The glass of Antimony and the Oil of it. Antimony as a fume. And an enigmatic Festina Lente. Carlo Lancillotti repeats the works in Basilius Currus Triumphalis.
By the time Lancillotti wrote Farmaceutica Antimoniale ovvero Trionfo dell’Antimonio, that’s to say, Antimonial Pharmaceutics or the Antimony Triumph, Modena 1683, the works on metallic antimony and mercury were heavily debated by iatrochemists to be too hazardous. Carlo Lancillotti demonstrates how their beliefs were caused by ignorance of Basilius Valentinus proceedings.
Basilius, in his Currus Triumphalis Antimonii, or Triumphant Chariot of Antimony, said that Antimony is nothing else than a fume, that’s to say, a mineral vapor made by the stars and then by the Elements that can be taken to perfection. And this perfection is the Philosophers Stone. Daring statement for an iatrochemist, but Lancillotti is protected by the great Basilius and Theodor Kerkringer’s commentary on him.
I decided to translate and publish this first part of Farmaceutica Antimoniale ovvero Trionfo dell’Antimonio, after having already published the final part on the Starry Regulus and Lapis Ignis. There is a reason, of course. You can find the part on Starry Regulus and Lapis Ignis at Lancillotti and the Starry Regulus according to Basilius. My translation from Italian, without comments: Lancillotti proceedings are clear enough.
Chapter IV. Calcination, and Antimony Glass by Basilius:
“Take some antimony of the best you can find, which has long and bright golden color striations, reduce it in very subtle and impalpable powder and the mentioned is meant to be put in a plain and short pot, which you put on a moderate fire, and beginning to give smoke the above-mentioned powder will be stirred back and forth continuously without stop and in the case the above-mentioned antimony because of the excessive fire ( which sometimes happens) will clot, it will be let cool down, and again reduced in powder, as before, and you will get to calcine as above mentioned and that several times, till necessary, until taking a bit and put it over the red hot coals, it doesn’t give fumes anymore, remaining said antimony in ashes color.
Take the antimony so calcined and put it inside a crucible to melt in a fornello da vento wind oven or other suitable for melting. When melted and very well, water-shaped, clear, and pure without spots on the surface, make sure you will hold a little iron stick, and if cold, it will detach. You will check if the glass is clear and transparent and without any red spots, being in that way so it will be taken to perfection and matureness, which is very important because if not, it is very dangerous. So the artist has to operate in this way; back to our topic, being the matter in this form, you will have a copper or brass, plain basin to be well heated and throw inside the above-mentioned glass, which will get subtle, moving as you like. Being a little congealed, it will get sealed or be marked with the seal, or mark you like, and it is done.
Of the above-mentioned glass, a red tincture with some composed spirit of wine can be extracted, as noted by Kerkringer in his commentary, and it is as follows:
Chapter V. Spirit of Wine for the Tincture of Antimony by Theodor Kerkringer.
Take some salt Armoniac sublimated three times…”.
The method is in Guida alla Chimica in the first part of book three. The chapter on the Sublimation of Salt Armoniac is in the second part, number twenty. So below is my translation of Nuova Guida alla Chimica, New Guide to Chemistry, by Carlo Lancillotti, Venezia 1681, page 130:
“Take some Salt Armoniac ounces VIII. Some fillings of Iron, of the kind, dropped from iron beating on an anvil. Grind and mix very well, then put to sublimate in a vessel with very strong fire, and being sublimated, let cool down the vessel, and breaking it, the sublimated part will separate. You will mix it with two or three ounces of prepared common salt, repeating this operation five or six times, always adding new salt. After every sublimation, the remaining salt can be useful to extract even the Spirit. The said Salt Armoniac so prepared is an excellent diaphoretic for every kind of fever, to take in suitable waters twelve, or more, grains.”
Resuming the “Trionfo dell’Antimonio” Chapter V:
“Spirit of Wine for the Tincture of Antimony by Theodor Kerkringer, from where we have interrupted: Take some salt Armoniac sublimated three times, Spirit of Wine passed over salt Tartar and free of any phlegm ounces ten, put the whole in a flask, sealing accurately the opening to avoid breathing, and place at moderate cinders heat and let digest for eight or ten days and then distill at balneum, accurately sealing all recipient’s joints, and you will have a perfect Menstruum to extract with some circulating time the tincture of a glass of antimony, which is a perfect remedy to remove many chronic diseases.
Chapter VI. Tincture of Antimony and correction of the Kerkringer Glass.
Take some of the above mentioned antimony glass and put into a crucible, leaving under fire condition as much as a third will be consumed, and after being cooled down is reduced in impalpable and subtle powder, which is to be put inside a bowl, pouring over some spirit of wine very certificated, which has to be three fingers more than the powder, then well seal all the joints of the blind cap to have no breathing, and placing this bowl in balneum, or cinders, to circulate for three months, then the bowl will be emptied of the colored Spirit, which is a wonderful remedy, and the glass, which will be at the bottom, get again melted in a crucible, which well-managed, purged with delicacy, as the nature wants, and moving the vomit ( “vomito” in the original, probably meaning an emission), naturally moves it without interfering too much, and will be done in the same way as the other glass, with two parts of borax and one of crude antimony, giving melting fire, in the same way as melting a metal, for the rest you can go ahead as above mentioned.
Chapter VII. White Glass of Antimony by Basilius.
Take one part of ground antimony and four refined borax parts, powder together, mix, and keep continuously flowing till all is reduced in very clear glass, which you will know utilizing iron, as mentioned above, which you then in a bowl as said above.
It would be best if you were warned that despite the glass of antimony not so poor quality, like the raw antimony, having this preparation gets rid of not only of the blackness, which it has before, and of a significant amount of its venomous quality, not for this reason the glass is not totally in the absence of that, but to remove this nastiness do as follows.
