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WHITE DRUG CULTURES AND
REGULATION IN LONDON,
1916–1960

CHRISTOPHER HALLAM
White Drug Cultures and Regulation in London,
1916–1960
Christopher Hallam

White Drug Cultures


and Regulation in
London, 1916–1960
Christopher Hallam
Global Drug Policy Observatory
Swansea University
Swansea, UK

ISBN 978-3-319-94769-3    ISBN 978-3-319-94770-9 (eBook)


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94770-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018953350

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub-
lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu-
tional affiliations.

Cover illustration: © Central Press / Stringer

Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Acknowledgements

This book is based upon PhD research carried out at the London School
of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. My thanks and appreciation go to my
research supervisor, Professor Virginia Berridge, who guided me patiently
and with good humour through the long research process and taught me
to think like a historian.
My advisory committee, consisting of Professor Susanne MacGregor
and Dr Alex Mold, provided valuable encouragement and advice.
Dr Stuart Anderson supplied me with a lucid account of the more tech-
nical relationships obtaining between the legislation and regulatory sys-
tems covering dangerous drugs and poisons.
Pamela Ford, the archive manager at the Royal College of Physicians,
was particularly helpful in unearthing the minutes of the 1938 Committee
on Drug Addiction.
The staff at the National Archives were patient with my frequent
requests for assistance and helped me access an apparently inexhaustible
knowledge base.
A sizeable group of individuals were kind enough to permit me to draw
on their expertise. They included Professor Dave Bewley Taylor, Professor
Jim Mills, the Rev. Ken Leech, Marek Kohn, Philip Hoare and Philip
Bottomley. Numerous others contributed in one way or another, as dis-
cussants, archivists, librarians, printers, baristas; and while most must
remain nameless, my gratitude for their services endures.
Molly Beck and Oliver Dyer at Palgrave Macmillan guided me smoothly
through the process of publication.

v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Finally, thanks go to my wife Michelle, daughter Gabriela and grand-


children Eva and Lucas, respectively, nine and six years old at the time of
writing, who regularly came to inhabit my study, spinning on my chair and
stealing my pens while I toiled at my desk. The book is dedicated to them.
Contents

1 Introduction   1

2 From Injudicious Prescribing to the Script Doctor:


Transgressive Addiction Treatment in the Interwar Years  17

3 The Chelsea Network and White Drug Use in the 1930s  49

4 Heroin and the West End Life, c.1935–c.1938  77

5 The Regulation of Opiates Under the Classic British


System, c.1920–c.1945 101

6 The Royal College of Physicians Committee on Drug


Addiction, c.1938–c.1947 129

7 Morphine and Morale: The British System and the Second


World War 155

8 Postwar Britain: Subcultural Transitions and Transmissions 181

vii
viii Contents

9 Concluding Themes 211

Bibliography 219

Index 241
CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Introduction: The Quiet Times


The quiet times. This was the term given by British civil servant and stu-
dent of drug regulation, Bing Spear, who worked at the Home Office
Drugs Branch between 1952 and 1986. The period reaching from the late
1920s to the early 1960s was regarded as ‘quiet’ because it was believed,
by Spear and by the majority of the academic researchers, that there was
little or no ‘drug underground’ in these years and that those dependent on
morphine or heroin were middle-aged, middle-class addicts who complied
with the medical model and with the doctors that supplied them. This
book explores the quiet times, and just how quiet they really were.
For much of the twentieth century, a kind of dance was played out
between the forces that sought to regulate what were then known as ‘dan-
gerous drugs’, restricting their use to ‘medical and scientific’ purposes,
and those who wished to consume these substances for pleasure and enter-
tainment. This book maps out the movements of this dance during the
half-century of the classic ‘British System’, a period that has hitherto been
explored by historians only at its extremities, its beginning and its end.
The book takes two interwoven analytical targets—the white drug culture
and the web of regulation that was brought to bear upon it. Most histories
of drugs have concentrated either on the regulation of drugs or on trans-
gressive populations and drug cultures; a key argument here is that the
two are mutually constitutive and best explored together.

© The Author(s) 2018 1


C. Hallam, White Drug Cultures and Regulation in London,
1916–1960, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94770-9_1
2 C. HALLAM

The book examines the emergence, development and operation of the


white drug culture in Britain—particularly London—together with its
regulatory architecture. It contends that current views situating the
advent of the opioid culture in the 1950s and 1960s are based on a num-
ber of erroneous assumptions and readings and that a heroin- or mor-
phine- and cocaine- using culture (‘white drugs’) emerged during the
interwar period. The 1930s, in particular, saw this culture crystallising
out of upper-class bohemia and from the night-time economy of
London’s West End. In addition, the role played by the prescribing doc-
tors of the ‘British System’ was a key component in this formative
process.
What became known and mythologised as ‘the British System’ was
designed to regulate the use of those materials that were then termed
‘dangerous drugs’. In this work, I understand the latter term as referring
not so much to a pharmacological and pharmaceutical object as a cultural
one—a symbolic object that was, and still is, deployed as an indicator of
the health or pathology of individuals and societies. At least as much as
they are chemicals, drugs are objects of social and cultural war.1 The UK’s
system of dealing with the consumption of these substances, which often
involved the medical supply of doses to their consumers, came to be
known as the ‘British System’, particularly in the USA, which, in its
domestic setting, developed a highly restrictive set of arrangements cen-
tred on the prohibition of heroin.

The Rolleston Committee and the British System


The 1920 Dangerous Drugs Act was established in order to satisfy the
obligations to which Britain had signed up when it ratified the International
Opium Convention of 1912.2 While minimal regulations had previously
applied to drugs such as opium, cocaine and morphine, these substances
could now only be produced, exchanged and consumed by those autho-
rised by the Act, or by individuals possessing a valid prescription from a

1
J. Derrida (1989) ‘The Rhetoric of Drugs’ in Alexander, A. & Roberts, M. S. (eds.) High
Culture: reflections on addiction and modernity (Albany: State University of New York Press,
1989) pp. 19–42.
2
P. Bean, The Social Control of Drugs (London: Martin Robertson, 1974) p. 23. See also
W. B. McAllister, Drug Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century: An international history
(London and New York: Routledge, 2000) pp. 9–39.
INTRODUCTION 3

medical practitioner.3 The objective was to confine such ‘dangerous drugs’


to ‘medical and legitimate purposes’, an imperative deriving from the
International Opium Convention.4 However, though robust policing did
succeed in limiting drug use and largely suppressing the street drug trade
in London’s West End, the problem of the doctor as gatekeeper to drugs,
and of the forging of prescriptions, continued to grow. For the Home
Office, which was the government department responsible for regulating
dangerous drugs, the core problem was the prescription of drugs to
addicts by doctors, which it sought to curtail, particularly in cases of long-­
term or indefinite supply, and which it regarded as merely pandering to
the drug habit rather than constituting a bona fide medical treatment.
In response to these conditions, a committee was set up under the
chairmanship of the eminent physician Humphrey Rolleston, its primary
brief being to consider in what circumstances, if any, ‘the supply of mor-
phine and heroin…to persons suffering from addiction to those drugs may
be regarded as medically advisable’.5 The conclusions of the Rolleston
Committee with respect to this question form the core of what became
known as the ‘British System’. Owing to their subsequent importance,
these passages are worth quoting in full:

There are two groups of persons suffering from addiction to whom admin-
istration of morphine or heroin may be regarded as legitimate medical treat-
ment namely:
(a) Those who are undergoing treatment for cure of the addiction by the
gradual withdrawal method;
(b)Persons for whom, after every effort has been made for the cure of the
addiction, the drug cannot be completely withdrawn, either because:
(i) Complete withdrawal produces serious symptoms which cannot be
satisfactorily treated under the ordinary c­ onditions of private practice;
or (ii) The patient, while capable of leading a useful and fairly normal

