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Anonymous

The Sophic Hydrolith

Water Stone of the Wise

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Facing Pages · Branch 193 of 287

Philosophical Summary

German & Latin

1619 pp. 216–218 · scans ER220, ER221, ER222

Andere Philosophi haben diesen Mercurium einem fliegenden Löwen verglichen / vnnd jhn also genennet / dieweil der Löwe vielerley Thier frisset vñ sich nach seinem Wollust darmit ersättiget / außgenommen die jenigen / die seinem Grimme mit Gewalt Widerstand thun können: dann also thut auch der Mercurius: der die Wirckung an sich hat / daß er ein jedes Metall / so jhme beygethan wirdt / alsbalden seiner Gestalt beraubt / es frisset vnnd verschlinget. Doch erinnere ich euch / daß zwey Metall seyn / als Gold vnd Silber / welche jhm zu begegnen wissen. Wiewol es auch bewußt ist / daß wann dieser Mercurius entzündet ist / er solche zwey Metall eben so wol verschlinget / vnnd in seinem Bauch verbirget: doch es gehe darein welches wolle / so verzehret er es nicht. Dann sie seyn in jhrer Natur perfect vnd mehrers erhärtet als er / so ein imperfect Metall / vnangesehen in jhm eine Substantz der perfection ist. Das gemeine Gold / so ein perfect Metall ist / auch das Silber vnd alle vnvollkommene Metall kommen auß dem Mercurio. Darumb nennen jn alle Philosophi eine Mutter der Metallen: vnd folget derwegen / weil er auch selbsten zu etwas formiret ist / daß doppelte metallische Substantz in jhme sey: vnnd erstlich die Substantz der vntern Luna, darnach ist der Sonnen / so ein Metall ist / deme andere nicht gleich. Von diesen zweyen substantiis ist der Mercurius formiret, welche geistlicher weise in seinem Leib seyn. So bald nun die Natur diesen Mercurium von gedachten zweyen spiritibus gestaltet hat / begehret er sie perfect zu formiren vnnd corporalisch zu machen / welches ohne ihn nicht geschehen kan.

1619 pp. 216–218 · scans ER220, ER221, ER222

The Sophic Hydrolith: Philosophical Summary

1619 pp. 216–218 · scans ER220, ER221, ER222

Other philosophers have compared this Mercury to a flying lion and called it by that name because the lion eats many kinds of animal and satisfies its appetite with them, except for those able to resist its fury by force. Mercury does the same: it has the power to strip any metal added to it of its form at once, eating and swallowing it. Yet I remind you that there are two metals, gold and silver, which know how to confront it. It is also known, however, that when this Mercury is kindled, it swallows these two metals as well and hides them in its belly. Nevertheless, whichever of them enters it, it does not consume it. For they are perfect in their nature and more thoroughly hardened than Mercury, which is an imperfect metal, although a substance of perfection is present within it. Common gold, which is a perfect metal, silver also, and all the imperfect metals come from Mercury. All philosophers therefore call it a mother of the metals. And since it is itself formed into something, it follows that a twofold metallic substance is within it: first the substance of the lower Moon, and then that of the Sun, a metal which the others do not equal. Mercury is formed from these two substances, which are present spiritually within its body. As soon as Nature has shaped this Mercury from the two spirits mentioned, it desires to form them perfectly and make them bodily, which cannot take place without it.

1619 pp. 216–218 · scans ER220, ER221, ER222

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.