physician, ought to seek into these three things during his whole life, and even up to his death should play with them and find his pastime in them. Most assuredly they will nobly compensate him for all his labour, study, and expense.
But let us come to particulars, and specially describe the death and mortification of each natural thing, what its death is, and in what way it is mortified. First of all, then, with regard to the death of man, it should be understood that, beyond a doubt, it is nothing else but the end of his day's work, the taking away his air, the evanescence of his balsam, the extinction of his natural light, and the entire separation of the three substances, body, soul, and spirit, and the return to his mother's womb. For since the natural earthborn man comes from the earth, the earth, too, will be his mother, into which he must return, and therein lose his earthborn natural flesh, so that at the last day he may be regenerated in a new, a heavenly, and purified flesh, as Christ said to Nicodemus when he came to Him by night. For, as we said, these words apply to regeneration.
But the death or mortification of the metals is the removal of their bodily structure, and of the sulphurous fatness which can be removed from them in many ways, as by calcination, reverberation, resolution, cementation, and sublimation. But the calcination of metals is not of a single kind only. For one is produced by salt, one by mercury, one by strong waters, one by the fuligo mercurii and quick mercury. Calcination by salt is when the metal is formed into very thin plates, and stratified and cemented with salt. Calcination by sulphur is when the metal is formed into plates, stratified and reverberated with sulphur. Calcination by strong waters is when the metal is granulated, resolved in aqua fortis, and precipitated therein. Calcination by the fuligo mercurii is brought about thus: Let the metal be formed into plates; let the mercury be put into an earthen vessel, narrow at the top but broad below, and afterwards set on a moderate coal fire, which should be blown a little until the mercury begins to smoke, and a white cloud issues from the mouth of the vessel. Then let the plated metal be placed on the orifice of the vessel. Thus the common mercury penetrates the metal and renders it as friable as a lump of coal. Calcination by quick mercury is when the metal is cleft into small particles, made into plates, or granulated, and formed into amalgam with mercury. Afterwards let the mercury be pressed out through a skin, and the metal will remain within the skin in the form of lime or sand. But beyond these mortifications of the metals, destructions and whitenings of their life, you must know that there are many other mortifications of the metals. For beyond the fact that all rusting of iron and steel is a death, there are others which are to be esteemed as more important. For instance, it should be known that all vitriol, or even burnt brass, is mortified copper; all precipitated, sublimated, calcined cinnabar is mortified mercury; all white lead, red lead, or yellow lead are mortified lead; all lazurius is mortified silver. So, also, all Sol, from which its tincture, quintessence, resin, crocus, or sulphur has been withdrawn, is dead,