3
Prior to this, the Defence of the Realm Act regulation 40b (DORA 40b) was in place.
Introduced in 1916 amidst fears of mass cocaine use amongst servicemen, it imposed similar
restrictions on opium and cocaine. See V. Berridge, ‘War conditions and narcotics control:
the passing of the Defence of the Realm Act regulation 40B’ Journal of Social Policy, 7,
(1978) pp. 285–304.
4
International Opium Convention of 1912 (The ‘Hague Convention’), Article 9. The
American Journal of International Law, 6 (3) Supplement: Official Documents, (1912),
pp. 177–192.
5
Departmental Committee on Morphine and Heroin Addiction: Report (London: HMSO,
1926). Minutes of Appointment.
4 C. HALLAM

life so long as he takes a certain non-progressive quantity, usually


small, of the drug of addiction, ceases to be able to do so when the
regular allowance is withdrawn.6
The British System, then, was understood as an institutional and thera-
peutic regime that viewed addiction as a disease and sought to treat it by
permitting doctors to supply legitimate doses of drugs, usually on pre-
scription, though doctors could also directly supply doses to their addict
patients by injection. The system was established by the regulatory take-
­up of Rolleston’s recommendations. While the concept of the British
System has received extensive critical comment from UK researchers scep-
tical toward the claims of American liberals, it is worth recalling that the
Rolleston Committee’s report was a highly significant text, and had con-
siderable impact on the lives of those dependent on the drugs in question,
whose counterparts in the USA did indeed suffer greatly at the hands of
prohibitive laws.7 That said, the notion of the British System has resulted
in considerable distortion and led to some significant lacunae in research.8
The system of regulation in place in the classic years of British drug con-
trol included, in an integral role, the Home Office, the police and the
courts; it was never an exclusively medical approach. Moreover, the prac-
tices of ‘drug treatment’ themselves involved the exercise of power over
the mind and body of the addict; the ‘treatment or control’ dichotomy is
a misleading formulation.9

Exploring the Quiet Times


The customary story of illicit drug use in Britain tells us that following its
initial blooming during and immediately after the First World War, the
authorities were successful in the suppression of this early drug culture,

6
Ibid. Conclusions and Recommendations. n.p.
7
One UK critic termed the British System ‘(a) system of masterly inactivity in the face of a
non-existent problem…’ D. Downes, Contrasts in Tolerance: Post War Penal Policy in the
Netherlands and in England and Wales (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993) p. 89.
8
For a consideration of the British System, see V. Berridge, ‘The British System and its
history: myth and reality’ in J. Strang and M. Gossop (eds) Heroin Addiction and the British
System: Volume 1: Origins and Evolution (London and New York: Routledge, 2005).
G. Pearson, ‘Drug-Control Policies in Britain’, Crime and Justice, 14 (1991) pp. 167–227.
9
A. Mold Heroin: The Treatment of Addiction in Twentieth Century Britain (DeKalb,
Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press, 2008).
INTRODUCTION 5

leaving opiate use confined to a respectable and compliant population of


middle-class, medicalised addicts. Many academic drug historians gained
the impression that there was, essentially, little or nothing to study during
this period, the narcotic landscape being more or less bare. The use of
drugs for pleasure, the story goes, did not arise until the postwar boom of
the 1960s, when a new type of consumer arrived on the scene—young,
working class, male, and susceptible to the pernicious influence of the
discourse of the North American ‘junkie’. The intervening period between
the 1920s and the late 1950s has been termed the ‘quiet times’.10
As far back as the 1930s, Alfred Lindesmith, a politically engaged US
sociologist who received graduate training at the University of Chicago,
was arguing that the UK lacked a drug culture as a result of the country’s
medical orientation toward drug control. Lindesmith was a continuous
thorn in the side of the US control system, whose punitive ethos he
strongly opposed; he was allegedly subjected to a smear campaign by
Harry Anslinger, chief of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, intended to
suppress his dissident views on the US approach.11 Lindesmith was an
early proponent of the British System, believing that the prescription of
opiates to addicts had, among other things, prevented the formation of a
drug culture. It became a widespread view among supporters of the British
System and those who had been influenced by them.12
Of course, the narrative of the quiet times was not the only reason why
this gap has remained in the historiography. The specific political focus of
many UK sociologists and the social and cultural changes associated with
the Second World War directed research into drug-using groups toward
postwar working-class youth culture. In addition, the numbers involved in
using drugs for pleasure and entertainment were small during the quiet
times, even if the Home Office’s data, which were drawn from often highly
ineffective police inspections of retail pharmacies, almost certainly under-­
represented the size of the drug-using population. Whatever the precise

10
H. B. Spear, ‘The early years of Britain’s drug situation in practice: up to the 1960s’ in
J. Strang and M. Gossop, (eds) Heroin Addiction and the British System: Volume 1: Origins
and Evolution (London and New York: Routledge, 2005) p. 20.
11
J. F. Galliher, D. P. Keys, M. Elsner, ‘Lindesmith v. Anslinger: An Early Government
Victory in the Failed War on Drugs.’ The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 88,
(1998) pp. 661–682.
12
E. M. Schur, Narcotic Addiction in Britain and America: The Impact of Public Policy
(London: Tavistock, 1963); and: A. S. Trebach The Heroin Solution Second Edition
(Bloomington, Indiana: Unlimited Publishing, 2006).
6 C. HALLAM

figures were—and they are lost to us now—the period’s opioid users pos-
sessed a cultural significance out of proportion with their numbers.
Furthermore, a detailed examination of the historical records indicates
that they did form a distinct drug culture, mostly centred on London.

Sources
There is precious little academic historical work on the drug-using net-
works of the quiet times, nor on the regulatory regime designed to pre-
vent them from using drugs for nonmedical purposes. Such research as
does exist is reviewed in this chapter. However, the primary sources upon
which the project depends are archival ones, located in the National
Archive, the British Library, the Royal College of Physicians Archive and
various online newspaper archives.
Perhaps the most important of these materials consist in Home Office,
Metropolitan Police and Ministry of Health files on the regulation of the
drug cultures of the 1930s. One of these, dealing with the Chelsea-based
addict Brenda Dean Paul, is a large and extremely rich source. It was
opened under a Freedom of Information Act request by the author, as
were several other files dealing with the doctors who prescribed for these
and other groups of addicts. Another source that would have been of
immense value to researchers was the Addicts Index, a listing officially
begun in 1934 but which had probably been kept from the mid-1920s, in
order to monitor the prevalence of addiction in the UK. To the great loss
of historical research on drug use in the UK, the Addicts Index was mis-
takenly destroyed in the 1990s and its data lost.13 This makes it impossible
to undertake a detailed critical examination of the way the Index was com-
piled and cases assigned to its various categories. Historical data on addic-
tion remain, consequently, largely speculative, though Home Office
officials have readily acknowledged the insecure foundations on which the
statistics rested.
A second set of sources upon which I have drawn extensively, and one
that complements the official state documentation, is that of newspaper
reports and articles from the period. The advent of the World Wide Web
has facilitated an extensive new field of newspaper and magazine resources
for the use of the historical researcher. Those consulted included British

13
This information was gleaned from personal discussions with a former member of the
Home Office staff.
INTRODUCTION 7

national daily newspapers, international newspapers from the USA and


Asia and regional and local UK news publications. During preliminary
methodological discussions of the project, I found that a number of my
interlocutors regarded newspapers as ‘unreliable’ and unsafe to use.
However, I did not employ these publications as arbiters of historical accu-
racy; rather, they provided otherwise unobtainable biographical, sartorial
and other personal details, as well as contained social and cultural under-
standings that speak to the contemporary landscape inhabited by these
groups and individuals. As Adrian Bingham has observed, for the public of
the 1930s, ‘the national daily newspaper was perhaps the most important
channel of information about contemporary life’.14 This was likely to be
especially true in the case of nonmedical drug use, of which many people
had no direct experience.
One further source of which I have made use but is too diverse and
wide-ranging to review here is the mosaic of biography, memoir, letters,
diaries and other accounts generated by those whose lives were lived
amidst the bohemias, smart sets, modernisms and criminal milieux whose
paths crossed in the social landscape of interwar and early postwar London.
Many of these works contain relatively little which is of use to the drug
researcher—until one stumbles onto a new character, a hitherto unsus-
pected connection between groups, a previously unknown nightclub, a
street corner where customers awaited suppliers. These texts range from
the ghost-written biography of a drug user, which turns out to be assem-
bled from the barely informed opinions of a journalist, to a contemporary
guidebook on eating out in 1930s London.

