Aesch Mezareph

Cheseph, Silver, in Metallic things Rabbi Mordechai writes thus:

Let the Red Minera of Silver be taken, let it be ground very finely; add an Ounce and a half of the Calx of Luna to six Ounces of it. Let it be placed in a Sand bath in a Vial sealed. Let there be given a small Fire for the first Eight Days, lest its Radical Humidity be burnt up. The second Week, one degree stronger; and the third yet stronger; and on the fourth, that the sand may not be red hot, but so that when Water is dropped upon it, it may hiss. Then on the top of the Glass, thou shalt have a White Matter, which is the Materia Prima or tinging Arsenic, being the living Water of Metals, which all Philosophers call dry Water, or their Vinegar. Let this be purified thus: Take of the Crystalline Matter sublimed; Let it be ground upon a Marble, with an equal part of Calx of Luna, and let it be put into a Vial sealed, and set in a Sand bath again, the first two Hours with a gentle Fire, the second with a stronger, and the third with one yet more violent, and increased till the Sand will hiss, and our Arsenic will be sublimed again, the starry Beams being sent forth. And since a quantity of this is required thou shalt augment it thus:

Take six Ounces of this, and an Ounce and a half of the most pure Filings of Luna, and make an Amalgama, and let them be digested in a Vial in hot Ashes, till all the Luna be dissolved, and converted into Arsenical Water.

Take an Ounce and a half of this Spirit, and place it in a closed Vial: Let this be put into hot Ashes, and it will ascend and descend; which heat continue, till it leaves off Sweating, and it lies at the bottom the Colour of Ashes. Thus the matter is dissolved and putrefied.

Take one part of this Cinereous Matter, and half a part of the aforesaid Water, let them be mixed and sweat in a Glass, as before, which will happen in about Eight Days; when the Cinereous Earth shall begin to wax white, take it out, and let it be imbibed with five Washings of its Lunar Water, and digested as before. Let it be imbibed the third time, with five Ounces of the same Water, and coagulated as before, for Eight Days. The fourth Imbibition requires seven Ounces of the Lunar Water. And the Sweating being ended, this Preparation is finished.

Now for the White Work. Take 21 Drachms of this White Earth, 14 Drachms of the Lunar Water, 10 Drachms of Calx of most pure Luna; mix them upon a marble slab and commit them to Coagulation, till they grow hard; imbibe it with three parts of its own Water, till it hath drank up this Portion; and repeat that so often, till it flow on a Copper Plate, made red hot, without Smoke; and then thou shalt have the Tincture for the White, which thou mayest increase by the means aforesaid.

For the Red, you must use Calx of Sol, and a stronger Fire; and 'tis a work of about four months. Thus this author.

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Many seek other Sulphurs, and he that hath entered the "House of the Paths" shall understand them, Proverbs, 8: 2. For the Sulphurs of Gold and Iron, the Extraction whereof is taught by many, and is easy; also of Gold, Iron and Brass; also of Gold, Iron, Copper and Antimony, which are gathered together after Fulmination by Vinegar, out of the lixivium, which are changed into a Red Oil, with a moist Hydrargyrum, --- do tinge Silver. For from Proverbs, 21: 20, we know there is a Treasure to be desired and also an Oil to be found in the dwelling of a Man of Wisdom.