Chapter VIII. Sulfur of the Glass of Antimony and Tincture of the said.
Take some pure glass, and without addition, as above mentioned, reduce in impalpable powder grinding it on a porphyry with a little of distilled vinegar, as you do with precious stones, then put in a plain bath basin, with a lot of distilled, rectified and very strong vinegar, which has to be at least three or four fingers above the powder, and place the basin on cinders heat, and let in this way till the vinegar has a bright color like pure gold (rubicondo I in original text), then free the basin from the vinegar, by bending, and pour vinegar again, repeating as long as the vinegar is no more tinted, then take all the colored vinegars and filter them, then put in a bath basin, of a size double than the vinegar level, but not too much higher, then put the cap with spout, get the vinegar distilled till a texture is achieved, as Kerkringer notes, and not as Basilius said till dryness, because the tincture will take a horrible taste, when the vinegar lows down you have to change the basin for a shorter one, as many times as you have the right texture, when you finish the vinegar pour inside rain water and distill at low balneum, repeating this operation till three times, and the third you will observe that the water starts to come out sweet, then stop at once the whole operation, that’s to say the distillation, otherwise you will lose all, and put he remaining in the basin in a plain dish to dry at sun, or in oven, at a very low heat, and when dry grind it in a marble or glass mortar, which before has been a little heated, that done put in a flask, pouring over some Spirit of Wine, at least three fingers over the powder, and put to digest at low heat as long as the said Spirit has extracted the tincture of Antimony, of a very bright color ( above Lancillotti compares this color to that of pure gold. Basilius, in his Currus Thriumphalis, calls it flavum (golden), which you will separate from earth or feces at the bottom and keep in a closed glass vessel as a precious treasure. This extraction is of many virtues which are impossible to believe for those who have not experienced it. It purifies the blood, which is good for many diseases. The dosage is three or four drops in a suitable vehicle.
Chapter IX. Liquor of Sulphur of Antimony.
Of the Tincture extracted from vinegar (which is the Sulphur of Antimony) when dry and powdered, as I said before, set in the cavity of an egg white, that’s to say, where the red was. Inside a dish, you will put in a humid place, and it will resolve in liquor, but I warn you not to break the film in the egg which separates the white from the red because in that case the white will absorb all the liquor and so masterly remove the red.
This liquor removes any wound, either pointed or cut. Basilius says that this liquor restores without putrefaction, inflammation, and the like. Good for old sores and ulcers. With this Liquor, I removed cancer in the head from a forty years old woman in two months.
Chapter X. Oil of Antimony Glass by Basilius.
Take some glass of Antimony, made of its mine. Powder subtly, then extract the tincture with distilled vinegar of Antimony, as mentioned above, and similarly sweetened, then with the Spirit of Wine extract again the tincture, put in a pelican to circulate for two months (1) and distill with skilfulness without any addiction, you will have an excellent oil of astonishing value, which the most value you can get from antimony.
Its virtues can be compared with potable gold, and this is the base of the Lapis Ignis (2), which he wrote about in his Currus Thriumphalis, page 161: ” Hoc oleum est Quinta Essentia, Quae summum est, quod de Antimonio scribi potest… his oil is the Quinta Essentia, which is the top I could write on Antimony and which also I wrote short declarations in other books, I said that Antimony requires four instruments for its perfect preparation, the fifth is the useful work in human being body. The first work is the calcination and liquefying in the glass. The second is the digestion through which the extraction is made. The third is coagulation. The fourth is the distillation in oil which is very subtly separated, and after the separation, the fixation for the last coagulation in which the Lapis (stone) is reduced. Since we work on metals, we need the right fermentation to make them penetrative; this Lapis is Philosophorum ( of Philosophers), which is not Universal yet and can only tinge in particular, which will be said when treating Lapis Ignis. We need to be very careful with distillation. After that, it is God’s creation, and before the coagulation can be used in wine with eight grains as a rejuvenating remedy, every melancholia makes disappear. As the phoenix, it gets rejuvenated by employing fire. This medicine doesn’t burst into the fire like the salamander. It removes all diseases and expels all evil, as only the potable gold could.”
To enjoy such a treasure, it is necessary to spare no effort during the distillation and be very skillful, as Basilius said. The follower must be content with what I have said about the time necessary to have the matter circulated (1) and what kind of vinegar, since Basilius said distilled vinegar, which in a sense is wine vinegar, which is not good to extract such a tincture, and those who don’t want to believe it must try it, as I did, and concerning the skillfulness must consult Kerkringer in his commentary, where with an enigma teaches how to do this operation and to make the things easy for the readers, now his words: ” … Festina lente pingit Alciatus, et ancora Delphinus Implicat… Run slowly paints Alciatus and the dolphin winds around the anchor (2), this consideration to you, which can turn useful in every life, even in this can be useful,… canis enim festinans ut scis, caecos parit catulos… even the hurried dogs, as you know, born blind puppies … (Lancillotti merely transcribes the entire Kerkringer’s paragraph, while in the original Commentarius in Currum Triumphalem, page 159, the phrases I have translated from the Latin has been printed in italics ). Here below is the entire Kerkringer’s paragraph. from Commentarius
The next part is at Lancillotti: Glass and Oil according to Currus Thriumphalis 2.
- Both Basilius Valentinus and Kerkringer say to circulate for one month, Lancillotti doubles the time to two months ;
- The volatile shall be fixed. See also Aldus Manutius Printer’s Mark and Alchemical Fixation ;
- The chapter on Lapis Ignis can be found at Lancillotti and the Starry Regulus according to Basilius ;