r of metals isdouble in its essence, being a dry heat combined with a warm moisture, andthat air is water coagulated by fir, capable of producing a universaldissolvent. These terms the neophyte must be cautious of interpreting intheir literal sense. Great confusion exists in alchemical nomenclature,and the gibberish employed by the scores of charlatans who in later timespretended to a knowledge of alchemical matters did not tend to make thingsany more clear. The beginner must also acquire a thorough knowledge of themanner in which metals grow in the bowels of the earth. These areengendered by sulphur, which is male, and mercury, which is female, and thecrux of alchemy is to obtain their seed - a process which the alchemistphilosophers have not described with any degree of clarity. The physical theory of transmutation is based on the composite characterof metals, and on the existence of a substance which, applied to matter,exalts and perfects it. This, Eugenius Philalethes and others call 'TheLight'. The elements of all metals is similar, differing only in purityand proportion. The entire trend of the metallic kingdom is towards thenatural manufacture of gold, and the production of the baser metals is onlyaccidental as the result of an unfavorable environment. The Philosopher'sStone is the combination of the male and female seeds which beget gold. The composition of these is so veiled by symbolism as to make theiridentification a matter of impossibility. Waite, summarizing thealchemical process once the secret of the stone is unveiled, says: "Giventhe matter of the stone and also the necessary vessel, the process whichmust be then undertaken to accomplish the `magnum opus' are described withmoderate perpicuity. There is the calcination or purgation of the stone, inwhich kind is worked with kind for the space of a philosophical year. There is dissolution which prepares the way for congelation, and which isperformed during the b...
