Newton's Essay on the Preparation of Star Reguluses

University Library, Cambridge, Portsmouth Collection

MS Add. 3975, f. 42r,v (Newton's pp. 81-82)

f. 42r/ To make Regulus of antimony, iron, lead, copper etc., Take of

antimony 12 ounces of iron 4 1/2 or 5 1/4 or copper 6 or of saturn 8 1/2 or
proportionably more to ye antimony if it will beare it. When they are melted pour them
off & you will have a Regulus. You may when they are molten throw 2 or 3 ounces of
nitre on them which having done working pour them off. If ye scoriae of saturn bee
full of small eaven rays there is too little saturn in proportion. If any regulus swell much
in the midst of the upper surface it argues too much antimony, if it bee flat it argues
too little. The better your proportions are the brighter and britler will ye Regulus bee &
ye darker ye scoria & the easier will they part: And also ye more perfect the starr,
unlesse the salts on ye top worke & bubble in the cooling to disturb ye said superficies.
The work succeeds best in least quantitys. If there bee stuff like pitch long in cooling tis
noe good signe & often argues too much Antimony. Twelve ounces of Antimony
gives 4 1/3 of Regulus of Mars 3 1/3 of Regulus Copper or Saturn when refined. To
refine it, so soone as it is molten throw in 1/4 or 1/5 pt as much saltpeter as there is
regulus in weight; then blow to give a good heate till ye mettall & salt boyle well
together, & also till they have done boyling & working, then poure them off. This you
may repeate till the salt come off white, which will bee at the second or 3d refining. Mix
noe charcoale with the peeter least ye peeters force be otherwise spent then upon the
mettall. Tin may bee 5 1/3 to 12 of Antimony or 4 to 9. If ye quantity bee but small as
2 ounces of tin then take 4 1/4 of Antimony but if bigger take 4 to 9. Note it in Tin &
Lead if ye scoria bee full of very small stiriae like hairs or rays tending from ye center
of ye metall it argues too much Antimony. If it bee branched with grosser graines
(which in tin especially will appear continuous to ye central metall) it argues too little
antimony. Tis best when ye scoria is /f.42v/ haire-grained inwards towards ye center of
ye metall but not quite to ye outside, unlesse it happen that ye scoria look black.

These rules in general should bee observed.

1st that ye fire bee quick.
2dly that ye crucible bee throughly heated before any thing bee put in;
3dly that metalls bee put in successively according to their degree of fusibility mars,
venus, antimony, jupiter, saturn.
4tly That they stand some time after fusion before they bee poured off accordingly to ye
quantity of regulus they yield, mars, (antimony, jupiter, saturn)
5tly That at ye first time no salt bee thrown on unless upon mars to keep it from
hardening on ye top & then let it bee poured off when ye fury of ye salt is over before it
have quite done working.
6th That if you would have ye saltpeter flow without too great a heat, you may quicken
it by throwing in a little more saltpeter mixed with 1/8 or 1/16 of charcoal finely
poudered.
Also these signes may bee observed in generall. That if ye scoria & Regulus part
not well there is too much metall; that if they doe part well & yet yeild not a due
quantity of Regulus there is too little metall (unless ye fire hath not been quick enough
or the regulus not had time to settle) That if the regulus bee tough it argues too much
metall unlesse in tin which is therby made ye brittler. That possibly the proportions of ye
metalls may alter in the refining. Thus mercury of mars being more volatile than that of
 antimony, if there bee too much mars at first, it may in 3 or 4 times refining come to a
good proportion. That the degrees of fire may cause some variations in the proportions.
Thus with a good quick & smart fire 4 of mars to 9 of antimony gave a most black &
filthy scoria & ye Regulus after a purgation or two starred very well. But in a less heat a
greater proportion of antimony gave ye blackest scoria.

If ye Regulus be poudered & mixed with 1/2 or 1/3 of niter & so thrown gradually into a
crucible, the better half of ye Regulus will be lost in ye Salts, but if a little charcoal be
mixed wth ye salt, suppose an 1/8 or 1/12 part to make ye salt deflagrate, it will not
consume so much of ye metall.

