55. Metals have seed
…… Statistical Significance ……… Supporting sources: 7
Contradicting sources: 0
Statistical significance: 0.9999390
This premise is statistically significant
…… Supporting Quotations ……… [575] From horse, man, bull, are respectively generated horse, man,
and bull. Likewise all vegetables, herbs, trees, shrubs, cast their own seeds on to the ground, which, in course of time, produce species similar to themselves. Indeed, the minerals and metals lying hid in the very center of the earth have also undergone the same changes, although their seed and generations are not visibly shown, as in the preceding orders --- for, by reason of the great mass of the earth concealing the hidden, contained seed, the same is by many believed neither to grow nor to generate. ~ Figulus, Benedictus. Man, the Best and Most Perfect of God's Creatures. 1607 AD. Alchemical Tract
[509] All philosophers affirm, with one consent, that metals have a
seed by which they are increased, and that this seminal quality is the same in all of them
[592] If this whole process of Nature, most wonderful in her
operations, was not constantly repeated before our eyes, the simple process of vegetation would be equally problematical with that of the philosophers; yet how can the metals increase, nay, how can anything be multiplied without seed? The true artists never pretend to multiply metals without it, and can it be denied that Nature still follows her first appointment? She always fructifies the seed when it is put into a proper matrix. Does not she obey an ingenious artist, who knows her operations, with her possibilities, and attempts nothing beyond them? A husbandman meliorates his ground with compost, burns the weeds, and makes use of other operations. He steeps his seed in various preparations, only taking care not to destroy its vital principle; indeed, it never comes into his head to roast it, or to boil it, in which he shows more knowledge of Nature than some would-be philosophers do. Nature, like a liberal mother, rewards him with a more plentiful harvest, in proportion as he has meliorated her seed and furnished a more suitable matrix for its increase. The intelligent gardener goes farther; he knows how to shorten the process of vegetation, or retard it. He gathers roses, cuts salads, and pulls green peas in winter.
p.172 55. Metals have seed
Are the curious inclined to admire plants and fruit of other climates? He can produce them in his stoves to perfection. Nature follows his directions unconstrained, always willing to obtain her end, viz., the perfection of her offspring.
~ Anonymous. On the Philosophers' Stone. 17th Cen. (?). Alchemical Tract
[152] If it be asked whether all metals have seed, my answer is, that
the seed of all metals is the same [...] All metallic seed is the seed of gold; for gold is the intention of Nature in regard to all metals.
~ Philalethes, Eirenaeus. The Metamorphosis of Metals. 1694 AD. Alchemical Tract
[124] all things are produced of a liquid air or a vapour which the
elements distil into the centre of the earth by a continual motion, and that as soon as the Archeus has received it, his wisdom sublimes it through the pores, and distributes it to each place, producing different things according to the diverse places in which it is deposited. Some think that each metal has its own seed. But this is a great mistake for there is only one Seed. The sperm which appears in Saturn is the same as that which is found in gold, silver, copper, &c.; their difference is caused by the place, and by the time during which Nature was at work upon them, the procreation of silver being achieved sooner than that of gold, and so with the other metals.
[507] all things are produced of a liquid air or a vapour, which the
elements distil into the centre of the earth by a continual motion, and that as soon as the Archeus has received it, his wisdom sublimes it through the pores, and distributes it to each place, producing different things according to the diverse places in which it is deposited. Some think that each metal has its own seed. But this is a great mistake, for there is only one seed. The sperm which appears in Saturn is the same as that which is found in gold, silver, copper, &c.; their difference is caused by the place, and by the time during which Nature was at work upon them, the procreation of silver being achieved sooner than that of gold, and so with the other metals. The vapour which is sublimed by heat from the centre of the earth, passes either through cold or warm places. If the place be warm and pure, and contain adhering to it a certain fatness of sulphur, the vapour (or Mercury of the Sages) joins itself to its fatness, and sublimes it together with itself. If in the course of its further sublimation this unctuous vapour reaches other places where the earth has already been subtilized, purified, and rendered moist by previous ascending vapours, it fills the pores of this earth, and with it becomes gold. But if this unctuous moisture be carried to impure and cold places, it becomes lead; if the earth be pure and mingled with sulphur, it becomes copper. For the purer the place is, the more beautiful and perfect will the metal be. We must also note that the vapour is constantly ascending, and in its ascent from the earth's centre to its superficies, it purifies the places through which it passes.
55. Metals have seed p.173
Hence precious metals are found now where none existed a thousand years ago, for this vapour, by its continual progress, ever subtilizes the crude and impure, and as continually carries away the pure with itself. This is the circulation and reiteration of Nature. All places are being more and more purified: and the purer they become, the nobler are their products. ~ Sendivogius, Michael. The New Chemical Light. 17th Cen. Alchemical Tract
[498] The substance of common metals is the same as that of gold; if,
then, the form of gold, or the elixir, be added to them, they must become gold. As the common metals become gold and silver by means of a natural process, it is quite possible that the same result should be brought about by means of the alchemist’s art.
~ Bonus, Peter. The New Pearl of Great Price. 1338 AD. Alchemical Tract
…… Commentary ……… According to the alchemists all metals have seed, that is to say that they have some form of instruction on what form to take – something that makes them stabilize into a metallic element.