no The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 



IV 



till all the moisture is abstracted ; pound 

 with a double quantity of clarified sugar, 

 moistened with spirit of vinegar ; place 

 in a retort, and distil, in the name of 

 God, at the end, with a strong fire ; you 

 will then have a red oil which must be 

 clarified to transparency with spirit of 

 wine.* 



To this oil add a little spirit of salt, 

 and pour the whole into a subtle prepa- 

 ration of "calx of gold," which has 

 previously been prepared with its water, 

 after a manner which I have laid down in 

 my other writings ; it will then transcend 

 the alembic. When they are thus dis- 

 tilled together, it assumes the Tincture 

 of gold, and leaves the body intact, t 



* This process is somewhat difficult. Basilius would say 

 thxt the oil must be carried across the alembic. It is the 

 " dexterous distillation " which I explained to you above. 



t Do you understand the riddle, my friend ? You can- 

 not understand it, unless there come an CEdipus to solve it 

 _ for you, or an Alexander to cut the Gordian Knot. The 

 difficulty lies in the fact that all solvents by which tinctures 

 are extracted must themselves be colourless ; for, unless they 

 ) are so, how can you know whether you have really extracted 

 the Tincture, or only recovered your solvent ? I will tell you 

 \_briefly how I carried out this operation in the year 1665. I 

 V rectified the red oil in the retort, and obtained a white oil of 



