The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 87 



pervades the whole body as to make it a 

 crude, immature, undigested mineral. 

 For instance, if a man were to eat raw 

 grain, his stomach would be too feeble 

 to digest it, because it has not sufficient 

 natural heat. Grain which is first digested 

 by the fire of the great world, must be still 

 further digested by the little fire, in order 

 to be easy of digestion in our little world. 

 It is the same with raw meat and, 

 similarly, crude Antimony is not yet 

 sufficiently digested to be capable of 

 assimilation by a feeble human stomach. 

 All cathartics, both animal and vege- 

 table, as well as mineral, contain a certain 

 volatile, undigested Mercury. This vola- 

 tility is the cause that all other things 

 in the human stomach are expelled by a 

 cathartic, though the root of the disease 

 itself is left untouched, and can be re- 

 moved only by a fixed medicine. Only 

 fixed medicines can cope with fixed 

 diseases, but these purgatives are like 

 water dashed on the pavement, which 

 cleans the stones outwardly, though it 

 does not enter them. Fixed medicines 



