and I see that all did not fare equally. One left his fire too cold, and the substance did not boil. Another kept it too hot, then his implements burst, and something evaporated. The man then said that the azoth[1] had escaped, and he burst into tears. Another, while pouring out the substance, spilt some of it, or mixed it wrongly, and damaged his eyes by the smoke, and was unable to observe the calcination and the clearing of the substance; or his eyes were so saturated with smoke that before he had sufficiently rubbed them the azoth had flown from him. Some also died from inhaling the smoke. And there were many of them who had not sufficient coals in their pouch; these had to run to others to borrow some; meanwhile the brew grew cold, and everything came to naught. And this accident was here very frequent, almost incessant. For though they admitted no one among them who had not a full pouch, yet each man's pouch dried up, as it were, so quickly that nothing remained in it, and he was obliged either to stop his work or to run elsewhere on borrowing intent.
4. And gazing at them, I said: "Of those who work here in vain I see many, but I see no one who obtains the stone. I see, indeed, that smelting gold and broiling the element of life, these men squander and dissolve both. But where are these with their masses of gold and their immortality?" He answered me thus: "This knowledge will not be revealed to thee, nor would I counsel these men to
- ↑ I.e., nitrogen.
