154 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 



those who suppose, with the multitude, 

 that in winter fishes are frozen to death 

 in the water. But that is a notion in 

 support of which not a tittle of evidence 

 has ever been produced. 



The reason that fishes sometimes 

 die in the winter is to be sought in the fact 

 that no animal can live without air, and 

 when the ice is frozen over the fish 

 are frequently suffocated. Now, if Anti- 

 mony is to bear its own proper fruit, it 

 must not be suffocated in the bowels of 

 the earth ; but it must be dug out, and 

 prepared by the auxiliary media of water, 

 air, and fire, lest its fruitfulness be 

 strangled in the earth. It must be made 

 manifest by many laborious preparations 

 of the artist, in order that it may be 

 effectual for the healing of diseases and 

 for the perfecting of metals. 



What, then, can you say, or what 

 argument can you bring forward that is 

 of the slightest weight ? Since you are 

 so densely ignorant as to have not even 

 the slightest idea of the composition of 

 Antimony, you do well to keep your own 



