attained the knowledge of the matter in general yet I erred 

 at least two hundred times before I could attain to know 

 the singular thing itself, with the work and the practice 

 thereof. 



*\T* /"N/v 



First, I began with ., of the QjQ(^ which I con- 



putrefaction matter 



tinued for 9 I I , together and obtained nothing. I then for 



months 



some certain time proved a / /") but in vain. After that 



balneum Marias 



I used a / \ of \j for 3 I I t space and still found 



fire calcination months 



myself out of the way. I essayed all sorts of ^ and 



/V/ distillations 



and / /V> as the ^^ Geber, Archelaus, and all the 



sublimations philosophers 



rest of them have prescribed, and yet found nothing. In sum 

 I attempted to perfect the whole work of alchemy by all 



imaginable and likely means, as by 



/Jy 



horse-dung ashes baths 



and other heats of divers kinds all of which are found in the 



books of K yet without any success. I yet continually 



philosophers 



for 3 8 together studied the books of f^ , that 



years philosophers 



chiefly in Hermes whose concise words comprehend the sum 

 of the whole matter, viz. the secret of the Philosophers* Stone, 

 by an obscure way of speaking, of what is superior, and 

 what is inferior, to wit, of heaven and earth. Therefore our 



137 



