To exempt Diana from being exposed naked to the petulant lust of unsatiable men, as also to the scorns and contempt of the ignorant, as a common prostitute; the Adepts have taken care not only to cloth, but cover her almost with several sorts of Garments: To this kind of apparel, Antiquity has been pleased, yet not properly enough, to refer an Allegory of the Procreation of man, deduced from the Analogy of Seed anciently received, however ill applied to the Mineral Kingdom.

First, they reckon Coition ; Secondly, Conception; Thirdly, Impregnation; Fourthly, Birth; Fifthly, Nutriment: If therefore no Coition, no Conception; without Conception, no Impregnation; without which no Birth can be premised.

Which Disposition the Ancient Morienus himself confesseth to have been derived to him from Antiquity. Hermes, whom they call Father of the Adepts, in his Tabula Smaragdina, hath decribed to us the Father, Mother, and Nurse of the Chymical Infant. No wonder therefore, that such an Ancient and easy Doctrine as this, should have found so easy an access to Posterity: it would be besides the Intention and Scope to offer those things, which might be inferred by us against this Analogy of Seed. Here let it suffice to remember only, that the greater part, as also the more ancient Adepts, comparing the Chymical Magistery to the Generation of Man, did under the Notion of this Allegory, call their Dissolvents Menstruums, or Feminine Seed, but the things to be Dissolved, Masculine Seed. My Son, saith Lully: The Vegetable Menstruum is of the Nature of a Womans Menstruum, because a Mineral Menstruum proceeds from it by Dissolution, (of Minerals and Metals) and is made artificially as Nature requireth; for it has the property of an incorruptible Spirit, which is as a Soul, and has the Conditions of a Body, because it generates and produces Seed as a Woman; therefore we call our D. (Dissolvent) Menstrual Blood, or Menstruum, because it is Generative and Nutritive, and makes the said C, and (C) (Metals) grow and increase, till they be converted into M (Sulphur of Nature, or Philosophers Mercury) or into Q, (Tincture, or Philosophers Stone) for as Menstrual Blood perfects the Embryo by nourishing, and altering one Principle into another, and one Quantity into another, and one Form into another, yet the Principles and Quantities appearing in every Alteration, under divers Forms, differing from the first Forms themselves, till a certain Substance appears in one entire Quantity. dependent upon several Matters, which is a Body, with Spirit and Soul, reduced into Action: And thus it is with our Infant (Philosophers Stone) Lully, Distinct, 3. Can. 4. Lib. de Essentia, When K. (Colour) appears yellow, then let the Artist know, that the Body of our Infant is formed, made, and completely organized, and begins to be prepared for the reception of the vegetable Spirit into it, and Nature continues in that preparation till the yellow K. vanishes away, and a red K. (Colour) appears; and then may the Artist be assured that the said Infant is perfect both in Body and Soul: so that he may let the Fire alone till it grows cold; which being cold the Artist will find our Infant round as an Egg; which he must take out and purify (for it is a hard Stone in the middle of many Superfluities, as the Infant of a Woman appears after Birth: Can. ii. Distinct. 3. Lib. Essent.) and let him take and put it into some clean Glass Vessel, etc. 3 Distinct. 3 Part Lib. de Essent.

Parisinus, Ripley, Espanietus, and other later Adepts, tbe Disciples of Lully, had this Analogy of Seed from him, being doubtless the most Learned of the Chymical Philosophers. Of this living Heaven, says Parilinus, Raymund speaks in his Third Book de Quintessentia, in this Chapter beginning, Coelum & Mercury noster; Our Heaven has the property of an incorruptible Spirit, which is as the Soul of it, and has the Conditions of a Body in it, generating and producing Seed, as a Woman, and herein it differs from the other Principles (of the Art) It is also sensual, because it is apprehended by sense, namely, by sight, taste and smell, as is declared in the first Distinction in the Chapter, which begins, Praeterea est principium movendi, scilicet, corpus sive forma: And a little after speaking of the aforefaid living Heaven, he says, And in this point our Undertanding knows that D. ( his living Heaven, or Dissolvent) hath a Vegetable property, the similitude,of which, R and S (Gold and Silver) do transmit into the Sulphur of Nature, which is the Spirit of Metals, or Stone, or transforming Poison, according to the signification of Raymund, which signification he uses in his Alphabetum figurae arboris Philosophicae, and therein produces this following Sentence in Capite de figura Quinta Essentae: As the Vegetative part of the Mother or Nurse, transmits her Likeness into the Son, which she generates, which property the Son retains, so our Mercury. The Intention of the Philosopher (Lully) is to demonstrate, that the Philosophers Sulphur, or Stone, or transforming Poison receives all its benefit by the excitation of the vegetative Virtue, which is in this Divine Vegetative Heaven.

