stir up the <f/ QjQi^^ an( * * n a snort time that / \ 



without 



fire 



any laying on of hands will \^/ the whole work because 



complete 



it putrefies, corrupts, generates, and perfects, and makes the 

 three principal colors, viz., the black, white and red to ap- 

 pear. And by the means of this our fire the medicine will be 

 multiplied !by addition of the crude matter not only in quan- 

 tity but also in quality or virtue. Therefore, seek out this 

 fire with all thy industry, for having once found it thou shalt 

 accomplish thy desire, because it performs the whole work, 



and is the true key of all the "" which they never yet 



philosophers 



revealed. Consider well of what I have spoken concerning 



the properties of this / \, and thou must know it, other- 



fire 

 wise it will be hid from thine eyes. 



Being moved with generosity I have written you these 



things, but that I might speak plainly, this / \is not trans- 



fire 

 muted with the Qnn because it is nothing of the matter, 



matter 



as I have before declared. And these things I thought fit to 

 speak as a warning to the proudest sons of art that they 

 spend not their money unprofitably, but may know what 

 they ought to look after; for by this only they may attain 

 to the perfection of this secret, and by.no other means. 



Farewell. 



Before transmitting this letter with the interlineations to 

 the Emperor, Maier added a note on the general subject of 

 secret characters; he stated that "the well known symbols 



139 



