogs, 63.
Spirit of Wine, 41, 42, 103,

104, 108, 115, 116, 119, 127,

128, 132, 133, 134, 145, 146,

164, 1 66.

Spirit of Wine of the Sages, 97.
Spirits, various kinds of, 30.
Star of Mercury, 64, 107.
Stone of the Sages, 75, 170,

175, 179, 187, 190.
Sublimation, 19, 43, 46, 123,

126.
Sulphur, 79, 89, 91, 137, 159,

165, 179; separation of sul-
phur, 99.

Tartar, 130, 132, 142, 169. 176.
Terebinth, spirit of, 142.
Terrestrial Spirits, 31.
Tincture of Corals, 116.
Tincture of Sun and Moon, 187.
Tree of Life, 85.
Tripel, 148.

Unicorn, 59, 60.
Universal Medicine, 106.
Universal Spirit of Nature, 102.

204 Index.

Urine, 159. Vinegar, 41, 42, 100, 104, 108,
Uses of a Medicine, 22. 119, 128, 129, 132, 138, 149,

151, 161, 164, 170. }a^

Vegetable Fixation, 119. Vinegar of the Sages, 144.

Vegetable Sublmation, 46, 120. Vitriol, 115, 124, 135, 150, 152,
Venetian Borax, 97, 98, 109. 188.

Venetian Earth, 148, 149. Vulcan, 65, 83, 88, 105.
Venom of the Viper, 82.

Venus, Tincture of, 188. Watery Spirits, 31.

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been subjected to a searching revision, is edited with an
introductory analysis of the various Hermetic books
which are attributed to this author. The Pretiosa
Margarita Novella has special interest as one of the
earliest books which appeared in print on Alchemy.

\\

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