AN ALCHEMICAL COMPILATION OP THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, A.D. 81 
(5) Coagulation of the Elixir, including a poetical description by one of the 
Sages of the Elixir. 
(6) The method of Projecting the Elixir. 
(7) The making of the 'Great Red Water’ which unites the 'Three Pillars.’ 
This is mainly a solution of Vitriol in acetic acid, reddened by the addition of small 
quantities of Iron oxide, Arsenic sulphide, etc. 
Ends: "This is the 'Great Red Water,’ which we use in the ' Smaller Gate.’ 
It also occasionally enters into the works of the ' Great Gate ’ , (as we shall mention) if 
it please the Great God! ’’ 
(C). The First Process of the 'Great Gate ’ of the Ta'widh of Al-Hakim. 
(Folio n6, 1 . 7, to f. 120 r., 1 . i). 
Begins : " Take of the calcined ‘ Body ’ i part, of the reddened and volatised 
'Spirit’ 9 parts, of the whitened and purified 'Soul’ 3 parts. These weights are 
according to Ostanes the Greek, and his pupil Democritos, 1 and the Egyptian Sages 
who came after them. They differ from our weights, especially in the ‘Smaller 
Gate. ’ ” 
The operations described are : 
(1) The compounding of the ' Greater Elixir. ’ 
(2) Its coagulation. 
(3) How this Elixir is projected. 
(4) The making of the 'Divine Water,’ which enters into the ' Great Gate,’ 
and is known as the 'Water of Fife.’ (Apparently a solution of mer- 
curic chloride). 
(5) The making of the 'Water of Alum’ by which the Elixir is freed from 
unctuosity. 
(6) The making of the ' Oil of Eggs ’ which enters into this ‘ Gate.’ 
1 Tlie relation of Ostanes to Democritos is thus described in the letter of Synesius of Cyreue, the Alexandrian con- 
temporary of Hypatia, who flourished c. A.D. 400 (B., Coll., trans., I, p. 61): “ Democrite etait un tres savant liomme 
(d’Abdere, une ville de Thrace) qui venu en Egypte fut initie aux mysteres par le grand Ostanes dans le sanctuaire de 
Memphis par lui et ses disciples, pretres d’Egypte. Tirant de lui ses principes, il composa quatre livres de teinture, 
sur l’or et 1 ’ argent sur les pierres et sur la pourpre. Par ces mots ‘tirant ses principes,’ j’entends qu’il ecrivit 
d’apres le grand Ostanes. Car cet (ecrivain) est le premier qui ait emis ces axiomes “la nature est charmee par la 
nature ’ ’ ; et “ la nature domine la nature ’ ’ et “ la nature triomphe de la nature, ’ ’ etc. 
The most authentic, as well as the earliest, account of Ostanes and Democritos is found however in Pliny ( Naturalis 
Historia, Book XXX, Cap. II), from which the following is extracted. Pliny, it will be seen, differentiates between two 
magicians of the name Ostanes, and does not appear to regard the more ancient one as having been the direct teacher 
of Democritos. 
Primus quod exstet, ut equidem invenio, commentatus de ea Osthanes, Xerxem regem Persarum bello, quod is 
Grsecia intulit comitatus ; ac velut semina artis portentosse sparsisse, obiter infecto, quacumque commeaverat, mundo. 
. . . Quod certum est hie maxime Osthanes ad rabiem, non aviditatem modo scientiae ejus, Graecorum populos egit 
Democritus Apollobechen Coptiten et Dardanum e Phcenice illustravit : volumiuibus Dardani in sepulcrum ejus petitis ; 
suis vero ex disciplina eorum editis : quae recepta ab aliis hominum atque trausiisse per memoriam, aeque ac nihil in vita, 
mirandum est. In tantum Aides istis fasque omne deest, adeo ut ii qui coetera in viro illo probant haec ejus esse opera 
inficientur. . . . Non levem et Alexandri Magni temporibus auctoritatem addidit professioui secundus Osthanes, 
comitatu ejus exornatus, planeque, quod nemo dubitet, orbem terrarum peragravit. ’ ’ (Harduiu’s Paris ed., 16S 5 ). It 
may be added that Xerxes was defeated at the battle of Salamis in 480 B C., while Democritos was born in 460. Alex- 
ander started for his conquest of Asia in 334 B.C. 
