Page:Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus Vol I (IA cu31924092287121).djvu/276

 copper. Thus they are eight in number. But if—as cannot be the case—iron and steel, and male and female copper respectively, are reckoned each as one metal, there would be only six, and the arrangement would be inconvenient. There are seven well-defined and publicly known metals: gold, silver, tin, lead, iron, steel, and copper, the last being reckoned as one metal, since the male and female are wrought together and not separated, as they ought to be.

You perceive, from what has been already said, that the male is not always solitary without a consort, but often they co-exist, as in the cases of gold and silver, iron and steel, which grow together in one working, from which each retains its own special nature, but still they are mixed so that one does not impede the other, nor are they of their own accord separated one from the other. Such, too, is often the case with tin and lead. But where they are thus joined no good result ensues from them. They do not square into one body; but it is better that each should be separated into its own body.

Metals can be adulterated. Only gold and silver mix with the other metals, for the reason that they are the most subtle. Only, therefore, when such a primal matter is present, does each grow up together by itself. It may easily be that six or seven different fruits shall be grafted together on the same tree; and there is the same marvellous kind of implantation here in Nature.

Moreover, there is a certain metal, not commonly known, called zinc. It is of peculiar nature and origin. Many metals are adulterated in it. The metal of itself is fluid, because it is generated from three fluid primals. It does not admit of hammering, only of fusion. Its colours are different from other colours, so that it resembles no other metals in the condition of growth. Such, I say, is this metal that its ultimate matter, to me at least, is not yet fully known. It does not admit of admixture; nor does it allow the fabrications of other metals. It stands alone by itself.

Moreover, another metal is produced from cobalt. It is fluid like zinc, with a peculiar black colour, beyond that of lead and iron, possessing no brightness or metallic sparkle. It is capable of being wrought, and is malleable, but not to such an extent as to fit it for practical use. The ultimate matter of this substance has not as yet been discovered, nor its method of preparation. There is little doubt that the male and female elements are joined in its constitution, as in the case of iron and steel. They are not capable of being wrought, but remain such as they are, until Art shall discover the process for separating them.