CHAPTER 3

ON THE NATURE, PURPOSE AND USE OF EARTHLY MERCURY, 0R QUICKSILVER

PART 1

When removed from its earthen bed quicksilver has an exceptionally cold and dry nature, because it is coagulated from the of the first beginnings by means of a solar and lunar , so that the was itself no longer moist, but rather had become dry. Its inner core is a wonderful , both because of its content, and because it originally flowed out of the Æsch Majim. This mercury flees earthly and can never be bound or shaped by earthly fire without the aid of its own original . The poor, smoke-enveloped gold-cooks who are slowly dying of hunger and thirst know this all too well from their daily experience.

Qyicksilver's symbol is clearly described in volume 1 on (see also chapter 3, part 18). As long as this or quicksilver is left undivided, it is not poisonous, but actually a medicinal agent, as for example in the Miserere. However, if is applied to it and it is vaporized and broken into small globules, it becomes less benign, causing by its weight severe and damaging symptoms, such as paralysis of the extremities, internal ulcerations, vomiting, tuberculosis, and an early death, as many -hungry alchemists, but especially workers in the smelting sheds, experience to their dismay each day. When it is sublimated with and divided into small pellets coated with these salts (which give it weight and the power to penetrate all areas of the body, affecting every sinew, causing an infection in them and their eventual breakdown, ending in death). This mixture has become a true poison whose effect can be termed corrosive. But when some people seek to describe such a corrosive agent and its effect, they often write ridiculous things.

PART 2

Qyicksilver must seem like a wondrously strange magnet to the inexperienced student of nature whose learning comes solely from books, the opinions of others or his own crazy ideas, rather than from practical experience with nature or from revelation, as we described in part 22 of the previous chapter. We have, for example, used a form of to draw moisture out of the air. The quicksilver that we used was not the crude kind that is first extracted from ore, but rather one that has been modified for this purpose by and . (We hope that the reader will understand what we mean here, because this process might have to be repeated several times for the desired results.) The weight of the atmospheric water that we accumulated was significantly greater than that of common water. When set out in the dry night air it increased its mass with a corresponding increase in daylight. However, as daylight decreased, its mass decreased back to its original size. For those familiar with the components of this preparatory process, the , , necessary equipment and , it is not difficult to perform. And the resulting atmospheric possesses wonderfully unique qualities. So too, from this whole process we can better comprehend the nature and origin of quicksilver than any description of this element could provide us. Indeed this is the case, but not in any traditional or conventional sense.

PART 3

Experienced chemists have tried to convert entirely back to a and have thought up some interesting ways to accomplish this. For example, they connected a series of hollow iron balls with tubes, the last one being a retort neck, and the first one connected to a pipe above the iron containers, which leads to an oven. A small amount of quicksilver is made glowing hot and then poured into the open-ended pipe after which the pipe is quickly plugged. The moves quickly with a loud crackling sound through the balls, with a certain amount of rising out of each ball into the retort. In the balls the remaining material maintains the form of . The process is repeated until the is completely converted to . Out of ignorance and misunderstanding they then thought that they could use this or as a special solvent, a general solvent of general . There may certainly be uncommon results from the resulting water, but once anyone has experienced the difficulty and danger involved with this process, as well as the boring nature of this work, he will soon lose his appetite for repeating the process a second time. If he knows the father and mother who produced this quicksilver will be able to easily perform all the steps with great success. We have already said so much about this that it would make us nauseous to repeat it yet again. And so we will leave it at that.

PART 4

From all that we have said in the preceding parts and in other sections of this book, the reader will have learned much about the nature of . But mercury has a very different and not at all uniform nature depending on the things from which it is extracted, an insight that many intelligent men ignore. from is of a very different nature than mercury from tin or silver or lead. Those who work with these substances know that to be the case. Details of the processes by which mercury is extracted from these substances can be found in various writings on the topic, but not here. However, we cannot leave unreported that the extraction of from is the most difficult and intensive of these processes, which can be frustrated at the slightest error. This is so because iron contains so little mercury, but much more and little which is nevertheless quite stable.

Even without a general solvent any metal can be returned to its through a general method. First, reduce the metal in some alcohol using a well-known experimental method that will not destroy it, then place it into a liquor of , , præparat. sal pur. , fort. or spir. of & of . With these agents and a couple of vials and lime on hand, we can achieve our goal. Orpiment will be necessary for one of the metals, as well as sublimated . Specific details on the steps of this process can be found in the appropriate writings on this topic. We should remind the reader that a natural , be it even in a small quantity, can be drawn from any body of the plant, animal or mineral kingdoms. Experienced chemists know this well. Similarly, every body can be reduced to a , as demonstrated in volume 1. However, metallurgists in general have not taken advantage of this because they insist that common , and are the first principles of metals. They do not see that the principles of the metals are quite different than common , and , as shown earlier.

