Virgin’s milk

Meaning

Lac virginis, virgin’s milk, is a learned name for the mercurial water in the main correction passage. It stands beside milk, blood and sweat of first matter and water of life. The nourishing image explains the claimed refreshment of the damaged compound; it does not identify ordinary milk as an ingredient.

The same sentence says that this water nevertheless contains the greatest poison. The attractive and healing names must therefore remain with that warning. The English preserves both, rather than allowing ‘virgin’s milk’ to imply a harmless drink. The passage’s practical correction is not reproduced here as a treatment or a safe method for handling the material.