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Anonymous

The Sophic Hydrolith

Water Stone of the Wise

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The Sophic HydrolithConclusion

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English Page · Branch 145 of 287

Conclusion

German & Latin

1619 pp. 142–143 · scans ER146, ER147

Hier dörffte mir aber einer entgegen halten wie etliche seind vnd gefunden werden/ die diesen Philosophischen stein oder Tinctur/ mit dem sie zwar die schlechten metallen zu gold vnnd silber immutirt/ auch wahrhafftig gehabt/ vnnd doch nicht wie ich anzeige/ qualificirt gewesen seind vnnd doch den himlischen darbey nit eben also erkennt: Ja auch noch wol ein leichtfertiges leben darzu geführt hetten: denen aber antwort ich widerumb entgegen/ daß ich dieselben zwar in jhrem statu beruhen lasse/ vnd wo sie solche jhre Tinctur bekommen vnd zu wege gebracht/ an diesem orth nicht davon zu disputirn bedacht: das sie aber die rechte wahre Tinctur/ von welcher ich in diesem gantzen Tractat gehandelt/ selber gemacht vnd zubereitet sollen haben/ wirt mir dasselbige mit wahrheit niemand darthun/ noch viel weniger das zu glauben mich bereden werden können. Wie dann solcher leichtfertiger leuth Tragischer außgang/ den sie mit jhrer habenden Tinctur jhnen selbst auff den halß gezogen vñ verursachen/ solches zum offten mal bezeuget/ vnd noch täglich zum theil leider erweisen thut/ will geschweigen/ daß auch die Alchimey kunst/ sampt jhrem anhang vnderschiedlich vnd nicht einerley ist. Dann gleich wie man in andern faculteten vnderschiedene vnd wandelbare sectirer findet. Also auch in dieser kunst gleichfals geschicht/ welche zwar alle in gemein Alchimisten genennet werden/ aber nicht auff einerley intent gerichtet seind.

1619 pp. 142–143 · scans ER146, ER147

The Sophic Hydrolith: Conclusion

1619 pp. 142–143 · scans ER146, ER147

Someone might object that there are and have been people who truly possessed this philosophers’ stone or tincture and changed base metals into gold and silver with it, yet were not qualified as I describe, did not likewise know the heavenly stone, and indeed led dissolute lives. To this I reply that I leave such people in their own condition and do not intend to dispute here where they obtained and how they came by their tincture. But no one will truthfully demonstrate to me, much less persuade me to believe, that they themselves made and prepared the true tincture of which I have spoken throughout this treatise. The tragic end of such dissolute people, which they have brought and drawn upon themselves through their possession of the tincture, has often testified to this and, lamentably, still partly does so daily. Moreover, the art of alchemy and its adherents are various and not all alike. Just as in other disciplines one finds diverse and shifting sectarians, so it also happens in this art: all are commonly called alchemists, but they are not directed towards one and the same intention.

1619 pp. 142–143 · scans ER146, ER147

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.