"The Key": Keynes MS 18

Kings College, Cambridge

Newton’s Key.
f. Ir / First of all know antimony to be a crude and immature mineral having in itself
materially what is uniquely metallic, even though otherwise it is a crude and indigested
mineral. Moreover, it is truly digested by the sulfur that is found in iron and never
elsewhere.
Two parts of antimony with iron give a regulus which in its fourth fusion exhibits a star;
by this sign you may, know that the soul of the iron has been made totally volatile by the
virtue of the antimony. If this stellate regulus is melted with gold1 or silver by an ash
heat in an earthen pot, the whole regulus is evaporated, which is a mystery. Also, if this
regulus is amalgamated with common mercury and is digested in a sealed vessel on a
slow fire for a short, time - two or three hours - and then ground for 1/8 of an hour in a
mortar without moisture while being warmed moderately, until it spits out its blackness,
then it may be washed to deposit the greatest part of its blackness, until the water, which
in the beginning becomes quite black, is scarcely more tinged by the blackness. This can
be done by flushing it with water many times. Let the amalgam be dried, again placed
near the fire, and kept in the above-mentioned heat for three hours. Afterwards let it be
ground again as before in a dry and warm mortar. It pushes out new blackness, which
must be washed away again; this must be repeated continually until the whole amalgam
becomes like shining and cupellated silver, whereas at first it had a dark leaden color.
Then distill this mercury which has been so washed and amalgamate over again
seven or nine times, and in each amalgamation see to the heating, grinding, and washing
as many times as before, Distill the whole as before. On the seventh time you will have
a mercury dissolving all metals, particularly gold. I know whereof I write, for I have in
the fire manifold glasses with gold and this mercury. They grow in these glasses in the
form of a tree, and by a continued circulation the trees are dissolved again with the work
into new mercury. I have such a vessel in the fire with gold thus dissolved, where the
gold was visibly not dissolved by a corrosive into atoms, but extrinsically and
intrinsically into a mercury, as living and mobile as any mercury found in the world. For
it makes gold begin to swell, to be swollen, and to putrefy, and to spring forth into
sprouts and branches, changing colors daily, the appearances of which fascinate me
every day. I reckon this a great secret in Alchemy, and I judge it is not rightly to be
sought from artists who have too much wisdom to decide that common mercury ought
to be attacked through reiterated cohobation by the regulus of leo [that is, of iron or
antimony]. That unique body, that regulus, however, is familial with mercury seeing that
it is closest to that mercury you have known and recognized in the whole mineral
1
Thus perhaps it is the sulfur of gold (“Hic stellatus regulus si fundatur cum Sol aut Lune totus in
testa et cineritio evaporatur, quod mysterium est.”)
kingdom, and hence most closely related to /f. Iv/ gold. And this is the philosophical
method of meliorating nature in nature, consanguinity in consanguinity.
With regard to this operation, look at the Letter responding to Thomas of
Bologna, and you will find this question fully solved.
Another secret is that you need the mediation of the virgin Diana [quintessence, most
pure silver]; otherwise the mercury and the regulus are not united.
The regulus is made from antimony four ounces; nine parts, iron two ounces;
four parts; this is a good proportion. Do not neglect to have a mass of antimony greater
than that of iron, for if an error is made here you will be disappointed. Make the regulus
by casting in nitre bit by bit; cast in between three and four ounces of nitre so that the
matter may flow.
It is not a good idea to prepare in one crucible a greater quantity than the above
measure of antimony. The antimony is ground, then cupelled together with iron,
whatever others may say or write.
Little nails may be used and especially the ends of those broken from
horseshoes. Let the fire be strong so that the matter may flow [like water], which is
easily done. When it flows, cast in a spoonful of nitre; and when that nitre has been
destroyed by the fire, cast in another. Continue that process until you have cast in three
or four ounces. Then pile up the charcoals about the crucible, taking care that they do
not fall into it. Increase the fire as much as the fusion of common silver requires, and
keep it in that state for 1/8 of an hour. [The matter ought to be like a subtle water if have
labored correctly.] Then pour the matter out into a cone. The regulus will subside.
Separate the ashy scoria from it. Keep the cooled material in a dry vessel.
It is a sign of a good fusion if the iron is completely fused and if the scoriae
break up by themselves into powder.
Beat the regulus and add to it two, or at most 2 1/2, ounces of nitre. Grind the
regulus and the nitre together completely and again melt. Throw away the arsenical and
useless scoriae.
Grind the regulus a third and fourth time with at most one ounce of nitre and
melt in a new crucible, and on the fourth time you will have scoriae tinged with a golden
color and a stellate regulus.
NB In the last three times the scoriae must be thrown away because they are
arsenical; however, they are useful in surgery.
NB In the last three fusions the regulus must be beaten, and ground and mixed
with nitre. Some cast the nitre into the crucible, but this is not recommended, for, firstly,
the fusion is as a result prolonged and the regulus is not without some loss of itself by
exhalation. Secondly, nitre thrown in in this way stays on the surface and in time it cools
the regulus. And since nitre flows easily, /f. 2r/ it may flow at first and encrust so that it
will not flow again without a large fire. If that happens, the best part of the regulus
perishes in the conflagration, whence it is that sometimes a star perishes because it is
falsely ascribed to a constellation. You will see that the regulus mixed with nitre in this
way flows easily with it; and you will not see it become hard in any manner, except for
the difference in the depuration, which is far greater if it is mixed than if the nitre is just
tossed in.
Take of this regulus one part, of silver two parts, (regulus 1/2 ounce, silver 1
ounce) and melt them together until they are like fused metal. Pour out, and you will
have a friable mass of the color of lead.
NB If the regulus is joined with the silver, they flow more easily than either one
separately and they remain fused as long as lead even though there are thus two parts of
silver, which is then changed into the nature of antimony, friable and leaden.
Beat this friable mass, this lead, and cast it together with the mercury of the
vulgar into a marble mortar. The mercury should be washed (say ten times) with nitre
and distilled vinegar and likewise dried (twice), and the mortar should be constantly
heated just so much as you are able to bear the heat of with your fingers. Grind the
mercury quarter of an hour with an iron pestle and thus join the mercury, the doves of
Diana mediating, with its brother, philosophical gold, from which it will receive
spiritual semen. The spiritual semen is a fire which will purge all the superfluities of the
mercury, the fermental virtue intervening. Then take a little beaten sal ammoniac and
grind with the mercury. When it is fully amalgamated, add just enough humidity to
moisten it, and this one philosophical sign will appear to you: that in the very making of
the mercury there is a great stink. Finally, wash your mercury by pouring on water,
grinding, decanting, and again pouring on fresh water, until few feces appear.