PART 5

The of and are the most interesting in this regard. The former has such a fiery nature that if we put it in a bowl and placed the bowl on an immovable rock, there would still be movement within the bowl. And if the bowl is not covered properly, the mercury will eventually find a way out. The of likewise has wonderful properties as all artists must know. This has many benefits, as for example, that a nice cinnabar-pigment can be prepared from it by adding common . As a medicine, however, it is not of much use, unless its very properties can be completely altered from their ball-shaped substance to a more elongated fibrous shape. The human digestive tract too easily dissolves the leaving the reactivated to cause the symptoms described earlier. When is bound together with it performs wonderfully as a perspiration-inducing agent. Therefore, natural cinnabar is among the best and safest ingredients in medicine, as our experience with severe illnesses tells us. All of the so-called fixed preparations, or whatever other types of foolish preparations are available, through which the Salvationes is supposed to be stimulated or purg. or s. dulc. or s. alii, these are nothing more than quicksilver in the form of a light reduction. They are of little use either internally or externally, unless the quicksilver is in its unaltered form in the miserere, or if it could be altered to an irreducible sweet oily balm; then one could say that he possesses a wonder-medicine for both internal and external use. He who knows how to transform mercury from its ball-shaped substance can accomplish some noteworthy things. But if he can precisely combine it with its brother with the help of , he will create a magnificent medicinal agent that is safe and effective against deadly diseases, and induces perspiration. To prepare this agent, however, requires skill and time. Only golden can alter mercury properly because of their strong love for one another, but which cannot occur without its or lunar .

PART 6

The advantages that can provide to those working with are well known, although there are many scandals associated with it. Nevertheless, it certainly does offer some advantages. For example, it dries out the fatty substance of and uses it to make a cinnabar, as noted elsewhere. Whoever can combine the of and of lunar mercury with this cinnabar will get a solid mass that offers some benefits. (The reader should not be upset with our use of the term lunaram mercuratam (lunar mercury) here, since it expresses quite well what we are unable to say in any other way.)

Those who believe that is an unripe and that is a ripe , and thus attempt to change into gold, are greatly deceiving themselves. The nature of has been clearly defined many times in this book. has far too crude a saltwater quality, than that it could easily be transformed into . Unless the person attempting this is a master of transforming red masculine and white feminine by means of its original saline-mercurial , this general solvent, all his efforts will be in vain. There can be no doubt that common mercury can surrender certain benefits, as mentioned above. However, anyone working with it must be experienced in such tasks and an expert in the use of fire.

PART 7

The remaining advantages of have primarily to do with processes, which we will not describe here, since chemical writings are full of such descriptions. Even if we did describe those benefits of mercury familiar to us, it would do the reader no good without certain details and would be too imposing a task for us anyway. Therefore, the reader will have to be satisfied with what we have reported thus far.

PART 8

As we noted earlier, if is not prepared correctly it will be of no use either internally or externally, but rather will act as a poison and show its destructive power, as we unfortunately can readily see about us in various salves, vapors, liquids and other murderous agents. And in the vegetable kingdom provides no benefit at all, except perhaps as a magnet or in its original essence.

PART 9

It is well known that can be completely reduced to , since both are quite closely related. Their only differences are that has more and purer than and can be made harder with the addition of some and the application of . The vapors from this simmering can transform quicksilver completely into . Chemists and physicists term this process one of cold coagulation. But this misses the point by a lot, as much as the heavens are distant from the earth. Those familiar with the and of will understand this differently and look for a higher principle in this coagulation of mercury, the so-called cooling property of mercury. Those who know how to separate the salt and from will be able to shape mercury and whatever else comes from it. We know that salt and also are the essence of fire. And so we are supposed to ask what kind of cooling property contains that hardens mercury to lead. This is truly philosophical nonsense, an empty term, de certeris nihil. The reader may remember that we stated earlier how quicksilver can be shaped through mercury; he may want to reflect on that point here and perhaps open his eyes, so that he can find the truth, for this matter of the coagulation of mercury through lead vapors, which many chemists swear by (these are the same people who think they can hear the grass growing), is not unimportant. But we are not referring here to a salt of made from distilled vinegar (per acetum destillatum Jabricatum), which also applies to .

PART 10

If we oxidize the with and then take four measures of the resulting ashes, common salt and clear, pure gravel stones, one measure of each, all of them scrubbed clean and then put them together in a crucible in the oven for three hours until they melt and flow together into a white glassy mass, we can produce a shapeable glass from all types of ores which can be quite useful for those who can do this for their own benefit, rather than as part of a larger commercial operation. Once again, the reader should not criticize us for not offering a more detailed description of the process, since that is not part of our purpose here. As long as he is experienced in working with , he will understand what we have said.

PART 11

Antimony is sometimes known as philosophical or black . It is harder in consistency than because it has more , as its chemical anatomy would show. However, we do not wish to go into that here.

To extract from antimony we must do the following: take some pure ore and separate the mineral from the rest; then pulverize the mineral and cook it in a strong brine of tartar-salt (sal tartari) or potash under constant stirring until the brine has a dark-red color. Then, gently pour the brine off and add strong vinegar to the liquid. This will result in a nice brownish-red . After isolating and drying the precipitate, if you then strew it onto glowing coals you will notice that it burns like common . If you rub with this powder, the metal will appear golden, whereas a common would turn the black.

