The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 17 



the essential properties of a thing, the 

 circumstances by which it is conditioned, 

 its matter, its form, its operations and 

 their source, whence it is infused and 

 implanted, how it is generated by the 

 Stars, formed by the elements, produced 

 and perfected by the three principles. 



Again, it enables us to understand 

 how the body of anything can be dis- 

 solved, i.e., resolved into its first matter 

 or essence ; to this change I have referred 

 in my other writings as the transmuta- 

 tion of the last substance into the first, 

 and of the first substance into the last* 



This Contemplation, which forms 

 the second part of our work, is heavenly, 

 and spiritually apprehended, for only the 

 spiritual mind can grasp the circum- 



* Here you have an epitome of all the elaborate and 

 obscure teaching of the Sages, which is comprised in so 

 many books. The Author had a perfect knowledge of that 

 spirit which permeates all creation, and is the efficient cause 

 of all things, yet is everywhere bound up with the defile- 

 ments and dross of matter; if freed from this dross, it returns 

 to the purity of its substance, in which it produces every- 

 thing, and becomes everything in every form. To comment 

 on it, or attempt its explanation, would be trying to con- 

 dense the work of all the Sages into the compass of a 

 foot-note. 



C 