The same Author in the Continuation of his Doctrine, says, And also the Understanding knows, that the said Metals R, and S, (Gold and Silver) retain the property of Menstruum, with which they extend their similitudes into exotic substances, transmuting the said substances into their own kind, which is the reason why we call it Vegetable Mercury; as also because it is extracted out of Vegetables. The same thing at the end of the said Chapter he speaks afresh: And our Understanding also knows, that principle is as a Woman conceiving the Mans Seed, and bringing forth in the same form and virtue, as it was in the beginning. From whence we necessarily conclude, that the Elements of this Stone, namely, Gold, ought to be moved by virtue of a living Quintessence, and the aforesaid Vegetable Heaven, which way I have sufficiently proved and demonstrated. Parisinus in Lib. i. Elucidarii, pag., 221. vol. 6. Th. Chym.

Ripley, having the same Master as Parisinus, expands this Doctrine more briefly, thus; As an Infant in the Womb of the Mother, does by the concoction of temperate heat, convert the Menstruums into its own Nature and Kind that is, into Flesh, Blood, Bones, Yea, Life, with all other Properties of a living body so if you have the Water of Sol and Luna, it will attract other Bodies to its kind, and make their Humors perfect by its intrinsic Virtue and Heat; Ripl. Lib. de Merc. Phil.

We, says Espanietus, to deal plainly and truly; affirm, that the whole work may be perfewcted by two Bodies only, that is Sol and Luna, rightly prepared: For this is that Generation which is performed by Nature with the help of Art, in which the coition of Male and Female is required, and from whence the Offspring more noble than its Parents, is expected; Sect.20. Arcan. Herm. Sol is the Male, for he yields the active and informing seed: Luna is the Female; which is called the Matrix and Vessel of Nature, because she receives the seed of the Male into her womb, and nourishes it with her Menstruum; Sect. 2.2. Arcan. Herm. Phil. But the Philosophers do not by the name of Luna, mean common luna, which also acts the parts of a Male in their (white) work; let no man therefore attempt to join two males together, it being wicked and contrary to Nature, nor can he hope for any Offspring from such a copulation, but put Gobritius to Beja, Brother to Sister.

Conjugio junget stabilis, propriamq; dicabit.

That he may have from thence the noble Son of Sol, Sect. 23. Arcan. Herm. Phil. I would have the Reader know, says Sendivogius, that Solution is twofold, though there be many other solutions, but of no effect: the first is only true and natural; the second violent, under which are all the other comprehended; the Natural is that, by which the pores of the Body are opened in our Water, that the digested seed may be injected into into its Matrix: But our Water is Celestial, not wetting our hands; not common, but almost like Rain: The Body is Gold, which yields the seed: our Luna is not common silver, which receives the seed of Gold. Tract. to. Novi Lumin. Saturn taking the Vessel, drew up ten parts of the Water, and presently took some of the Fruit of the solar Tree, and put it in, and I saw the fruit, of the Tree, consumed and resolved as Ice in warm water. This water is to this fruit, as a Women. The fruit of this tree can be putrified in nothing, but in this water only; for no other water can penetrate the pores of this Apple, but this: Water, which is extracted from a magnetical virtue out of the Water, which is extracted from a magnetical virtue out of the Rays of Sol and Luna, and therefore they have great affinity one with the other: In the Dialogue of Mercury.

