138 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 



Inject gradually, by means of a long tube, 

 one part of water of Mercury ; add half- 

 a-part of calx of gold dissolved in caustic 

 water ; distil all together over a gentle 

 fire, and there will remain at the bottom 

 a beautiful fixed solution.* The sanative 

 virtues of this fixed solution are great, 

 especially in the cure of open wounds. 

 From the dead body which remains is 

 prepared a solvent far more acrid than 

 the strongest agua^fortis. The white 

 powder is prepared from Antimony in 

 the following way : Pulverize pure Hunj 

 garian Antimony, and an equal quantity 

 of thrice-purified saltpetre ; burn this 



* This solution is not yet fixed, but may become so by 

 dint of patient work. Its chief use, which Basil does not 

 even allude to, consists in the perfection of metals. For this 

 purpose an extract must be made from the powder with strong- 

 est vinegar ; remove vinegar by distillation, sweeten what 

 remains at the bottom with distilled water ; make a second 

 extract with spirit of wine, abstract spirit ; the red powder 

 which remains should be mixed with fixed salt prepared from 

 the sediment which remained after the removal of the vinegar. 

 After three months they should become fixed, and able to 

 remain unchanged in the fire, as in their own proper element. 

 When you have done this, you have made the fixed volatile, 

 and the volatile fixed, and are not far from the fulfilment of 

 your heart's desire. 