PART 12

of can be prepared in the following manner: make three pounds of in the usual manner and grind it into a fine powder. Then divide it into two glass retorts whose necks are connected to one another. Then take two pounds of and sal tartari and mix them well with one another. Let it sit in a cool place until it attains the consistency of oil. Then place one and a half pounds of the mixture into each retort, along with some nitric acid and salt-spirits until it boils. Then quickly seal off the retorts tightly with clay, set them in warm sand and keep them there for five to six weeks until their contents have become a white mass. Then pulverize this mass, put some of it into a glass retort and distill it. You will get a small quantity of of , since this process typically produces only small amounts.

Salt of antimony can be made in the following manner: take some antimony ore and pulverize it to a fine consistency, then calcinate it in the usual manner until the no longer smokes, then continue to heat it for a good while longer. Since the will lump together, it must be repeatedly ground smaller, while continuing the calcination, the longer the better. When it is enough (this will have to be learned from experience), grind it again, strew it on a glass tablet in a cool place and let it stand, then extract from it with a common brandy all of its saline properties (but not with +, as is typically done, since this produces an unnatural result). The resulting substance is a genuine of .

PART 13

Thus far we have focused on antimony as a of . The curious reader will certainly not object to hearing about a special feature of antimony which will certainly give cause for much reflection. Together with a close friend I once made a bit of antimony of in a rather short period of time. Our wind ovens, which were exactly the same in all respects, stood in the laboratory next to one another against one of the walls. We used the same quantity and type of coals and the same type of antimony, and , and we placed our mixtures in the at the same time and kept them in the oven for the same length of time. However, our results differed: for every pound of the mixture we cooked, mine produced an additional quarter-pound of the product. Whoever can guess the type of fire we used in our ovens (we both used the same type and yet, not the same type of ), will be able to achieve the same results. The reader can check in volume 2 on , where we mentioned this type of fire.

There are many ways to ignite a fire here on earth. The earliest humans made fire sometimes with pebbles or small stones, or sometimes by rubbing together two sticks or pieces of steel or iron, and sometimes using the rays of the sun. In the post-Flood world newer forms were added, such as through a lightning strike or through various mechanical devices. Therefore, before anyone engages in work requiring the use of fire, he must consider what kind of ignition the process requires. The reader should think about this in light of the case outlined above.

PART 14

Before we continue, we want to tell the reader about another interesting occurrence. We know of a certain chemist who once mixed concentrated urine with human excrement, adding to it some ore (whether it was filings of , we can no longer say, and the chemist could not even remember for what purpose this was added). He put the mixture in a container and left it on a shelf in his laboratory, eventually forgetting about it. While cleaning up the laboratory three years later he came across the container and suddenly remembered the mixture in it. Taking out the wooden spoon in the container with which he had mixed the materials, and turning the container upside down, he was astonished to see a considerable quantity of quicksilver run out through his fingers. It can be easily understood from this example that this must have been highly specified in the mixture.

PART 15

One can often find in certain mines a mercurial substance that remains fluid like common as long as it is heated by the underground . As soon as it flows out of its matrix and into the cold air, however, it solidifies and looks much like buttermilk. Miners call this substance, which is often a solid , Gur. We might also call this Gur by the name Stannor, or metal-juice. Many men have labored under the illusion that if they could isolate this Gur in a high-quality vein, they would possess the so-called “first substance” necessary in the preparation of the Philosopher's Stone. Anyone who realizes that this Gur (Stannor) is not the seed of a metal, but rather a completely formed metal itself, which lacked only the final phase of coagulation, will laugh at the suggestion mentioned above. Earlier we called this Gur a mercurial substance, that is, a -like substance that resembles mercury in its fluid state. However, as we just noted above, this substance is a completely formed metal. There are those who believe that elemental water in the underground crevasses and channels is first transformed into the three principles , and , which then in their original spiritual mixture create a metal-juice—the Stannor or Gur—which eventually develops into the substance of the metal, just as the rain or other is attracted by the roots of a tree and transformed into its wood, albeit not immediately, since it first becomes a thick fluid called Leffas. But these idle thoughts contradict nature, as we clearly showed in volume 1 on .

PART 16

Although much more could be said about , we hope that the seeker of truth will be satisfied with all that we have said in this regard thus far. To list here all the practical uses of would run counter to the intended purpose of this book, particularly since so much has already been written on such things by experienced chemists. We say this so that those who intend to undertake some experiment with will take note not only of the position of the sun, but also that of the other planets, which cannot be done without the knowledge of true astrology. Therefore, in order to further please the reader, we will present in the following chapter the principles of true astrology based on nature and without any pagan, superstitious or damnable subtleties. For the lover of truth we will end this chapter by referring him to figures 8, 9 and 10 on page 317.