_Of the mundification and cleansing of the stone._
Consequently, hee teacheth how the Stone ought to bee multiplied:
but first he setteth downe the mundification of the stone, and the
separation of the parts: saying, _Thou shalt separate the earth from
the fire, the thinne from the thicke, and that gently with great
discretion_. Gently, that is by little, and little, not violently,
but wisely, to witte, in Philosophicall doung. _Thou shalt separate_,
that is, dissolue: for dissolution is the separation of partes. _The
earth from the fire, the thinne from the thicke_: that is, the lees and
dregges, from the fire, the ayre, the water, and the whole substaunce
of the Stone, so that the Stone may remaine most pure without all filth.