A Short Note Regarding Theoretical Approach


The theoretical approach employed in this work is an eclectic and prag-
matic one, and this approach is tightly interwoven with its methodological
choices. The research pays considerable attention to the individuals
involved in the events and processes explored. This is because in the for-
mation of the subculture studied here, the parts played by specific people
are crucial; for instance, without Brenda Dean Paul’s ‘persuasively poised
example’, the opioid culture that crystallised out of upper-class bohemian
Chelsea in the late 1920s and early 1930s would not have emerged as it

14
A. Bingham, Gender, Modernity and the Popular Press in Interwar Britain (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2004) p. 3.
Another random document with
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may be procured to it: Yet it extracts the Tinctures from all precious,
and more ignoble Stones, and by them is so tinged, as it is,
thenceforth able to tinge white Metals into Gold, and white Chrystal
into beautiful Stones of every Colour, and that with as excellent
Splendor, as their Brother, the Ruby, enjoys. In a Word, our Salt of
Metals, or Stone of Philosophers alone, and per se, is so great a
particular Ruler throughout the whole Kingdom of Chymistry, as by
amending, it transmutes all imperfect Metals into Gold, and common
Stones into precious: Yet unto it, is denied Ingress into Vulgar ☿. But
the fixed ☿ of Metals will abundantly perform that; as is before
abovementioned. Now, as touching this Mercury, which those
imperfect Metals, viz. ♄ ♃ ♂ and ♀ , contain in themselves, our
Sulphur is so very fit for tinging that, as, for that purpose, there is
no need of other help. Therefore it is most certain, that the Salt of
Metals obtains Priority in the Chymical Laboratory. One thing I am
freely willing to discover, viz. this: If any one would take away the
fixed Tincture, or tinging Soul from precious Stones, as Granates,
Rubies, Saphires, Lazure Stones, and other common Stones, and
add to them also, a small part of pure Silver, our Magnetick Salt will
extract the Tincture from the Stone, and at the same moment, in
which it extracts the same, incorporate the added Silver, with the
Tincture, and tinge the same into Gold: So, as it will affect a Man
with admiration to see, that in one and the same Subject, should be
both an attractive, and expulsive Virtue. Perhaps hence, that most
ancient Philosopher Pythagoras drew his Opinion, for he believed
such a Transmigration, and taught, that the Soul, as soon as it
passed out of the mortal Body of Man, it entred into some other
near adjoyning Subject, and there inhabit’d. Indeed they, that labour
in Metals and Stones, do find such a Process; but with the Soul
breathing out of the Body of Man, the matter is far otherwise. For
here Bodies are not required, but Spirits, which at the hour of Death
receive the Souls of dying Men, and convey them to Places by G O D
appointed. According as the Man hath lived, either Well or Ill, so
those Spirits will act at the end of Life, each according to their
Office; so as, the Souls of pious Men shall be received by Spirits of
Light; but impious Souls, by the Spirits of infernal darkness. In the
Mortification of Metals and Minerals, Philosophers also want not their
peculiar Spirits, which receive and transport the flying Souls of
Metals and Minerals. Touching which Transportation of Souls, we
made some mention above, where we treated of the Fixation of
*
Metals. Also * this Transduction was highly esteemed
Transduction. by ancient Philosophers, especially by Neusementius,
who said: By this Power, viz. By the Spirit and Salt of
the World, we deliver the Souls of the Dead from the Prison of Hell.
Therefore, whosoever shall be well Skilled in this kind of operating,
he will be able to do wonders in this Chymical Kingdom of Metals.
For if you add the Spirit and Salt of the World to any Metal dissolved,
and by Retort distil the Mixture, they will carry over with themselves,
the most pure part of the Metal, viz. its tinging Soul, and leave
nothing behind in Hell with Pluto, but the gross and unprofitable
Body. Wherefore, whosoever can rightly separate that transduced
tinging Spirit of Metals, from the Spirit of the World, he will
absolutely be possessed of a fixed Tincture: Because, that strong
transporting Spirit doth also fix the volatile Soul of Metals, and
render it constant in Fire. And, although that Subject was most
volatile, from which the Tincture was distilled by the Salt of the
World, as by one only Distillation from common Sulphur,
Auripigment, Cinnabarine Sulphur, and the like; yet you will acquire
a Tincture, constant in all Fire, not only for Humane and Metallick
Bodies, but also for Gems. So very potent Virtue is latent, in these
abject Subjects, and in the Spirit and Salt of the World, rejected by
the great Troop of proud Men. But the Method of using such Pearls
legitimately, for the Transduction of Metals, had need to be Sealed
up with the Seal of the laudable Philosopher Harpocrates, lest so
great a Treasure be cast under the Feet of sordid Swine. Touching a
like Compendium of fixing Volatile Metals, and Minerals, we (G O D
willing) purpose hereafter to teach more at large.
Now, we having generally understood, what our Salt of
Philosophers is able to perform in the Transmutation of Metals, I
judge it not amiss, to discover; how great, profitable and powerful
Faculties, it is also endued with, even besides the Transmutation of
Metals. But here, by the way it is to be understood, that our Salt of
Philosophers is insignized with many other Names, which ancient
Philosophers imposed on it, not without pregnant Reasons. For,
according as they beheld the various Wonders they were able to
perform by the help of that; so they also gave Names unto it;
sometimes, they called it the Soap of the Wise; another time,
Hercules or the Herculean Key; sometimes, the Key of the
Philosophers; &c. and all this by reason of its exceeding great
Potency and Virtue, whereby it always rendred it self worthy of one
or other of these Names. Why did they call it, the Soap of the Wise?
Because it renders those Metallick Bodies, which are washed with it,
most purely white. Indeed Washer women have their Soap made of
Oyl and Lixivium, with which they wash filthy Garments unto
whiteness. Leather-Dressers use a kind of Soap to cleanse their
Skins from all Impurities. Also, Fullers have their cleansing Earth,
with which they well know, how to purifie their sullied Cloaths. Nor
do Apothecaries use their Herbs for Medicaments, before they have
washed them in clean Water. So also, common Chymists so long
wash impure Metals, by dulcified Corrosives, till they pass into ☉ and
☽. But most experienced Philosophers wash Gold, until it becomes
Tincture. Hence is that kind of Soap, which they use for washing,
called the Soap of the Wise.
But some may object, saying: I contradict my self; because a little
before, I said, Gold and Silver were Homogeneal, and did not at all
participate of Heterogeniety. To whom I answer. I confess, I did say
so, yet I would be understood, to speak so with reference to those
common and known Waters, with which, otherwise Chymists do
generally work upon their Metals, dissolve them, separate them one
from another, and wash them. Because on Gold and Silver no
change falls, but they always remain in one and the same Essence,
according as they are progenited by Nature, therefore, I said so. And
the Reason, why it is thus, is, because Aqua Regis, Aqua Fortis,
Spirit of Vitriol, or other Corrosive Waters, are not true Keys, endued
with the Virtue of penetrating into the heart of Gold, or of opening
the most firm Closure of the King. For although they do very much
corrode Metals, and dissolve them, yet every Metal remains in its
Essence, without any Separation of parts. But on the contrary, our
Menstruum is a sweet Key, far more conducible, and better than
Corrosive Spirits, and therefore, by Philosophers is not undeservedly
called, the Key of Philosophers. For there is nothing so closed, but
this can open it. Our Royal or Capital Key is a Corporeal Spirit, or a
Spiritual Body, which, without any injury to it self, passeth not only
through Metals, but also through the hardest Gems, and extracts the
fixed Tincture of them, leaving their Bodies white; which exceeded
my comprehension, the first time I beheld it with my Eyes.
Therefore, as this Spirit is endued with Power of extracting
Tincture, even from any of the hardest Adamantine Stones; so, it is
also able to introduce Tinctures into the most hard Stones; and that
by reason of its penetrative Power. Our principal Key is that
Hercules, which cut off the seven Heads of the immense Hydra. By
such an Herculean fortitude, Perseus, the Son of beautiful Danae,
suffocated the strong unsatiable Whale or Sea Beast, and freed fair
Andromeda, whom he took to Wife. Whosoever desires to know
more of these, let him peruse Ovid, in whose Metamorphosis he may
find our Key of Philosophers accurately described. Yet his Words can
be understood only by those, to whom the Art is already known:
Otherwise, it will be impossible, from Fables, to extract the sufficient
knowledge thereof. It is G O D only, that gives light to understand
abstruse things; namely, to those, who fear, love and adore him:
More of which, you may find among pious Heathens, than among
the Slanderous Malignant, false, Christians of this time.
This Fable of Ovid, I explained before some of my intimate
Friends; and besides, before them shewed the Impregnation of
Danae, by Jupiters Golden Shower: Yet they gave no credit to this
Demonstration, because the thing seemed so vile. Would you hear
it? I set a narrow-mouthed Glass Body, with a flat bottom, upon a
Table, and from above through the small mouth; I poured Danae,
King Acrisius his beautiful Daughter, into the Glass or Tower; then,
by the Counsel and help of Jove, I formed a Golden shower, which
(through the Roof, that is, through the small mouth of the Glass) I
instilled down, into the Bosom of the aforesaid Danae, which she
spontaneously received, and was thereby impregnated, and quickly
brought forth her Son Perseus; who afterward, carried upon the
winged Horse Pegasus, suddenly helped the fair Andromeda and,
freeing her from the Jaws of the Sea Monster, took her to Wife.
Afterward, he slew the strong and unconquered Gorgons, and got
* Gold-
the *Golden Gardens. If any one looks upon this Fable,
bearing. with the right Eye of his understanding, he will find,
that Ovid hath so clearly and perspicuously described
our Hercules, or Philosophers Key of Keys; that every one, having
knowledge of our Work, in reading this must necessarily be amazed,
to see the whole Art so evidently detected, and as it were exposed
to sight. But its being discerned and understood by so few, must be
ascribed to the defect of their internal Sight, and the darkness of
their Sins, in which they have involved themselves, and are still
resolved to abide in. Therefore G O D, according to his Justice,
deservedly permits such Slaves of Avarice and Pride to stick in
perpetual Blindness, to grope for, and in vain seek, the way of
escaping those Evils. For here, the hard is Softned, the soft is
Hardned, the fixed Volatilized, the Volatile fixed, the Bitter Corrosive
dulcified, but the sweet Converted into a Key, opening all compact
Enclosures. More touching so great a Mystery, I shall not at this time
relate. But, to whomsoever G O D shall grant this principal Universal
Key, he may, according to his Hearts desire, go whither he will,
nothing can be able to resist him: For which so great Benefit we owe
thanks and Praise to the most wise G O D, for ever, Amen.
Also Virgil, in a few Heroick Words, evidently enough describes the
way of preparing our Red Oyl of Vitriol. Therefore I thought it worth
while to insert his Words also, that he, to whom G O D shall give the
Blessing, may the better understand the occult meaning of the Poet.

