The Preface.
dance of Spirit, that in the place of its Conception, the Earth ſwells up, and at laſt breaks with the very Tumor. But to look out this Stone, belongs not to every Body, for it vaniſheth away, unleß it be extracted with all poßible Caution; only we that are Brachmans, by certain practiſes of our own, can find out the Pantarva. Theſe are the words of Jarchas, where you ſhall obſerve, That he hath confounded the firſt and ſecond Generation of the Stone, it being the Cuſtom of the Philoſophers never to expreſs their Myſteries diſtinctly. The ſecond Birth then he hath fully and clearly diſcovered, for when the Philoſophers firſt Earth is moiſtened with its own milk, it ſwells, being impregnated with frequent Imbibitions, till at laſt it breaks, and with a ſoft heat ſublimes; and then aſcends the Heavenly Suplhur, being freed from his Hell, for it leaves behind the Binarius, or Terra Damnata, and is no more a Priſoner to that Droſs. This firſt heavenly Sulphur is commonly called Petra ſtellata, & Terra Margaritarum: but Raymund Lully calls it Terram Terræ, and in a certain place he deſcribes it thus: Hæc eſt
Tinctura
