The Mirror of Alchimy

Chapter 16: CHAP. III. That the Stone hath in it the foure Elements.

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About This Book

A compilation of alchemical treatises sets out definitions of the art, explains its two basic principles—mercurial and sulfurous substances—and presents a theory of how metals arise and aspire toward gold. It offers procedural guidance for selecting and preparing the matter for a philosopher’s stone or elixir, includes commentary on the Smaragdine Table and allied aphorisms, and contains a discursive essay on the relation between art and nature alongside practical chapters on laboratory operations such as decoction, fixation, purification, and methods for transmutation.

CHAP. III.
That the Stone hath in it the foure Elements.

ANd as all things haue proceeded from one, by the meditation of one. Heere giueth hee an example, saying: as all things came from one, to wit, a confused Globe, or masse, by meditation, that is the cogitation and creation of one, that is the omnipotent God: So all things haue sprung, that is, come out from this one thing that is, one confused lumpe, by Adaptation, that is by the sole commaũdement of God, and miracle. So our Stone is borne, and come out of one confused masse, containing in it the foure Elements, which is created of God, and by his sole miracle our stone is borne.