Consider first, what here is to be done.


A Golden Branch, with Leaves of Gold thereon,
Upon a Tree concealed groweth. This
To the infernal Juno sacred is:
But the whole Grove, with dismal shades of Night,
Obscure and keep the same from Humane sight.
And till some one shall take down from the Tree
This Golden Branch, there can no Entrance be
Into Earths Caverns. Beauteous Proserpine
Ordained hath, that this rare Gift divine
Shall brought be unto her. No sooner is
The first Branch cropt, but in the place of this
A second Sprouts, and that most pure and fine,
As did the first, with Golden leaves will shine.
Therefore first view it well; when rightly known
This Branch is unto Thee, then with thy own
Hand crop the same: For it will follow Thee,
If Thou by Fates for this Work chosen be.
If otherwise, no Humane violence,
Nor strength of Iron, force it can from thence.

Virgil here calls Vitriol, a concealed, that is, a shadowed Tree;


adding, that by the help of Proserpina, Pluto’s Wife, but one Branch
can be cropped by him, whom Fortune shall favour; and that it is
willing to be plucked off by any Skilful Man desirous of the same.
Such a Branch is consecrated to Juno, &c. We know Juno, according
to Poetical Fictions was the Wife and Sister of Jupiter, but Proserpina
the Daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, or (as some say) of Isis, whom
Pluto the God of Hell stole away from her Parents and married her.
From all which it clearly appeareth, that this Golden Branch
sprouting in the green Tree of Vitriol, could not be cropped, or
obtained without Proserpina’s help. Therefore if any one would crop
such Golden Boughs from like shadowed Trees, he must learn to
know Proserpina, and consult with her; because she only can profit
him, and prevail with her Husband, to wax the more hot in his
infernal Sweating stove, that thence into another place may ascend
a Spirit or Oyl of a Blood-Red-Colour.
But this is to be considered accurately, lest this Work, like many
other of our Undertakings, be frustrated. Therefore G O D is to be
prayed to for his Blessing: for if the Benediction of G O D be not
present, all endeavour will be vain; as I have more than once
experienced. Although I did demonstrate our helper Proserpina, to
some of my loving Friends, and taught them how to obtain and
rightly use her; yet they were all destitute of so good Fortune, as to
elaborate it as it should be elaborated: Yet at length more accurately
hitting the Mark, their work succeeded happily twice or thrice, but
never afterward.
From which, being so evident, it is plain enough, that such
Arcanum’s are so preserved by the All-seeing Eye of the Divine
Providence, as it is never permitted to all Operators promiscuously,
that every of them should attain to the highest Science, and
thenceforth the Good given be perniciously abused. Wherefore,
although one Man communicate any famous Secret to another; yet,
if G O D be not favourable, he can never prepare the same, but shall
lose his Labour and Charges, spend his time unprofitably, and
instead of a Golden Harvest, reap nothing but Trouble and Grief.
Hence they drew their Original, who writ of the Secret ripening
Fire. Our Fire, before Coagulation, always burns in our Glass, but
externally not. It is sufficiently manifest, that Philosophers, by their
Secret Fire, understood Oyl of Vitriol; and that their Fire, is only Fire
before Coagulation; after that, no more so, but a sweet Ripening
Stone. Therefore they add, that before Coagulation it is Fire, but
after Coagulation not so. Aptly with this agrees that Writing of
ancient Philosophers. Visitabis Interiora Terræ, Rectificando Invenies
Occultum Lapidem Veram Medicinam. To which Monument of ancient
Philosophers, we may fitly subjoyn this sutable Poesie, making for
our present Purpose, and expressing the same in few Words.

Dissolve the Fixt, and make the Fixed fly,


The Flying fix, and then live happily.
In these few Words are compendiously contained, all whatsoever I
have largely written in this Treatise.
Moreover, our Salt of Philosophers, besides its being a Medicine,
and fit for Transmutation of Metals, is also endued with other
famous Virtues, of which at this time I cannot forbear to write.
Philosophers have written, that their Key of Keys doth indifferently
open all closed Bodies, and that it is endued with a Virtue, breaking
most hard and Adamantine Stones, and taking from them their
inclosed Treasure; for acquiring which, there is nothing at all in the
whole Nature of things given, except this our Key, by help of which
the most firmly locked Inclosure may be unlocked. As for Example. A
Granate is a Stone of so great hardness, as although it may easily be
reduced to Powder, yet it can never be corroded even by the
sharpest Aqua Fortis, nor dissolved, nor can it be Anatomized.
Wherefore, although these Corrosives, vulgarly known, prevail not
against this excellent Stone, (which visibly in it self contains a noble
Tincture of Gold, and also is not a little impregnated with invisible
Corporeal Gold, as plainly appears by its weight: For it is much more
ponderous than all other precious Stones, or the more vile small
Stones) but are judged as unprofitable for this kind of Labour; yet
our Sweet Salt possesseth so potent a Faculty, as it can easily open
the same and take from it all its Treasure; in so much, as if there
were but this only use of it, (and no other like, better or more
excellent were known) it would abundantly satisfie every honest
Man, to live amply therewith, and to maintain his Family with great
Tranquillity.

