80 
MESSRS. H. E. STAPLETON AND R. F. AZO ON 
niac, in an utf.al } The metal is said to be thus robbed of its ‘ spirit/ the residue 
being ‘ dead like earth ’ and refusing to melt when heated. Subsequently the calcined 
‘ body ’ is ‘ tortured ’ with a ‘ sharp water ’ in order to purify it further. 
(2) Manipulation of the ‘ Spirit ’ of which the ‘ Body ’ is supposed to have 
been deprived (some remarks occur which tend to show that the copyist had more 
than one MS. before him of this treatise). The actual process is the reddening of the 
sublimate of Mercury, Sal-ammoniac, and Iron salt from the previous operation, by 
an impure solution of Calcium polysulphide. “ This therefore is the method of 
treating the ‘Spirit,’ reddening, torturing, purifying, and refining it, precisely (or ap- 
proximately) as you have done to the ‘ Body.’ This, O my son, is the all-important 
process, by which the ‘Spirit’ is so treated as to be unaffected by fire. Generation 
after generation have failed to accomplish this. • Realise therefore the value of what 
you have received. This is the ‘Second Pillar,’ and it is of this that Dhu-n-Nun 
Al-Misri a — May God’s mercy be on him !— has spoken in his poem : 
‘ This is one of the ‘Pillars,’ which gives rise to much labour in the Process: 
‘ If you desire to complete the Work, then purify the ‘ Soul ’ from the 
diseases that affect it. 
‘ Finally, if you are sufficiently expert, unite the whole in the bonds of matri- 
mony.’ 3 4 
“ Dhu-n-Nun Al-MisrI was undoubtedly aware of the method and the means of 
carrying it out. Now, O my son, I have taught you the proper treatment of the 
‘ Body ’ and the ‘ Spirit,’ the result being certain, and achieved without any trouble 
or labour of your own in the discovering of the process. There now remains the 
manipulation of the ‘ Third Pillar,’ which is the ‘ Soul,’ — its treatment, whitening, and 
purifying. When this is done, the union of the ‘Three Pillars’ can be easily effected, 
for the true weights which the Sages keep secret, as well as the method of combina- 
tion, never alter.” 
(3) The Treatment and Whitening of the ‘ Soul ’ (apparently Sulphur). A mix- 
ture of substances is treated in various ways until the final product melts and flows 
over a heated sheet of silver without blackening it, or itself being vapourised/ 
The silver is only coloured yellow. 
(4) The combination of the ‘Three Pillars’ to form the ‘ Smaller Elixir ’ by 
means of the ‘ Red Water ’ subsequently described, together with a description of 
the signs by which the operation is known to have succeeded. 
1 Cf. Mem. Asiatic Soc. Bengal , I, 4, pp. 62 and 63. 
2 The well-known alchemist and Sufi. “ His name was Abu T Paid h Dhu-n-Nun ibn Ibrahim. He professed Sufiism 
and made himself a name in alchemy. He has written many books (on the latter science), among these being ‘ The Book 
of the Great Pillar ’ ; ‘ the Book of Certainty about the Art ’ ” (Fihrist, ed. cit., p. 358). “ Ibn Yunus says in his History 
that he was acquainted with philosophy and spoke with elegance. His father who was a native of Nubia, or of Ikhmlm 
(in Upper Egypt), was a slave enfranchised and adopted by the tribe Koraish . . . He died in the month of Zu’l Kaada, 
A.H. 245 (Feb., A.D. 860), or according to others, A.H. 246 or 248, in Misr, and was interred in the lesser Karafa (one of 
the cemeteries in old Cairo).” Ibn Kballikan, I, pp 291 and 293. 
3 Cf. the words of Mary, quoted by Olympiodorus ( B . , Coll., Text, p. 102) : 1 2 ' Unite the male and the female and what 
is sought will be found ; for without effecting this union, nothing can succeed. For Nature is charmed by Nature, etc. 
4 Cf. Stapleton, in Mem. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, I, 2, p. 39. 