Now here we in this Book intend to treat of this Feminine Seed, or dissolving Waters of the Adepts. Great indeed, yes vast is the Treasure of our Chymy; but altohgether in accessible by those that have not the Keys thereof; without which the Adepts themselves could neither dissolve nor coagulate Bodies. If you know not the way of dissolving our Body, it is in vain to operate, is the Advice of Dionysius Zacharias,pag.,798. vol.I. Theat. Chem. But he that knows the Art and Secret of Dissolution, has attainede to the Secret of the Art, Says Bernhard, pag. 40. For this cause it is says Parisinus, that the wise men say, To know the Celestial Water, which reduces our Body into a Spirit, is the chief Mystery of this Art, in Eluc.pag.212.Vol I. Theat.Chem. For without these Menstruums things heterogeneous can never be perfectly mixed. Coral though never so finely pulverised cannot be mixed with the purest Powder of Pearls. Yea Gold mixeth not with Silver (much less with Bodies less perfect) though both be melted together; the Particles of each do indeed touch one another in their extreme parts, being in a mass or heap consisting of things heterogeneous, yet they are and do remain all distinct unaltered in their Figures and Properties, nor otherwise than is a heap composed of Barley and Oats: Butin the more Secret Chymy there is no Body, no heterogeneity, but what has its own peculiar Menstruum, and with which ads being homogeneous to it, it runs into on Concrete, rejoicing in the inseparable Properties: of either so long therefore as you intend to join Metals with Metals, dry things with dry, without the Menstruums of Diana, so long (to use the Phrase of Espanietus) do you presume to joyn males together, which is a thing wicked and contrary to Nature, Hearken therefore to Bernhard, pag.757.vol I. Th. Chym. Persuading you to leave stones and all sorts of Minerals, likewise also Metals {2 illegible} they are the beginning and our matter. Metals are hot and {} but are also called by Lully, the form of the Stone; yet these Menstruums they signify nothing. The Form, says he, which is the Efficient Principle, Former and Transformer of all other Forms of less virtue and power, is described by C, or (C) (Metals) cannot of itself only be the Magistery of the greater work &c. Very commodious it is for that Principle to beknown, because hereby the Understanding knows, it to be one of the two Substances, from which our Infant is produced, having in It the condition of a male, from which proceeds a sperm in the belly of our D. (Menstruum or Dissolvent,) Lul. Dist. 3. Lib. Ess. Heaven or Mercury, (Menstruum) is the fourth Principle signified by D. It is the Cause and Principle moving C, and (C) from Power to Action, ruling a governing them in its belly, as the Woman the infant which she procreates in her Matrix. And in this point knows the understanding of an Artist, that D (Menstruum) has action upon C, and (C) ruling, governing and reducing them into Action, even as the Heavens above do by their motion, bring things Elementary, into action, And an Artist is to understand that of the two substances, of which our Stone is compounded, and by which it is generated, this, namely, D, (Dissolvent) is the more principal. Ibid. In the Book de Medicinis Secretis, Pag. 336. he goes on; You must know, says he, that hitherto I have not told you the most secret thing and matter of the whole Magistery, which is our incorruptible Quintessence, extracted out of white or red Wine, which we call Celestial Crown, and Menstruum, after the sublimations, putrefactions, and final depuration of it; which Quintessence is indeed the foundation, principal matter, and Magistery of all medicinal things: My Son, if you have it, you will have the Magistery of the whole thing, without which nothing can be done.

