170 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 



hours, or longer, in a strong lye made of 

 the ashes of beechwood. Strain, add 

 vinegar, and the sulphur will be of a red 

 colour, and sink to the bottom ; pour off 

 the liquid, and dry the powder gently. 

 Distil this powder with grape vinegar, 

 extract the tincture, and treat the sulphur 

 as in the last operation, i.e., convert it 

 into oil by distillation. The sulphur 

 mentioned above has indeed greater 

 potency, because it was sublimated and 

 better dissolved at the beginning with 

 salt armoniac. 



The other preparations of Antimony 

 which the Spagyrist should be able to 

 make, are the Vinegar of Antimony, the 

 Philosophical Signed Star, and the Lead 

 of the Sages, concerning which there has 

 been much vain speculation, it being said, 

 for instance, that genuine Mercury could 

 be prepared from it. But Mercury, as 

 the first substance or first water of the 

 metals, and the seed thereof, whence the 

 Stone of the Ancient Sages is evolved, 

 is not found in Antimony, but in another 

 mineral which has a more potent metallic 



