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The Mirror of Alchimy

Chapter 20: CHAP. VII. Of the mundification and cleansing of the stone.
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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. VII.
Of the mundification and cleansing of the stone.

COnsequently, hee teacheth how the Stone ought to bee multiplied: but first he setteth downe the mundification of the stone, and the separation of the parts: saying, Thou shalt separate the earth from the fire, the thinne from the thicke, and that gently with great discretion. Gently, that is by little, and little, not violently, but wisely, to witte, in Philosophicall doung. Thou shalt separate, that is, dissolue: for dissolution is the separation of partes. The earth from the fire, the thinne from the thicke: that is, the lees and dregges, from the fire, the ayre, the water, and the whole substaunce of the Stone, so that the Stone may remaine most pure without all filth.