Behold I present to you, yet another Royal Experiment, which I


have not long since effected, by the help of our Red Stone, in
the following manner.
One day I cast our Red Stone upon Gold, in Flux, only for a Tryal,
whether by the help of that, the Gold would be tinged with an higher
Colour; because I found, that Silver had took a yellow Colour from
the same. But after I had poured out the Mixture, I found what was
contrary to my Hope. For it was so far from exalting my Gold in
Colour, as on the contrary, it took from the same almost all its
Colour, so as it was white like Silver. At first, I was not a little
troubled, that, contrary to my Expectation, I should work so
unhappily. But returning to my self, I begun to think, whether this
my Red Stone (being, perhaps made of Steel) was not that Chalybs,
[or Steel] which Sandivogius so highly extolled in his Writings, and
said, it could extract from Gold its Tincture. But since, by reason of
other Business intervening, I had no leisure to proced further in the
Work begun, I was constrained to leave the whole for some higher
Experience to another time. Yet I cannot but wonder, that our Key of
Keys should so readily unlock every Closure of Gold, and be able to
spoil it of its Royal Soul: Whereas otherwise, Gold according to the
Sayings of all Philosophers, (as in very deed it is true) and according
to the common Opinion of all other Men, experienced in Chymical
Labours, is accounted to consist of such Homogeneal parts, as are
difficultly separable. If the most wise G O D prolong my Life; and
also grant Time and Opportunity of making further Tryal, I will spare
no Labour or Cost to find out that Arcanum, until by the gracious
help of GOD’S assistance, I shall become the Master of that Art of
Arts. For now unto me the Gate of the Royal Closet is opened (I
would not be envied for what I now say) by our Herculean Key in
such a manner, as, I doubt not, but in a short time (unless the
supream Deity, which I have no cause to fear, notably resist me) to
obtain the Kings Crown made of a Carbuncle, and be able to
distribute the same among the needy, to relieve their necessity. To
which my hope, let the most wise G O D give a Blessing, so, as the
Event may answer my Desires, Amen.
Moreover, Philosophers say, that whosoever obtains their Stone,
can so qualifie Glass, as, if it fall, it shall not break, but be found
lying unbroke, like Metal. Which indeed I have often read, but could
never believe, it was so to be understood according to the Letter. Yet
after G O D, by his Grace, had conferred on Me our Wonderful Salt,
for Curiosity sake, I could not forbear to make an Experiment, to
know, whether what was written thereof was consentaneous to
Truth. Therefore, I took a little broken Glass, melted it in a Crucible,
and then cast upon it only a very little of our Salt, which it
continually took in, and thence received a white Colour. I poured out
the Mixture, and trying, whether it had passed into another than its
first Nature, I found my Glass had received a new Disposition, and
became flexible like hardned Steel Wyer, and after flexion came to its
first form: But after many bendings, to and again, it at length broke.
Whence I learned, that it was no Fable, but plainly possible by Art to
prepare Glass so, as it may be no less flexible, like Metal, than it is
transparent. But since I have not had Opportunity to make further
Tryal, and cannot yet absolutely profess my self an Artist in that kind
of Work; yet, I can say, that what others have affirmed thereof, is
not estranged from Verity. Therefore I must wait, till Time (with the
favour of G O D) give me further Experience thereof.
Also, touching the Stone it self, Philosophers write, that it qualifies
its Possessor so, with Lightness and Cheerfulness, that he can, like a
Bird, fly up on high from the ground; which is a thing so much
repugnant to Nature, as no Credit can be given to it, unless it be
interpreted Hieroglyphically, Allegorically, or Enigmatically. But that it
greatly exhilarates him, who by the benefit thereof can effect the
aforesaid Wonders, is very easie to be believed. For in my self I have
found the like Exhilaration, when I have, with these my Eyes, made
certain very great Proofs and Experiments by the help of that. When
I lay, for four years, continually sick, and during that time, exercised
my mind with various Speculations, making some Proofs, I at length
found the Truth, and understood that this wonderful Salt, being
tryed upon Metals and Stones, did most exactly agree with the
Philosophers Description of it: Then, I say, my whole Nature,
because of that, was astonished, and daily so notably reduced to a
better Constitution, as I can never sufficiently admire the Grace of
G O D, and return due Praises to him for so great Gifts. For I, who by
reason of my Sickness, could never rise out of Bed before Noon,
could afterward rise betimes in the Morning, and go into my
Laboratory. Also for a long time before, I could digest neither Flesh
nor Fish, but was constrained to live with Bread and Wine only; yet
now, (thanks be to G O D) I am able to eat some small Portion of
Flesh and Fish, together with other Meats. Likewise for above a
whole Year, through weakness of Body, I could scarcely write a Line
or two, so as in two Years space I committed nothing to the Press:
But now, G O D, the Giver of all good Gift, hath made my hands so
ready for Motion, as I sing to him incessant Praises. Without that
new refreshing of Strength, this present Treatise could never have
been published. And this so great Good befel me from no other
Cause, than from G O D, and this precious Stone.
Therefore, whosoever is desirous to partake of this great Blessing
of G O D, let him not come to Me, unto whom is given no leave to
Communicate; but let him come to the Love of G O D, and draw that
laudable Good from him, as from the most limpid and living
Fountain: Because, it is to found with him only, not with Men. If a
Man humble in Heart, and void of Hypocrisie, hearing this, will follow
my Counsel, he may perhaps find a prosperous Event according to
his wish: If otherwise, adverse and contrary. For G O D is not wont
graciously to regard the words of the deceitful, but the Hearts of
candid Men.
Many other such things might be produced, touching our Tinging
tone: But no necessity persuades to expend time thereabout.
Enough is spoken. For whose Eyes soever G O D shall open, he will
on every side see so many things sufficient for him, as not to need
any further Information. All things are clear to the clear-sighted,
which appear dark to the blind. G O D only is the Light, and all who
are near to G O D, are by him so illuminated, as they can see. But
the more remote any Man is from G O D, the nearer will he be to the
contrary of Light, which is Darkness. Therefore, whosoever desires
to be illuminated with the brightness of Divine Light, must fly from
Darkness, which is to be shunned. For Darkness and Light are
inconsistent in one and the same Subject; which is a thing accurately
to be observed by every Reader.

A C O R O L L A R Y.
W e have, in this little Treatise taught, that the Salt of Metals is
prepared of Vitriol, and that there is a difference to be
observed, Viz. this.
Common Oyl of Vitriol doth indeed suffer it self to be Coagulated
into a sweet Salt or Stone, wherewith (particularly) vulgar Metals are
amended, and Tinctures extracted from Gems, although it wants a
tinging Virtue: But Metals may also be tinged by the Coagulated Red
Oyl.
We likewise shewed, that you cannot get this Red Oyl, without the
help of that Goddess Proserpina. Yet by the way, it is to be noted,
that the aforesaid Proserpina is no other, than a white Sulphureous
Salt, which added to the Vitriol causeth the Tincture of Vitriol to
ascend in Distillation. That, after it shall be duly Coagulated into a
Stone not Corrosive, manifests such Effects, as we have ascribed to
it. I also thought good to advise, that our Oyl of Vitriol in its
Preparation requires great Care and Industry, that the Tincture may
be made Rich enough: For otherwise, it discovers but little Virtue in
Transmutation. Also you shall never get so great a quantity of that
Red Oyl, as will satisfie the Common sort of covetous Men: Because
that comes not till at last, after all the White is ascended. But he,
that can get a large quantity of the White, will not trouble himself to
get the Red: Because the White also, by the help of Proserpina, may
be converted into Red. Which if it were not so, the Saying of Virgil
could scarcely be found true, viz. that with the hand is readily to be
cut off, not one Branch only, but many other, if Fortune shall so far
favour any Artist. Therefore, I forbear to write more at this time. Let
him, who cannot content himself with these here written, search the
Monuments of Philosophers, writing, that there is such an Art, by the
benefit of which, with one only Pound of Coals, a whole Pound of
Oyl of Vitriol may be distilled. Yet such an Artifice must not so soon
be spread among the People. To whom soever G O D reveals the
same, he may prepare it, according to his own desire; if it be
otherwise, let him comfort himself with this Meditation of Patience,
viz. that he was not worthy of so great Gifts. With these, Reader, I
bid you Farewel, and commend to you the Protection of G O D.
T H E E N D.
A

Short B O O K
OF

D I A L O G U E S,
O R,
(Certain) Colloquies of some Studious
Searchers after the
Hermetick Medicine and Universal Tincture.

Written for the Sake of the Lovers of


Hermetick Philosophy.

THE

P R E F A C E
TO THE

Well-minded R E A D E R.

I
was formerly minded never to have published these Three
Dialogues, but only to have made some of my good Friends,
and such as had well deserved at my hands, here and there,
partakers of the same. And upon this Account I permitted some [of
them] to Copy them out, but they abusing that Curtesie [of mine]
whereby they received them, did make others of their own Friends
too, enjoyers of the same, contrary to my Will and Intention; and so
it happened, that they became Common, and being on this wise
often Coppied out, there crept in amongst them (as indeed usually
falls out in such Cases) abundance of Faults or Errors, and the sense
[and true meaning] of my Words were construed in the worser Part.
Which thing when I perceived, that it would more disadvantage than
profit me (especially seeing, that such a work [thus Copied amiss]
did nevertheless pass under my Name, and was adjudged by others,
as really mine) I deemed it, expedient, of two Evils to chuse the
least, and to have regard to mine own good repute, and to publish it
in mine own Name. But yet, not with an intent of getting my self
some eminent Fame, as if I were wiser than others, and to have it
thought, that I had more knowledge and experience than many
others have; but rather, that the incredible Works of the omnipotent
God, and his great Wonders, might be laid open and made known,
to the infinite Glory of his Name. In the setting down of which, I do
produce only such things, as my self have wrought with mine own
hands, and can even yet demonstrate by a certain and undoubted
Operation, (by Gods help) at any time.
in de Dialogus.

But yet, I would not have any one thus to understand me, as if I
had already wholly and compleatly finished the whole Operation, and
had advanced it to a due, and throughly perfect, end, No! I cannot
arrogate to my self by any means, any such matter. Thus much I
only affirm, that if any one shall (in his Operation) follow the bare
literal Description of these Labours, he will without any Error arrive,
so far as I my self am already come, but yet with this Proviso, that
he knows the true Salt of the Philosophers, and the use thereof; And
as for what remains, [unfinisht] I commit unto God to bestow a
prosperous Success: And this one thing I entreat, that every Body
accept of the things I have here written, with the same mind I wrote
them, and that he take in good part my sincere Endeavours of
deserving well at his hands.
The Explication of the annexed Figure belonging to
this Treatise, noted with these Words: Inde Dialogus.

