ALCHEMICAL TERMS INCORPORATING

MAGNESIAMartin Rulandus the Elder Translated by Arthur E. Waite

A LEXICON OF ALCHEMY OR ALCHEMICAL DICTIONARYContaining a full and plain explanation of all obscure words, Hermetic subjects,

and arcane phrases of Paracelsus.by

Martin Rulandus

Philosopher, Doctor, and Private Physician to the August Person of the Emperor. [With the Privilege of His majesty the Emperor for the space of ten years]

By the care and expense of Zachariah Palthenus, Bookseller, in the Free Republic of Frankfurt. 1612==============

ANTIMONIUM, or ALKOFOL --- A stone from a lead vein, or vein of Othi. It is also Marchasite, a kind of Saturn, a kind of Antistinus (unknown), and Stybium. It is a muddy Marchasite, having a fixed Sulphur, and is insoluble. It is of two kinds. One is the ordinary black species of Saturn, and is called Magnesia,(<=>) Bismuth, Contersin. It is of the race of Jupiter, an immature, ill-favoured product. It is Dross of Lead and has the virtues of burnt Lead, being of similar substance. It is cold, dry, and astringent.

CHAMBAR --- Poison, the fruit of Poison, or Magnesia. The Turba says: It is the White Stone, and calls it Orpiment, Zendrio, Abaemech, Chalul. But when it has become white and innocuous, then it is called Lead, Exobmich, Magnesia, Martech, White Copper.

CORPUS ---

(1) The body is a metallic entity, wherein the virtue' of the Universal Spirit resides and fixes the spirits. That which is fixed is called a body. It is also called substance and ashes, because it is fixed. It also has a fixed Sulphur. It is, moreover, called Earth, Magnesia, Caba, Matrix, Key, Holy Virgin, the King's Crown, Talc, Glass, Spirit of Glass, Alum, Gum of Scotland, Sulphur Water, Lunar Froth, White Gum. For there are four bodies.

(2) The bodies are not naturally dark, gloomy and black. When living they are bright, white and clear. A perfect body is ferment and tincture. The white is imperfect, the red is perfect.

(3) The body is the earth which remains on the floor as dead. For the virtue ascends with the spirit.

(4) The soul is the virtue of the body, which, being sublimated with the spirit, is the oil of the body. The spirit is the mercurial water which extracts and sublimates the soul.

HAEMATITES --- In Arabic Sedeneg, in German Blutstein, Bloodstone, on account of the blood colour with which it is tinged, and which it is also seen to have, which is dug up in mines, and on account of its effect in stopping the flow of blood in all kinds of bloody fluxes. Pliny distinguishes between several species according to the places in which they are found, as Lybia, Egypt, Spain, and between the Weser and Elbe in Germany; also in Saxony and Anneberg, at Sala, Goslaria, Geuro, Salfeldia, Salburg, Iona, many species occur.

Hematites may also be classified according to their degrees of hardness and softness. I am acquainted with the following species

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6. There is a sixth species found between the Weser and the Elbe, in Cherusca, and in certain mountains, which generally has the shape of a bare head. This is the most beautiful of all, and its shape cannot be sufficiently admired. I have experienced its wonderful virtue in stopping bleeding at the nose. Pliny distinguishes between the Hematite and Schistos (1. 36, c. 20), and between the red-veined Hematite and the crumbling species. He also calls Hematite by the term Anthracite, a word which the Greeks gave to many things, including the carbuncle. Sotacus distinguishes five species, besides the stone Magnesia.

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MAGNES --- The Magnet is so called after its discoverer. See Pliny, 1. 36, c. 16. It is also called the Herculean Stone. Hence the Greek proverb about Herculean stones. It is so called from the city of Heraclea in Lydia (or, as some say, in Magnesia) where there is a most admirable magnet. Lucretius says: The magnet which the Greeks name after its origin, because it originated in its native mountains of magnets. The magnet is also called the Sidereal Stone because it attracts iron. For the Greek word Sideris signifies iron, although Sideritis is different from iron scoria, and is a remarkable gem, mentioned by Pliny, 1. 37, c. 10. By the Germans the magnet is called, after the Latin, Magneth. By the Saxons it is termed the Sailor's Stone, because of its use in navigation, it being its nature always to turn to the north. According to the testimony of Dioscorides (1.5, c. 93), its colour inclines to dark blue. The best is always dark blue. It is thick, not heavy, and attracts iron by a congenital property, as it

were, just as the gem Sagda attracts wood, or as amber and gagates attract straws and feathers. Even iron, which is most obstinate in its property of resistance, is overcome by the magnet; and, what is more, when iron is touched by the magnet it will draw along with it another piece of iron. Thus iron, the mistress of all things, is held and remains in the grasp of the magnet. On the other hand (whereat I greatly marvel), garlic and onion are quite contrary to the magnet, and if the magnet be smeared with their sap, it by no means attracts iron. However, it recovers its properties when dipped in the blood of a goat.

The magnetic gem is also found in veins of iron, and in our mines --- for example, in the territories of Bohemia, by Schwartzberg; and certainly at Sualvedia in ancient iron mines; also at Goslaria, in an old mine half covered over by rubbish, the magnet is to be seen in a vein of its own. This also is said to be the case in Spain and in other places. It is affirmed that the magnet possesses a great affinity with hematite. For hematite is called a magnet by Pliny, the reference being to an Ethiopian species of hematite, and a magnet burnt, whether by the heat of the earth or by artificial fire, becomes hematite, and is sold for it. Pliny also enumerates five genera, according to Sotacus, and states that it derives its name from Magnes Armentarius.

