The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 185 



tangible shape by the elements. Further- 

 more, as the fire, with the aid of air, 

 gains the ascendency, that aqueous sub- 

 stance becomes dry ; out of water is 

 produced fire, and out of fire and air we 

 obtain earth ; all these elements are still 

 found in all bodies before their separa- 

 tion. Water, formed into earth by fire 

 and air, is thus the first substance of all 

 things.* 



The Fire Stone which is prepared 

 from Antimony, which also I have 

 promised to describe, does not only cure 

 the diseases of men, but it removes the 

 imperfections of metals. I must proceed 

 to tell you what the Fire Stone is ; what 

 is its ore ; whether it can be prepared 

 without a proper substance ; wherein 

 consists the difference of the stones ; 

 how many kinds of them there are ; and, 

 finally, what are their uses. May God 



* This, as all Sages agree in telling us, is the substance 

 from which is prepared the lesser Fire Stone, and the Great 

 Stone of the Philosophers. It is the Water of Anaxagoras, 

 the Fire of Empedocles, the First Substance of Aristotle. 

 It is that by which trees grow, men are nourished, and 

 metals generated. 