I n the four principal Points of the Circle


(supposing two transverse lines were drawn,
through the Center, to the outward Circumference)
are placed the Characters of Sol, Sulphur, Lune,
Salt.
Round the outmost Circle, are placed these Words: Conjoyn in one,
Sol, Salt, Sulphur, Lune.
About the next Circle: And thou hast as great a Treasure, as Heaven
can give thee.
Within the Third Circle: The Philosophers Function, is of Contraries,
the Conjunction.
About the next Circle: The Concentration of Homogeneals, is the
Separation of Heterogeneals.
Within the inmost Circle: Sol, Salt, Sulphur, Lune.

The First Dialogue, or Conference, betwixt two


Lovers of Hermetick Medicine, deciphered by
the Letters, A. and B. the last of which hath
had a prosperous Success on his Labours, the
other not, and therefore craves of this last
(viz. B.) a Manuduction to the Work, whereby
he is rendred Master of his desire.

A
B. Good health to you, my Friend! What’s the matter with you
now, that you are so sad, and even loaden with
Cogitations, and mumble to your self about I know not what?
A. Oh, my Friend! I wish you the like very heartily; and am glad
that you come so very seasonably, and at such a time, as I was just
thinking on you, and most earnestly wishing your approach; Witness
your own Writings, which I do here turn over with my hands and my
mind, but yet they are so very obscure, that I cannot worm my self
[as I may say] out of them, [or understand them] though I apply the
utmost of my Endeavours to understand them. I have likewise read
over and over again, the Writings of other eminent and belief-
deserving Philosophers; still hoping, that I should yet at length attain
to the knowledge of the Truth: But alas, (the more’s my grief) all
that I find is only this, viz. that I hold in my hands the slippery Tail of
a slippery smooth Serpent, [or Ele] which ever now and then slips
out of my hands, and doth more and more defile me. I have
therefore resolutely determined with my self, that, unless God doth
shortly send me some good Friend, who may lead poor me out of
such a notable Labyrinth, I will throw all my Books, all my
Instruments, and all such matters which I have bestowed so much
time about, in vain, and lost so much by, into the Fire, and Sacrifice
them unto Vulcan, that so I may be rid of the tediousness of my
fruitless Labours, and unprofitable Cookery. But yet if you would be
but so pleased, I no ways doubt, that you might by a few words
[and Directions] reduce me out of the snares of so many Erroneous
paths, hedged up ways, into the right path: For I well know, that
you have bestowed your whole Age, your whole Study, and all your
Labours and Endeavours, about such great Secrets, and have by the
Divine assistence obtained the very Truth it self. And therefore I do
most humbly beg at your hands, you would not leave me destitute
of your help, but that, according to your inbred Goodness and
Courtesie, you would succour me, your Friend, with some brotherly
instruction, and Manuduction. Which if you either will not or cannot
do, I must even conclude, not only upon throughly doubting of the
Truth and possibility of this Art, but withal, on a firm persuading my
self, that those Writings, which are so stuft with the Promises of
golden Mountains, are nothing else but mere Old Wives Tales, and
frothy Speculations of idle Men, and vain Dreams, though
proceeding from Men of so great Esteem.
B. Whats this, I hear thee utter? I could never have believed you,
to have been of such a broken and dejected mind. What? Would you
contemn the Writings of the Philosophers, and slight them, because
they are above your Capacity, and too hard for your understanding?
Tis a wicked thing, to entertain such a thought, much more to utter
it. I would have you, rather to persuade your self, that you are not
as yet worthy of the Secrets and Gifts of so great worth: For though
a Man should torment himself with abundance of hard Labours in
this World, and should aflict his Body with uncessant Sweating pains,
yet would he not effect ought without the Blessing of God. Do you
not know that saying of Paul; Tis not of him that Wills, nor of him
that Runs, but of God alone that shews mercy. You should therefore
reckon your self amongst the number of those, that have run in
vain, nor hath God injured you at all. What! does not Christ say, Not
all that say unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of
heaven, but they only who do the Will of my Father. Examine now
your self, and see how the Case stands ’twixt God and you. The
bestowing of such great things must proceed from God, and not
from the Philosophers. The Philosopher may indeed write down the
Truth, but yet it is not in his Power, to bestow upon thee the Divine
Blessing, which is the very hinge on which all good things depend.
Secrets of such great moment are not the Gifts of Men, but of God,
who bestows them on whomsoever he pleaseth.
A. In good time! Is this the Comfort and Instruction, which I
begged at your hands? I did not request, you to be my Father
Confessor, to hear my Confession of my Deeds, but rather that you
would help me, being ignorant and unskilful, by some good and
profitable Manuduction and Instruction: For I well enough knew, that
wicked Men are never Masters of such great Secrets, nor will I rank
my self amongst them. Be pleased but to regard my suit, and only
shew me an entrance, whereby I may enter into the right and Kingly
way: And as for praying to God, and Labouring without ceasing,
leave the Care of that to me: I hope, that God will not deny his
Blessing upon my Prayers and Labours.
B. Well! since I perceive you to be so throughly bent, with your
utmost study and unwearied pressing on, after such an eminent
thing as this is, I cannot but shew you that way, which I my self
have walked in, and that too, home to the very place which my self
am come unto. Verily, I see the promised Land afore my Eyes, and
do daily view its Coasts, nor do I doubt, but that I shall shortly enter
thereinto, and have the Fruition of its most pleasant Fruits, if no
impediment debar me of so great an happiness. And as concerning
your self, seeing that you are nimbler of your Feet than I am, there’s
no doubt but that you will arrive thereunto, even assoon as I my
self. But yet, pray first declare unto me, about what things it is, that
you have spent your Monies, your Labours, and your Precious time,
and all to no purpose; that so I may (as much as in me lies) the
more conveniently reclaim you from your Wandrings and Errors into
the right way. Tis in vain for him that is sick, to expect help and
succour from the Physician, if he does not shew the place of his
Dolour and Grief. Confession is a Medicine to him that goes astray.
Confess therefore the Truth, that I may hear, by what things thou
hast been mis-led into so many Errors.
A. [Alas, Sir,] I could not reckon up all, in Order, though I should
have time enough of so doing. But your own time, which is far more
precious, does not permit, that it should be spent in hearing my
foolish Labours. Besides too, the remembrance of so many Labours
in vain, and of the loss of not only so much Time but Expences too,
causeth a loathing in me, the very remembrance of which I abhor,
much more to make a long rehearsal of the same. You may
therefore easily guess, that by my insisting upon the bare Letter only
of the Philosophers writings, and not understanding the sense and
meaning, I have erred from the right way, and have headlong
hurried my self into so many Intricacies and Errors. I have searched
into Vegetables, Animals, and Minerals, because the Philosophers
write, that their Stone is Vegetable, Animal, and Mineral; but I see,
that I have not had under my hands the true Matter. For if there
does appear in any [of these Matters] the Crows head, yet the other
Colours which the Philosophers make a description of (as the
Dragons Blood, the Peacocks Tail, Virgins Milk, Coagulum, or
Curdling, and principally that Red and Fire-abiding Salamander) did
never appear [to my view.] Or, if these [Signs] of Sanguis Draconis,
or Lac virginis appear to sight, in some other Matter, yet
notwithstanding the other Colours, and other Signs, which the
Philosophers make mention of, did never discover themselves [to my
view.] What Labours soever I have used, and whatsoever matters I
have dealt in, I have even Laboured in vain, and lost both my pains
and Expence, and never have received any good from my laborious
Operations. Hereupon I did at last even almost throughly persuade
my self, that it was an impossible thing, that, out of one Matter, and
by one and the same Labour, one Colour should orderly succeed
another, and become visible to the sight, by the bare help of an
external Fire, as for example, first if all, in the putrefaction, the
Crows head, then the Peacocks Tail, then the Dragons Blood, Lac
virginis, Coagulum or Cheeslike Curdling, and at last the fixt
Salamander. But forasmuch as it appears to me, by the reading of
your Writings, that you have orderly met with the sight of all those
Colours in your Labours, in such manner as the Philosophers have
described the same, I do firmly believe, and give Credit unto your
Sayings, as unto a Man that makes Conscience of his ways,
supposing, that you would not write such things unless you had
wrought them with your own hands, and could even yet perform
them at any time. I only beg your help in shewing me the true
matter, and the Key thereof, that I may so order the Business, as to
cause the Visibly appearing of one Colour after another, in one Glass,
and by the bare help of one only Fire; if you do but thus much for
me, you may be confident that I shall be the most contented Man
[alive.] Nor do I doubt, but that as touching the remainder, as
Multiplication, Projection, and such like, I shall find out those
Operations well enough afterwards, by mine own studious Search, if
I can but once hit on the entrance of the right, true and Kingly way.
B. [Hold a little, and] do not assume so much unto your self, and
