Burning water, water of life, and water of vine

Meaning

Burning water or water of life names the spirit in a condition before coagulation, but the text expressly rejects water of vine. The wordplay distinguishes the claimed life-bearing subject from an ordinary vine-derived drink; eau de vie must not simply be translated into brandy or identified with alcohol here.

The same passage stresses sudden burning, apparent destructiveness and deadly venom around a hidden fixed preserving power. Its paradox is therefore not a simple assurance that a flammable liquid heals. Bracesco is invoked in support of the distinction, without a preparation sufficient to identify a modern reagent. The naming belongs to the work’s guarded contrast of surface danger and hidden virtue, not a prescription for ingestion or handling.