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Anonymous

The Sophic Hydrolith

Water Stone of the Wise

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English Page · Branch 194 of 287

Philosophical Summary

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German & Latin

1619 pp. 218–219 · scans ER222, ER223

Wann nun diese zwiene spiritus sich ermuntern / vnd die zwey spermata erwachen / so jhren eignen Leib anzunehmen begehren: als dann muß jhre Mutter der Mercurius sterben: wann er nun natürlich getödtet ist / so kan er sich nicht mehr so lebendig machen als er zuvor gewesen ist. Es sagen zwar ruhmrähtige Alchimisten / vnnd affirmiren mit tunckeln Worten / daß man die perfecten vnnd imperfecten corpora zu einem lauffenden Mercurio machen solle: aber es ist Betrug darhinder. Wahr ist es / daß der Mercurius ein imperfect Metall / als Bley oder Zinn verzehret: vnnd multipliciret es ohne Mühe in der Quantitet: aber hierdurch verlieret er seine perfection, daß er nicht mehr ein perfecter Mercurius ist: wann er aber durch Kunst getödtet würde / daß er sich nicht mehr widerumb lebendig machen köndte / so würde er zu einem andern Ding werden / als im Cinober oder Sublimat geschieht. Dann wenn man jhn durch Kunst congeliret, es geschehe solches geschwinde oder langsam / so nehmen seine zwey spermata kein fix corpus an / würden es auch nicht behalten / wie es sonsten geschiehet in den Gängen der Erden.

1619 pp. 218–219 · scans ER222, ER223

The Sophic Hydrolith: Philosophical Summary

1619 pp. 218–219 · scans ER222, ER223

When these two spirits rouse themselves and the two seeds awaken, desiring to assume their own body, their mother Mercury must die. When it has thus been killed naturally, it can no longer make itself as living as it was before. Boastful alchemists indeed say and affirm in obscure words that the perfect and imperfect bodies should be made into a flowing Mercury; but there is deception behind this. It is true that Mercury consumes an imperfect metal such as lead or tin and multiplies it in quantity without difficulty. Through this, however, it loses its perfection, so that it is no longer a perfect Mercury. If it were killed by art so that it could no longer make itself living again, it would become a different thing, as happens in cinnabar or sublimate. For when it is congealed by art, whether quickly or slowly, its two seeds assume no fixed body and would not retain one, as otherwise happens in the veins of the earth.

1619 pp. 218–219 · scans ER222, ER223

About This Reading Edition

The anonymous Water Stone of the Wise of 1619, with German text, a new English translation, 240 annotations, three companion treatises from the original volume, two separately identified responses of 1661, and the complete supplied study apparatus.

Historical Text and Translation

Anonymous, Wasserstein der Weysen. Frankfurt: Lucas Jennis, 1619. The governing e-rara copy belongs to the Stiftung der Werke von C. G. Jung, Zürich (DOI 10.3931/e-rara-8968). The work is traditionally attributed to Johann Siebmacher; this remains an attribution, not a name printed in the anonymous witness. The separately sourced First and Second Responses use the 1661 Wolfenbüttel witness, qun-642-1s, pp. 200–206.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

Historical texts printed in 1619 and 1661 are in the public domain. The supplied 2026 German reading text, new English translation, introduction, notes and complete study apparatus are published with the site owner’s authorization. The original triangle is credited to the Stiftung der Werke von C. G. Jung, Zürich, and e-rara, Public Domain Mark.