think that the things which are so easily said, are with as much
Facility done. Have you not Read in Bernhard Trevisan, that a certain
[Friend of his] had that great Secret as well as himself, only he knew
not how to multiply it, nor would Bernhard reveal the same unto
him, as having the self same Books, out of which the said Bernhard
got the knowledge of Multiplication, himself. But be it as you desire,
and seeing you request no more from my hands at this time, but
only the matter and some Key, I will satisfie your request, as far
forth, as the time and occasion will at present permit.
Attend therefore with diligence to those things which I shall say
unto you and such things they shall be too, as unto which you may
boldly give Credence. I will not (according to the Custom of many)
seduce you, nor will I reveal unto you ought else, but what I have
experienced by the Labours of mine own hands: And if you follow
the guidance of the bare Letter it self, you will not err, unless God
will not permit you to proceed, [but] throw some peculiar
impediment and lett in your way.
As touching the matter, which the Philosophers have made that
Universal Medicament of, I find that it is not merely One, but Divers,
and this is clearly evident from the Writings of the Philosophers, who
openly hint unto us, that one of them used this way and matter;
another, that, and yet at length became Masters of their desire
notwithstanding. From whence it necessarily follows, that the
different matters, of which is made one and the same thing, are not
unlike in their more inward parts, but alike, though they do not
appear so to be, as to their external hue. For it is a thing possible for
two, three, or more things to differ much, [from each other] as to
the outward form and shape, whereas notwithstanding in their
inward parts, they are so agreeable to each other, as that the self
same thing may be produced from the one as from the other. Take,
for an example of this thing, the Seeds and Roots of some Herb, the
which, as to the outside form, have no likeness to each other, and
yet for all that, do they produce one and the same Herb, if they are
implanted apart in the Earth. Just thus is it with the Metallick Buds
and Stocks which are wont to sprout forth, as well from the Metallick
Roots, as from the Metallick Seeds, in so much, that a Tree grows up
of the same Nature and Form from the Metallick Root, as Springs
from the very Seed it self. Now ’tis evident, that in the Metallick
Kingdom, ♄ or Lead supplies the place of the Root; ♂ or Iron, of the
Trunck or Stock: Jupiter or Tin, of the Bark, ☿ or argent vive, of the
juice betwixt the Trunck and the Bark; ♀ or Copper, of the green
Leaves; Lune or Silver, of the white Flowers; and ☉ or Gold of the
ripe Fruit and Seeds. If therefore the Metallick plant is to be
multiplyed, that Multiplication cannot be more commodiously
effected then by ☉ and ♄, that is, by the Seed, or by the Roof of the
said Tree. Whosoever therefore desires to perform ought in this kind,
he will not find any convenienter matters, then ☉ or ♄, that is, Gold
or Lead. But yet I do not mean those vulgar Metals, but such, in
which the Gold lyes as yet immature and invisible, and which is to be
made visible, fixt, mature and constant by the help of Art. So then,
the self same thing which may be discerned, above, in Sol, and
appears visible to the sight, is in like manner found beneath in
Saturn, in an invisible manner. And thus experience it self shews,
that, out of two things unlike, as to the outward shape, one and the
same thing like them may be made, because their internal parts are
of one and the same Nature, and this outside difference or
unlikeness proceeds only from the impurity, and defect of
Maturation. Out of Saturn therefore, as out of an unripe and impure
Gold, some good may be produced: But it must of necessity be well
washt, and out of it being well washed, may the first Ens of Gold be
extracted, and be fixed. But now, if out of mature Gold, you would
yet educe something, it must then again first putrefie and be
reduced into nothing, afore any more noble thing can proceed there
out of. For it is like to the Seed of the Vegetables, which do’s not
admit of any Multiplication of it self, unless they are first put in the
Earth and consumed by Putrefaction: And this is proved, and
asserted by the Testimony of our Lord Christ himself, who says, that
except a grain of Wheat rot in the Earth, it cannot bring forth any
Fruit. Certain it is therefore, and firmly true, that Gold cannot be
translated into a better degree, unless it be again destroyed, and
reduced into such a Body, as out of which it cannot be reduced into
its former Golden Body [or Form.]
A. What is it that you say, can it ever be possible, that a Metal so
constant in the fire should be on such wise destroyed, as not to be
reducible unto its former Body? Verily I have but small reason to
boast of any great matters done by me: For I have for some years
past tormented my self hitherto, about decocting and cooking of
Gold: I have dissolved it in sundry sharp [and Corrosive] Waters, and
have beheld its ascending with its yellow Colour, by a Retort and
through an Alembick, but yet I never got ought else in the
Precipitation of the same, but common Gold, and which was not in
the least bettered thereby. And therefore I did at last conclude with
my self, as many others have done, that the common Gold could not
be the matter of the Philosophick Stone, and it holds hidden within
its Body, no more Tincture than it stands in need of, it self; and that
therefore it has not the Faculty of tinging other white Metallick
Bodies.
B. I do not at all wonder at your falling into this Opinion. There
are many others besides you, that are of the same mind; Nay, I my
self doubted much about this very thing, viz. whether or no, Gold
hides within its inward parts any more of Colour, than it shews unto
us in its outside shape. But then on the other hand, it could not
seem at all likely, that such eminent Men should publish such great
Fallacies and so many Lyes, merely to seduce Men, by. And whilst I
was thus wavering in this kind of doubting, the Truth did at last
(after sundry and many inquisitions) by a mere chance present it self
unto me; in so much, that I am now clearly convinced of my Error,
and am even constrained to believe, that a true Tincture, tinging the
imperfect Metals, may be extracted out of Gold. For well may that be
believed, which the Eyes see, and the hands feel.
A. I rejoyce exceedingly to hear you say, that you have seen the
Truth, and I hope that in time you will refresh me with a sight
thereof too.
B. Whatsoever lyes in my Power to serve you by, I will not in any
Case deny unto you: But thus much I would you should know, that
the Splendor or brightness of the Truth it self hath shone upon me,
but I have never as yet brought the work it self unto an end, by
reason of the want of time: But yet however, I am confident and
firmly persuaded, that if no impediment chance to happen, I shall
bring it to its wished end. And now seeing you are by some years
younger than my self and that you have store of time and all other
Conveniencies, I dare be confident, that you would finish that
Operation much sooner, should I but reveal unto you those things,
which I am already arrived to the knowledge of, by the Labours of
mine own hands.
A. Proceed on, I pray, in this your Liberality, and make me, as
being a Man following after Honesty, partaker of your Happiness,
and I shall be everlastingly obliged to you and yours. And
whatsoever Labour or Task is to be undergone for you; I will with a
ready and willing mind undertake it, and in all things respectfully
regard your wholsome Instructions.
B. Well! I trust you, and believe, that you will perform your
Promises, by which you bind your Credit; but however you shall give
me your hand, and Promise me, that you will conceal the Art in most
profound silence.
A. I will, here’s my right hand, and Credit upon it.
B. Hearken then, with your utmost diligence, and with an accurate
intention, receive the things which I shall speak unto you.
A. I do, and listen attentively.
B. In the first place then, you are to know, that, if you would
make any good thing out of the common Gold, you must perfectly
cast out of your mind that Opinion, which hath hurried not a few
into no small difficulties, imagining, that (by the help of some
Menstruum or other) the Colour of the Gold is to be extracted out of
it, and that Silver is to be tinged, with that same Golden Tincture
thus extracted, and that, to the remaining white Gold, its Colour may
be again restored by the other lesser Metals, as ♂ or Antimony,
Copper, or Iron: Such thoughts as these you must clearly remove out
of your mind, as being those which rob a many of their precious
Time and Estates. There are several ways, by which I know how to
extract the Colour from Gold, but tis needless to reckon them up
here by a tedious repeating of them, seeing they are not any ways
profitable, but rather cause loss of Time and Goods. The main thing
you are to mind is this, viz. to meditate [and enquire] by an accurate
and uncessant studious Search, by what means you may destroy
Gold, kill it, and so compel it by Putrefaction to produce to view its
internal and invisible Colour, and (on the contrary) to introvert (and
hide) its external and visible Yellowness. For Gold it self is no other
thing save a mere Tincture, to the acquiring of which, there needs
not any other thing save the true Key, which unlocks Gold, introverts
it, and renders the invisible Colour, visible. Besides, neither are those
to be hearkned unto, who boast of reducing Gold into its three
Principles, viz. Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury; and of freeing those three
from all their impurities, and then, of conjoyning them again, being
thus Purged, and of Fixing them into an Universal Tincture; and such
like most impertinent trifling Processes, as these. For they are mere
idle Dreams, and can never be accomplished, but come to just