MAGNES, MAGNETH:

1. The Ethiopian, which is most praised, and is found in Ethiopia, in a sandy region, together with the Hematite Magnet, which is of a bloody colour, and of which more above. This Ethiopian Magnet not only attracts iron but also a magnet of another genus. Hence those lines of Sinesius: The Ethiopians, a people not unknown to the Nile, who cut the magnet: their only boast is the magnet. They attract uncooked stone.

2. The Red and Black Magnesiacus of Macedonia.3. In Echium of Boeotia, which is more ruddy than black.4. A Magnet found about Alexander and Troas. It is black, of the feminine sex, and totally useless. 5. In Asiatic Magnesia, white, useless, does not attract iron.

The difference in the various kinds of magnet is according as they are male or female, and also in the matter of colour. Concerning the affinity which exists between iron and the magnet, consult Pliny (1. 34, c. 24), who describes the Cantabrian Magnet, found with freckled bubbles. He also informs us that in the same part of Ethiopia where the magnet abounds there is a stone called Themanides, which repels all pieces of iron, and rejects them, being of an antagonisticc nature to the magnet. He further testifies that the magnet has another property, namely, that of attracting to itself the liquor of glass. Just as the magnet by its natural potency and power attracts iron and the liquor just

named, and has affinity with them, so conversely it disagrees with garlic and onions, and has so little sympathy with adamant that in its neighbourhood it ceases to grasp or to attract iron. Consult also Serapion (lib. Agg. c. Hager Abnantes, or Almagritos). He refers to the abundance of the magnet on the shores of the Indian Ocean, and says that all ships in those parts are put together with wooden nails, as those of iron would be torn away by the force of the attraction. The Magi assert that the magnet having such great agreement with iron, has also the property of producing and maintaining peace among men. As to the further medicinal use of the magnet, consult Dioscorides, Pliny, and others already cited. Evax states that there is a kind of magnet which attracts flesh, especially human flesh. But possibly this statement is borrowed from Aristotle. Albertus states that the magnet is found in France, and there has the appearance of rusty iron, burnt with pitch. Would that the French would seek for these things! Doubtless it would be found in Thuringia, which borders on France, if any one were to look for it. Moreover, the same Albertus states that in his day a magnet was discovered which at one end attracted iron, and at the other repelled it. Aristotle, if I mistake not, also mentions this species. If this be the case, we can understand Pliny's statement concerning the stone Themanides. Thirdly, Albertus adds that the Emperor Frederick possessed a magnet which did not attract iron, but was attracted by the iron itself.

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MAGNESIA --- i.e., Seafoam Stone [link to dolomite due to its origins as cyanobacteria], or Sulphul. Also, Tortoise and Tortoiseshell. Magnesia generally stands for Marcasite. Artificial magnesia is melted tin when mercury has been injected into it, and the two have been mingled together until they form a brittle substance, and a white mass. It is also silver mixed with mercury, an extremely fusible metallic compound which is liquefied as easily as wax, is of a wonderful whiteness, and is called the magnesia of the philosophers. Magnesia is produced when silver and quicksilver are united together so as to form a heavy fluid metal. It is also the matter of the philosopher's stone. Magnesia is further the mixed water congealed in air which offers resistance to the fire, the earth of the stone, our mercury, mixtures of substances. The whole therein is mercury.

Magnesia is a Stone having the virtue of marcasite. Or, it is a Stone like hematite. [Iron II Link to magnetic version of MAGNES, not dolomite. However, marcasite also forms in veins of dolomite/limestone as acidic solutions travel down veins]

MAGNESIA --- The Woman [Green Dragon Elixir anthropomorph\

MAGNESIA --- Bismuth, or Barren Earth [link between Bismuth and Dolomite is Green vs. Red has a symbolic dragon/lion significance]

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MASCULINUM ET FOEMINUM SEMEN --- Masculine and Feminine Seed, the substance of Mercury and Sulphur. For the Mercury is transformed into Sulphur; it is a spirit which possesses both natures, and is called Mercury. Out of one pound of Matter, scarcely half an ounce can be extracted. It is also called Ore, Penny, Lead, Albor Aeris; Turba, folio 16, calls the Female Magnesia. The white is red Sulphur. When the two are again united, they are still called Magnesia, until the end of the cooking. It is the medium between fixed and not fixed.

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MATERIA PRIMA ET HUJUS VOCABULA --- The philosophers have so greatly admired the Creature of God which is called the Primal Matter, especially concerning its efficacy and mystery, that they have given to it many names, and almost every possible description, for they have not known how to sufficiently praise it.

36. White Magnesia, a Magnet --- because it attracts gold, or the King, unto itself.

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MERCURIUS CHAMBAR --- Magnesia, Fluid Body and Water.

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SPUTUM --- A Confection of Sulphur and Magnesia. Also called Thickened Gold, and Sulphur Water.

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TALK --- is White like Gypsum, and is therefore called Spar-plaster, Mortar, Magnesian Limestone,

etc.