Chapter 5.

The Secrets of Antimony

In this last sentence, Artephius speaks true, for in the treatise he mentions the red servant,
which is the key to the mystery. Thus we are presented with a beautiful castle, which has the one
and only path to it blocked, but there is a way to clear this path.
A line from one of the many books by Thomas Vaughan often caused the
present writer much thought, and it supplies the key that fits. The line
is: to think, that an iron key should be the means to open a treasury of
gold . And so, it may be inferred, iron is the metal which is also
essential to antimony in alchemical work and yet is never mentioned in his
book.*
* Further, it is quite revealing to compare the physical and chemical qualitia of antimony
with the passages in treatises which deal with the preparation of our mercury. Antimony
is obtained from the sulphide known as stibnite by heating it with scrap iron, which
removes the sulphur. This perhaps throws light on why iron was a very necessary catalyst
in the preparation of our mercury.
There are three forms of antimony: a grey lustrous crystalline metal, a black powder like soot
which acquires a metallic lustre when polished (this is obtained when antimony is precipitated
chemically), an unstable yellow form, and finally an explosive amorphous form which has a silvery
colour and which explodes if dropped or heated to 100C. Obviously when experimenting with
antimony, the experimenter should be very careful of the last form.
Although most forms of antimony are poisonous it is still used in some modern medicines, these
uses providing an indication of its possible action in the elixir of life.
It was earlier explained that in the alchemical art, the first step is to amalgamate certain metals;
not in the usual manner as carried out in metallurgy, but dissolved and liquefied into their smallest
components or elements, so that when mixed, it is no easy matter to restore them into the original
form, and this process can so change their condition that an entirely new metal or powder is
formed. Now it was found that antimony can help to facilitate this. Professor Hermann Boerhaave,
a famous Dutch doctor and scientist who lived from 1668 to 1738, whom writing on the subject of
alchemy, wrote the following with regard to antimony (which by the way is in exact agreement
with Artephius):
The term Menstruum seems to have had its rise thus: Lully and other ancient chemists
observing the most kindly solutions to be made by digestion with a heat no greater than
that of the human body, in about 42 days, they termed this space of time a philosophical
month, and the solvent employed a menstruum intimating that the body performed the
dissolution by a menstrual digestion. This term indeed, was first appropriated to the
solvent for the philosophers stone, but it afterwards came to be applied generally to all
solvents. All minerals of a metalline nature are solid menstrua, and especially antimony
which dissolves metals with as much ease as fire thaws ice. But there is no method yet
known of recovering the metals with which antimony has once been fused: all of them
including gold, being lost in copellation therewith, which furnishes reason to suspect that
it destroys the metalline form. This is certain, that nothing is better suited to alter the
nature of metals than antimony. Whence I cannot but suspect that the adepts made use
of antimony as a menstruum in the preparation of their stone: Nor do I believe there is a
better way to obtain the secret. At least, were I to go in quest of it, I should willingly begin
my enquiries with this property of antimony.
Here is confirmation of the importance of antimony in the art of alchemy. Boerhaave tells us that
most metals will fuse with antimony permanently, including gold. Although Artephius has not
mentioned iron, many adepts have claimed that iron is an essential ingredient; therefore we may

assume that in the works of the philosophers, antimony and iron are essential to bring success in
the art. Among other claims, it has been said that iron is fiery in nature, and in conjunction with
gentle antimony it will bring about the desired end. Thus we now have two ingredients, yet note
that these two when dissolved and fused together into a Regulus,* are counted as one ingredient
or principle. Now the consensus of adepts always said that only three principles were used to
produce the Stone. The third principle is not a metal, but we need three metals and, although the
Secret Fire is used, remember the Secret Fire is not accounted a metal. Sol therefore takes
the place of the Secret Fire-as a metal.
We must now return to Artephius for the mercury we require. In paragraph 3, Artephius has told
us:
*A metallic compound-the word being derived from regis, king.
The whole then of this antimonial secret is, that we know by it to extract or draw forth
argent vive, out of the body of magnesia (the compound or regulus) not burning, and this
is antimony and a mercurial sublimate. That is, you must extract a living and
incombustible water . . . [Magnesia is the alchemists name for the metallic compound or
regulus, and the mercurial sublimate is always referred to as water; often they call it
vinegar.]
Later in paragraph 4 he says:
. . . and therefore without this our antimonial vinegar, the aurum album of the
philosophers cannot be made. And because in our vinegar, there is a double substance
of argentum vivum, the one from antimony and the other from mercury sublimated; it
does give a double weight and substance of fixed argent vive.
Herein then, in this substance known as our Mercury, which is a mercurial sublimate, a vapour
of metals, it would appear, the greatest secret of alchemy lies deeply buried, and may only be
unearthed by the empirical method of trial and error. This salt, this aurum album or white gold, as
they have called it, is the base we have to find before one can proceed, for obviously after what
has been said above, ordinary quicksilver is of no use in the creation of the Philosophers Stone.
Here in the following quotations from several alchemical treatises, a variety of statements on the
subject is presented: these may just present a few more hints to lead the researcher to the truth.
Geber:
Praised be the Most High who has created our mercury, and has given it a nature
overcoming all things.
Philalethes:
Our mercury is the salt of the wiseman, without which, whoever operates, is like an
archer who shoots without a bow-string, and yet it is nowhere to be found on earth, but is
formed by us, not by creation, but by extracting it out of those things in which it is, nature
co-operating in a wonderful manner, by a witty art.
And a little further on, Philalethes says:
As flesh is generated from coagulated blood, so gold is generated out of coagulated
mercury.
Bernard Trevisan affirms that:
Gold is nothing but quicksilver congealed by its sulphur.
And in another place he writes:
The solvent differs from the soluble only in proportion and degree of digestion, but not in
matter, since nature has formed the one out of the other without any addition, even by a
process, equally simple and wonderful, she evolves gold out of quicksilver.
Again:
The sages have it that gold is nothing but quicksilver perfected and digested in the

