Lumen de Lumine

This Water then wets not the Hand, which is notion enough to perswade us it can be no common water. It is a Metalline, bitter, Saltish liquor. It hath a true minerall Complexion: Habet (saith Raymund Lullie) speciem solis & Lunae, & in tali Aquâ nobis apparuit, non in Aquâ Fontis, aut pluviae. But in an other place he describes it more fully, Est Aqua sicca (saith he) non aqua Nubis, aut phlegmatica, sed aqua Cholerica, igne Caldior. It is a drie water, not water of the Clouds, or phlegmatic water, but a Choleric water, more hot than Fire. It is moreover Greenish to the sight, and the same Lullie tels you so: habet colorem lacertae Viridis, it looks saith he, like a green lizard. But the most prevalent Colour in it, is a certain inexpressible Azure, like the Body of Heaven in a clear Day. It looks in Truth like the Belly of a Snake, especially neer the Neck, where the Scales have a deep Blew Tincture, and this is the reason, why the Philosophers call’d it their serpent, and their Dragon.