But you, My companions, know, what means the Menstruums of Diana; you know, I say, they are the highest secrets of the more secret Chymy, much more secret than the Menstruums of Women; that the same also were never acquired but by the extreme Pains and ingenuity of an Adept, most cautiously described, and recommended to us principally as the Keys of the Art; you easily believe Lully, saying; Without these Menstruums nothing can be done in the Magistery of the Art. Mag. Nat. p.329. Or Christopher Parisinus, That the great secret lies in thefe Menstruums , insomuch if they be not known, nothing can be done as to the trasmuting of Metals. Elucid. pag. 222. Vol. 6. Th. Chym. Wherefore I think it enough to declare to you in short, that these Menstruums, which hitherto you have with so much study, to little purpose sought in the Theoretical Books of Adepts, are now offered to you, bring found by me, in Practical Books, no longer shrouded with Obscurity, but disrobed, and exposed naked to the sight and understanding of all men: But you have no cause to fear the Spirit of Philosophical Wine which you perceive in any Menstruum, it being familiar and most gentle, because Philosophical. Nor have you need of many Conjuration, to make it appear to you; for in all Pages of the Theoretical Books of Adepts, it offers itself willingly and expects you, provided you pray to God, that he would graciously vouchsafe to open your Eyes; for without his permission or speciai appointment, it dares not manifest itself to you. By the Menstruums of the Adepts, not therefore yours, though they he most secret to you, because I fear they are yet but vulgar, which dissolving a dry Body, are. transmuted with it into a Salt or Vitriol, not with a true, but seeming coalition and mixture, which a searching Fire easily discovers presently separating these same heterogeneous substances again: On the contrary, the unctious Spirit of Philosophical Wine does by its Unctuosity mollify a dry Body, and transmute it not into a Salt or Vitriol, but into an Oyl: It easily joins things heterogeneous by its own equal temperament, and is by its homogeneity easily joined with things homogeneous to it, by which also it is augmented, according to that of Bernhard : No Water dissolves bodies but that which is of their species and which can be inspissated in bodies; for a Dissolvent ought not to differ from that which is dissolved, in matter, but proportion and digestion; Pag. 43. of his Epistles. For Nature is not meliorated, but by its own nature; our matter therefore can be no othewise meliorated than by its own matter. Parmenides says the same, L. de Alchym. pag. 768.vol. I Th. Chym. This Spirit of Philosophical Wine may be united to all things and is able to unite all things inseparably. But they that suppose another water, are ignorant and unwise, and will never come to the effect, says Parisinus in Eluc.p. 222. vol 6. Th. Chym. Of which Morienus, pag. 52. thus; As to this Magistery, let Fools seek other things, and seeking err; for they will never attain to the effect of it, till Sol and Luna be reduced, into one body, which cannot come to pass before the Will of God. Which Arnold, if I mistake not, expressed thus; You will sooner join the Sun and Moon in the Heavens, than Gold and Silver in the Earth without our Menstruum.

But you, that have hitherto desired one only universal, immortal, indestructible Menstruum, I mean, the Liquor Alkahest or Ignisaqua, that undeclinable word, instead of one, whereof you never yet knew the Name, Matter, Preparation and Use, behold! I offer a great many kinds of universal Menstruums, in their Descriptions more clear, in Virtues equivalent, if not better than this your Alkahest. What others have either obscurely or impertinently said and written of this Liquor Alkahest, we little regard, as Opinions and Conjectures. By the Menstruums of the Adepts, we intend not all manner of, Dissolvents, prepared without the Spirit of Philosophical Wine, and only corroding, but not in the least altering the more minute Particles of Bodies: Nor do we understand an immortal Liquor, not permanent with things dissolved in it: But by Menstruum we mean a volatile Liquor made several ways, of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and divers things, not only separating Bodies, but also continuing with them, and altering them with the addition of itself, so as to be no more two, nor again, what they, were, before. For out of this Dissolution (the Solemn Wedlock, inseparable Union and Combination of Body and Menstruum) emerges a new Being, containing the unblemished Properties of the thing dissolved, and the thing dissolving, not at all separable by Art or Nature.

These Menstruums I have distinguished into Vegetable and Minerals, not as if the Vegetables, were made of Vegetables only, and the Mineral of Minerals, but every Menstruum, that has not manifest acidity, acting without ebullition and motiom, is called Vegetable, though it be made of mere Animals or Minerals by thr Spirit of Philosophical Wine. On the contrary, a Menstruum becomes Mineral, so soon as manifest acidity is mixed either with the Spirit Of Philosophical Wine, or a Vegetable Menstruum; for by adding the acidity, it now dissolves Bodies witb violence and effervescence. I have subdivided both kinds into Simple and Compound, but not as if the Simple consisted of fewer ingredients, but because they are of more simple or less virtue. Simple Menstruums tinge Bodies dissolved in them less, but the Compounded more.