Page:Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus Vol I (IA cu31924092287121).djvu/155

 that for the future it gives forth no vitriol or verdigris, nor does it become of a green colour.

Lead cannot be conserved better than in cold water, and in a damp place, such is its nature. But for the conservation of the magnet nothing is better than filings of iron or steel. If the magnet be placed in these, not only does not its force decrease, but it grows more and more every day.

As to the conservation of salts, and all those substances which are of a salt nature, and are comprised under the name of salt, of which there are more than a hundred, it is well to know that they must be kept in a warm and dry place, and guarded well from the air in wooden chests. They must not be placed on glass, stone, or metal. By these they are dissolved and turn into water and amalgam; but this does not occur in wood.

Moreover, you should learn the method of conserving certain waters and liquids by means of pressed herbs, roots, and other fruits and growing things, which easily absorb all mustiness and mould just as if a skin were wrapped around them. Let these waters, or other liquids, be placed in a glass vessel, narrow at the top and wider below. Let the vessel be filled to the top and then some drops of olive oil added, so that all the water or liquid may be covered. The oil will float at the top, and, in this way, will protect the liquid or the water a long time from mustiness or mould. No water or liquid, if it be covered with oil, can ever become mouldy or smell badly. In this way also two waters, two liquids, two wines, can be kept separately in one vessel, so that they shall not mix; and not only two, but three, four, five, or still more, if only oil be between them, for they are separated by the oil as by a wall, which does not suffer them to be conjoined and united. For oil and water are two contraries, and neither can mingle with the other. As the oil does not allow the waters to mix, so, on the other hand, the water prevents the oils from blending.

For the conservation and preservation of cloth and garments from moth, so that they may not eat them or settle in them, nothing is better than mastix, camphor, ambergris, or musk: but the best is civet, which not only preserves from moth, but drives away and puts to flight moths, with other worms, fleas, lice, and bugs.

All timbers can be conserved, as in buildings or bridges, so that they shall never decay, whether they be in water, under water, or out of the water, in the ground, under the ground, or out of the ground, whether exposed to rain or wind, air, snow, or ice, in summer or winter, and moreover, preventing them from decaying or worms breeding in them when felled. The method of conservation in this case is that grand arcanum against all putrefactions, and so remarkable a secret that no other can compare with it. It is none other than the oil of sulphur, the process for making which is as follows:—Let common yellow sulphur be pulverised and placed in a cucurbite. Over it pour as much aquafortis as will cover four fingers across. Abstract this by distillation three or four times, the last time until it is completely dry. Let the sulphur which remains at the bottom, and is of a dark reddish colour, be placed in marble or