nothing, and clearly delude the Covetous Thirsters after Gain, by
their vain dependence thereupon. Nor are there in Gold any of those
Feces, which they prate of its being defiled with, neither doth it
admit of being severed and dissolved into those three Principles. But
put Case it were possible so to be, what profit, I pray, could we hope
should accrue to the said Gold by such a fruitless Labour, whereas
we see, that it is not in the least measure bettered by such a
Separation. It remains therefore for an undoubted Truth, that Gold
neither contains any Feces, nor admits it of a resolution into Three
Principles, but that it rather requires to be Radically dissolved by a
due Putrefaction, and to be so opened or unlockt. And farther, the
Labour of such Men is likewise vain, who Endeavour by the help of
Saline, Cementations to extract from Gold, its Soul: For though such
Cementations may sometimes succeed so well, as that the Gold
when taken out is plainly white, yet nevertheless such a white Gold
doth as yet contain in it its own peculiar Colour, the which, a little
Saltpeter cast in upon it in Flux, doth easily restore unto it: For then
that whiteness vanisheth, and the Truth appears, and shews you,
that it neither lost its yellow Colour, nor its weight, but retained them
both, in the Cementation. Nay, we have been many times deceived
our selves by these kind of Operations, and have persuaded our
selves, that we had dispoiled the Gold of his Colour or Tincture by
the Salts, whereas it had but only attracted a certain Sulphur out of
the Salts, by which it was made White. You may give Credit unto
me, for I speak experimentally, and do not tell you dreaming Stories.
I will instance it unto you, by an Example. Dissolve a little Gold in
some Aqua Regis, and pour the Solution upon powdered Tartar, that
so being poured upon the said Tartar-powder, it may be hid and
covered over: Put this Tartar thus moistened with the Solution of the
Gold, in a strong Crucible, the which you must cover well with a
Cover, and lute it: Or rather, put it in a Cementary Pot or Vessel,
which will be better. The Vessel being placed in the Cementary Fire,
the Gold will extract a peculiar Sulphur, and become White and
Brittle, after its Separation from the Salts, by being melted. And now
who is it, but would believe, that the Salts had extracted the Colour
of the Gold from it, whereas it is no such matter. For a little
Saltpeter, or else the Cineritium, or Cupel can drive away all this
white Colour, and restore it to its former Yellowness again; and this
is, what my self have several times done and experienced with mine
own hands.
A. Now again, here’s a new Story I never heard of afore, who
would ever have believed, but, that when they had taken their Gold
(tinged with a whiter Colour than Silver) out of the Cementary
Vessel, it had been clearly dispoiled of its Tincture? But now seeing it
is not so, there must of necessity lye hidden under such an Action as
this, some other Secret and Wonder. Verily it is no trifling Matter
thus to make Gold white, without the help of the white Metals; and
it is the more wonderful too, because it is not known, from whence
that white Colour receiveth its Rise: It could not get it from the Aqua
Regis, nor could it have it from the Tartar, and this makes me still
wonder the more. And therefore, pray, rid me of this doubt, and
unriddle the business unto me, for ’tis not without cause, that I
suppose some great Secret may lye thereunder hidden.
B. Attend diligently to what I say, therefore, for its impossible for
you to apprehend all things at one very dash [as I may say, and at
first.] We will first of all treat about the Gold only, and of other
Secrets afterwards in due time. But yet [by the by] I would have you
observe in this place, this one thing; that as touching that Sulphur,
which made the Gold white and brittle, there must needs be a
notable Friendliness betwixt them, because it was so easily extracted
out of the Tartar by the Gold. And upon this Account there may be
ground to suppose, that if the Gold were left lying longer in that
close Cementation, that Sulphur which rendered the Gold so white,
might haply be rendred Red, and fix in the Gold. For every Sulphur is
a Tincture, when it is made fixed, and gets an Ingress, from the
other Metals. Do not undervalue this Secret, but fish out the
Property of this thing, by a more accurate Meditation, for you will
draw from thence much Good.
A. Verily, I can methinks conjecture, that this very knack hath
more in it than it shews for; I will search thereinto more accurately;
perhaps this very way is a nearer one, than that which requires the
inversion of the Gold. I remember that I have read amongst the
Sayings of the Philosophers, this Expression; That their Gold does
not tinge, unless it be first tinged, nor receiveth it a Red Colour,
unless it be made first White. I perceive, that Nature is more
abundantly stored with infinite Riches, and that it cannot be so easily
Searcht out to the bottom, and the longer a Man seeks, the more he
finds and meets with; insomuch that at last, there is such plenty of
good things offering themselves to such Seekers, that it makes them
puzzeld which to choose, seeing they so commend each others
Benefit and Profit. Besides, your words are very hard to be
understood, and hard to be born. For it seems a thing exceeding all
belief, that the most constant Fire-during-Metal, Gold should be so
changed, as to be no more Gold, and very hardly, yea, not at all
reducible by the help of Art into its former Body. I do often meet
with that Opinion and Decree of the Philosophers in my frequent
reading of their Books, viz. that Gold must be putrefied, if any better
and nobler thing is to be generated thereout of: But whereas it
seemed unto me a thing beyond the Power of Nature, and
altogether impossible, for such a constant Matter to undergo any
Putrefaction, I supposed that the Philosophers pointed at some other
thing by that Putrefaction of theirs. Mean while, I earnestly expect
from you a Demonstration of the possibility and Truth of this thing.
B. Come then, on God’s Name, a little nearer me, and heed well
the things which shall be shewn unto you.
We will here take half an Ounce of common Gold, and put it into
this Aqua Fortis, made of Vitriol and Saltpeter, whereto we will add
the same weight as the Gold is of, or a little more, of our
Saltarmoniack, without which, the Aqua Fortis alone, and by it self, is
not able to dissolve the Gold.
A. Pray, Sir, why do you say, Our Salarmoniack? Are there several
and different kinds of it? For my part, when I dissolve Gold, I put
into the Aqua Fortis, that [common] Salarmoniack, which is every
where to be had in the Merchants Warehouses, and is very fit to
dissolve Gold into a Yellow water.
B. You speak very well after your own way; And I confess, that
every Salarmoniack mixt with Aqua Fortis is very good to dissolve
Gold; nor is this any new way, for ’tis in very much use amongst all
the Chymists, who are wont on this wise to dissolve their Gold, but
yet that which is thus dissolved, still remains Gold, and doth easily
admit of being again precipitated out of the Aqua Fortis, and of
being reduced by Fusion into the former Body, it had afore its
Solution. But if so be, that the Solution shall be made by the help of
our Sal Armoniack, then is the Case vastly altered, and your
attempting its Reduction again will be in vain. For if Gold be but
dissolved barely once with our Saltarmoniack, it admits not any more
of melting, nor doth it of it self return again into a malleable
Metallick Body, but gets a Reddish Scarlet kind of Colour in the Tryal
[or Crucible] and remains an unfusil Powder. And if you add some
Borax thereunto, and set it in the Fire then to melt, it will pass into a
Red Glass, which is a sign of its being plainly destroyed, and of its
being transmuted into another Body. And therefore I dare aver, that
there is seated in our Salt Armoniack a power of inverting, and
transmuting Gold, and of making it fit for the Philosophical
putrefaction, which thing is impossible to be done by any other Salts
whatever they be, and what Name soeever called by.
A. Certainly, this is a Divine miraculous thing, to subject Gold, so
mightily constant in the Fire, unto Putrefaction, and to reduce it by
Putrefaction, into a nothing: For I have read too and again, amongst
the Philosophers Writings, that it is an easier thing to make Gold by
Art, than to destroy Gold made by Nature. And therefore this Salt
must needs be a very wonderful one, which is able to effect these
and other, the like almost incredible things.
B. Well may you term it a wonderful Salt, for so it is, the like of
which, no Man will find in the whole World; though to such as know
it, it is so vile and mean a thing; insomuch that scarce any one
would think it likely, that such things could be done thereby, as are
wont to be, should it be but named by its own proper Title. Does
not, I pray, that Philosopher, Cosmopolita [or Sandivow] confess,
that he hath oftentimes declared the Art, and Secret of the whole
Philosophick work, word for word, sometimes to one, sometimes to
another, and yet they would not at all believe him, by reason of the
meanness, or vileness of the Work? And does not he make frequent
mention of his own, and not the common Sal Armoniack? But that
you may yet give more belief and credit to our Salt, I would have
you read the Turba of the Philosophers, wherein you will find all
those things which they have published concerning their Salt: And
amongst others, hearken to those few words, which the Rosary
mentions: Our Salt dissolves Gold into a red Colour, and Silver into a
white Colour, and transmutes them out of their Corporeity into a
Spirituality, and with our Salt, are their Bodies calcined. And for this
reason, Lumen Luminum, also says, That if the Omnipotent God had
not created this Salt, the Elixir could not have been perfected, and
the Study of Chymistry would have been in vain. Avicen saith, If

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