Albert Poisson misconceives Materia Prima density stairs with matter unity density stairs and leads would be alchemists into an operative deadlock.
In Theories et Symboles des Achimistes Paris 1891, Poisson cancels the basic concept of Secret Fire as Materia Prima. Instead he brings into play the idea of a mass division into extremely tiny particles which he called “ Seeds of the matter” (note he uses the ancient term “Matter” instead of “Mass”).
Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes, Albert Poissson, Chapter 2:
“The Great law of Matter Unit is at the base of Alchemy theory. The matter is one, but it may take various forms and produces new bodies of indefinite number combining with itself. This raw material was still called seed, chaos, universal substance. Without going into details, Basil Valentine assumes as a fact the unity of matter. “All things come from the same seed, all were originally engendered by the same mother” (Triumphal Chariot of Antimony). Sendivogius, better known as the Cosmopolitan, is more explicit in his “Letters” he said:” Christians wish God first created some raw material … and that this matter by way of separation, having been derived from simple bodies, which having then been mixed with each other by way of composition served to do what we see … in creation there was a kind of subordination, so that all beings have been used by the simplest of principles for the composition of following and other ones. “Sendivogius finally summarizes everything said in these two proposals “Know how: first, production of a matter that nothing has preceded; second, division of this area into elements and from them composition of the Mixed” (Letter XI). When saying mixed Sendivogius means any kind of compounded bodies.
Espagnet completes Sendivogius, establishing matter indestructibility, he adds that it can only change form. “ Anything that bears the character of being or substance can not leave the laws of nature, it is not allowed to move to non-being” Therefore Trismegistus said aptly, in the Pymander, that nothing dies in the world, but that all things come and go ” (Enchiridion phisicæ restitutæ)”
Misinterpreting the term “ Matter” as a mass synonym, Albert Poisson confuses Materia Prima with mass, that’s to say with Materia Tertia or crude matter, even if infinitely divided. The quotations he makes to highly rate his claims, conversely point against them. When Sendivogius speaks about indestructibility of matter he clearly means Secret Fire indestructibility, and consequently Materia Prima indestructibility as well as its medium or means. D’Espagnet :” Our Matter is not able to be destroyed, it can only change in form”. Alchemical Spirit of life is, by its nature, ineffable and if extracted from a mixed or a body can give life to another body, while a body unit when extracted from a body can only die. Spirit of life is the so called “ Mother” or Principle of Life, and lacks whatsoever distinction. Actually the seed is not a polar state of the mother, but Father or Sulphur that is to say a mother’s improvement and all seeds being born by the same mother. Hermes in Pymander ( a text much probably written in fifteenth century in Florence in order to make Alchemy cooperating with catholicism) says “Nothing dies in the world”, but Poisson is unlikely to realize that this sentence is appropriate to spirit not to bodies. Alchemy natural Secret Fire and alchemists’ counterpart Materia Prima, in its double composition female and male, chaos and seed, causes Principle of Life to reproduce itself, along with new bodies of indefinite numbers. However not like little bricks putting one behind another, but strange substances putting in a strange resonance. Female and Male are not here polar states of the same substance, as one can commonly think of. But different phases of the same substances. Alchemy may not be sound science, but it always makes sense.
However, in spite of Poisson’s opinion, Secret Fire is neither mass nor energy particles. It is something scientifically undetectable yet vegetative (1). Consequently laboratory processes can be greatly affected by these misconceptions. Consequently Poisson’s Solve et Coagula is going to be a mere distillation or sublimation process, as the very name easily would suggest. To the point one should be very lucky to get out of Labors of Hercules.
Now an off topic that is not off at all: “Theories et Symboles des Alchimistes”, cover on the top, has a very close resemblance with the cover of ” The Great Work revealed on behalf of the Children of Light” by Coutan, Amsterdam 1775, on the bottom left. So why young Albert Poisson has reproduced the cover and has not read the book?