bowels of the earth, and they have signified that this is brought about only by sulphur,
which coagulates the mercury, and digests it by its own heat. Hence the sages have said,
that gold is nothing but mature quicksilver.
The Sound of the Trumpet gives forth in no uncertain tones:
Extract quicksilver from the bodies, and you have above ground quicksilver and sulphur
of the same substance of which gold and silver are made in the earth.
In the Art of Alchemy we read:
All the sages agree that metal is generated from the vapour of sulphur and mercury.
The effect of reading all the above quotations is to impress the student that his first work is to
discover this well-hidden secret: the art of extracting Philosophers mercury from metals, rather
than using the crude mercury we know. The task is to produce vapour from certain metals, which
vapour must carry up with it all the elements of the dissolved metallic bodies, and which entering
them again will change them into so powerful a metallic catalyst, that gold and silver may be
dissolved in it. In fact, it will then be a powder, red for the transmutation into gold, and white for
changing into silver. Either of these last two may be used for the preparation of the principles
required to begin experiments. So that now three metals have been mentioned: antimony, iron,
gold or silver, the latter two never worked together.
One more fact must be known, and it is that the metals must be aided by a catalyst in the first
process, and this catalyst must be a liquid, a nitrate salt. Artephius, along with other masters, has
spoken of a water, the mercurial sublimate. But this in indeed another water, and is mentioned in
paragraph 2 of Artephius. Pontanus also speaks of it, and says that it is not of the matter, which
means that it is not a metal or a mineral. The student can now understand why the art of making
gold has rarely been found out!
Artephius speaks of three different fires to be used in the art, but actual fire is not used, but
ordinary heat is one fire, our mercury is another, and the water mentioned in the Sophic Fire is
the third, because of the power it has of burning, calcinating, or bringing changes about.
Here are some of the names applied to the Philosophers mercury, culled from many treatises.
The descriptive names should hint of the virtues of our mercury, and be of help in the mystery of
its production. It has been called:
The spirit; the spirit of life; the water of life; the water of our sea; the mineral water;
burning water; ardent water. The fire; the secret fire; fire against nature; the invisible fire;
our fire; the fire of snowy whiteness; a fire continuous; digesting, not violent, subtile,
inclosed, aerial, surrounding, altering, yet not burning, clear, close, circulating,
penetrating and alive. The mover; the first agent; philosophical vitriol; that subtle nature
cleaned by sublimation; the fat of the mercurial wind; our mercurial water; the second
sophic mercury; the venomous fiery dragon;
Medea, Theseus who had black sails to his ship; the unhappy spring in Ripley Revived;
the porter or servant of Count Bernard; Artephiuss lamp fire ; the eagles; the vulture of
Hermes; the priest. It is called venus, the nymph venus, born of the froth of the ocean;
because of the marine acid which enters into the composition of the matter of our sea,
which acid is the alchemists Universal Lunar Mercury.
(This last sentence is really the catalyst, a key to the whole work, without which no start can be
made, and which is not mercury of any kind, but indeed acid; in fact the nitrate spoken of in the
last para graph, is sometimes called vinegar. In practice all that is required is a pure muriate or
oxymuriate.)
From the thousands of names that have been written in treatises to hide the nature of

this mysterious sophic fire, here are a few more from which the perspicacious might
pick out some useful indications.
They call it heaven, celestial water and rain, parting water, aqua (water) regis, a
corrosive aqua forte, sharp vinegar, growthful green juice, a growing mercury, a
viridescent water, the green lion, quicksilver (on no account use this), menstruum, blood,
urine, horsepiss, milk, virgins milk, white arsenick, sulphureous vapouring and smokey, a
fiery burning spirit, a deadly poison piercing and killing all, serpent, dragon, a scorpion
devouring his children, a hellish fire, a sharp salt, salammoniac, common salt, an eagle,
vulture, bird of Hermes, a melting and calcining furnace, birds, beasts, herbs, juices.
Every one of these names has been used, but until the preparation of this secret fire is
achieved one cannot even commence the work of alchemy. This is the only ingredient
whose name was hidden by all the philosophers.
The philosophers mercury when made is a brilliantly clear water; it is so clear in
appearance that one might be tempted to drink it, but beware, for it is a quick poison,
which contains an extract from all the metals used. When mixed with them it becomes a
lovely green, and this is known in alchemy as the Green Lion.
The Red Lion, the colour of blood, comes from this same pure water when the metals it is mixed
with turn into a bloody appearance, some time after melting. This usually arises when
philosophers mercury is mixed with sol (gold) and other metals.
Finally, here is an extract from a Summary of Philosophy, a short treatise written by Nicholas
Flamel, in 1409. It is a short description of this mysterious mercury and what it can do.
This is the right and subtle mercury of the philosophers, which you are to take, which will
make the first white work, and then the red. If you have well understood me, both of them
are nothing else, as they term them, but the practice, which is so easy and so simple, that
a woman sitting by her distaff, may perfect it. As if in winter, she would put her eggs under
a hen, without washing them, and no more labour is required about them, than that they
should be every day turned, that the chickens may be better and sooner hatched;
concerning which enough is said.
Additional proofs of the use of antimony and iron in the alchemical works of Jacob Behmen follow.
This work finally sets forth and summarises the preparation and use of the mercury derived from
antimony through the catalytic action of iron.