_An enigmaticall insinuation what the matter of the Stone shoulde be._
_Therefore am I called Hermes Trismegistus._ Now that he hath declared
the composition of the Stone, he teacheth vs after a secret maner,
wherof the Stone is made: first naming himselfe, to the ende that
his schollers (who should hereafter attaine to this science) might
haue his name in continuall remembrance: and then hee toucheth the
matter saying: _Hauing three parts of the Philosophie of the whole
world_: because that whatsoeuer is in the worlde, hauing matter &
forme, is compounded of the foure Elements: hence is it, that there
are so infinite parts of the world, all which he diuideth into three
principall partes, Minerall, Vegetable, & Animall: of which iointly,
or seuerally, hee had the true knowledge in the worke of the Sunne:
for which cause hee saith, _Hauing three parts of the Philosophie of
the whole world_, which parts are contained in one Stone, to wit,
Philosophers Mercurie.