_The best particular and cheapest Universal._
1. When with the help of _Sendivogius_ his _Chalybs_, or _Glauber_’s
Magnet, we have extracted the colour from _Sol_, and again restored
it through _Venus_ and Antimony, we may by oft repeating the said
extraction and restoration get great profit, this being one of the best
particulars that can be. This multiplication of _Sol_ may very well
be compared with the generation of Man, for as a Man in generating,
doth with meat and drink restore the loss of his Seed, by which means
he continues the said multiplication for a long time, by turning the
meat he eats into Prolifick Seed; so likewise the Chymist changeth
_Venus_, _Mars_, _Jupiter_, _Saturn_, _Mercury_ and _Lune_ into _Sol_,
by feeding the dis-spirited _Sol_ that has lost its colour with them,
restoring it to its former strength and vigour.
2. The Sperm of Man is not the Seed of Man, but onely the Shell and
receptacle thereof, as may be seen in Old Men, whose Sperm is unfit for
generation by reason of the weakness of their vital Spirit.
3. So likewise the Seeds of Vegetables, are not all pure Seed, but the
House and Vehicle thereof, that is, of the growing and multiplying
virtue, which appears in that when the Seeds have been kept so long
till this vital virtue is exhaled from them, they never bring forth any
thing.
4. No more can _Sol_ be said to be the Seed of metals, but onely the
receptacle thereof, for the Seed is not the whole Body, but onely the
lively colour of the Body, and the vegetative and multiplicative virtue
that is hid in it.
5. Now as the Seed of Vegetables is more perfect and noble than the
Vegetables, so likewise is mature fixt _Sol_, more perfect than
_Mercury_, _Saturn_, _Jupiter_, _Venus_, _Mars_, though in the
imperfect metals also a Seed be hid, but not so fixt and good as that
in Gold.
6. The imperfect metals may be compared to an Herb, whose Seed is not
yet ripe, which being put into the ground cannot grow or multiply, but
rots in the Earth.
7. The virtue of Corals lies not in their whole Bodies, but in their
colour; and therefore _Paracelsus_ bids us not to make use of Corals
in substance, but extract their Tincture, and use that for Physick,
wherefore also he rejects white Corals, as being an unripe Fruit, from
any use in Physick.
8. For this reason also the immature gray Pearls, which are frequently
found in Cockle Shells in fresh running waters, are looked upon as
useless in Physick.
9. And this not without reason, for as unripe Grapes are the cause of
griping of the Guts, and hurt the Body; so ripe Grapes nourish and
strengthen the same, especially when by fermentation they have quitted
their Fæces.
10. All imperfect metals subvert and trouble the Stomach, and cause
vomiting and purging, and that by reason of their unripeness.
11. Whereas on the contrary _Sol_ taken into the Body causeth not the
least alteration, but powerfully strengthens the same when reduc’d to
Potability.
12. Thus _Sol_ may be compared to ripe Grapes, which when eaten raw,
do indeed no hurt to the Body, but rather affords some nourishment,
yet cannot strengthen the Heart, Brain, and whole Body, and make a
chearfull mind; but when by fermentation they are delivered from their
skins and other impurities, they readily and as it were in a moment
perform all this.
13. In like manner when _Sol_ by fermentation hath laid aside his gross
Body and become Spiritual, if then made use of, it not onely nourisheth
as ripe Grapes, but exerts its virtue like a Spirit or Q. Essence of
Wine, penetrating the whole, and making it lively, strong and vigorous
throughout.
14. Neither do the other metals display their hidden virtue, untill
by fermentation and distillation, they be subtilized and their gross
Bodies laid aside.
15. Thus when _Lune_ by fermentation and distillation is subtilized,
then it draws away all Diseases of the Brain, and corroborates the same
exceedingly even as _Sol_ doth the Heart.