"Vis Elixir Rubri Sive Lapidis Philosophici Vis atque Virtus.
A The Sulfur.
B The Mercury.
C The volatile Salt.
D The power and might of the red Elixir."
"A. The Track is the Seed of Man and Woman / which is born from them / when it feels the natural Heat of the Sun / then it will swell and become green / and devour its bearer / from which then springs forth / a black Mountain with red across / sprinkled with white Flowers / with a Mountain of the green Meadow / on which yellow Flowers wander with brown Knobs large and beautiful / upon which a golden Crown / with loud Sound / appears above all Realms / through the Masterly Art on Earth / called Alchemy / whoever is truly present with it / with Heart / Sense and Courage / and it lifts away the Heat / as the Philosophers write of it / through which one may drive away all Sickness and Poverty / among Metals and Human Bodies."
— Compendium alchymist. novum, sive, Pandora explicata & figuris jllustrata, das ist, Die edelste Gabe Gottes, oder, Ein güldener Schatz, c. 1706
The Chemical Elements
“Depiction of the Chemical Elements” by Johann Winckler, c. 1747
"No. 1. I seek it here in the water; No. 2. the air shall give it to me; No. 3. I seek it in the earth; No. 4. In fire it shall be granted to me; No. 5. What you four fools here, in water, air, and earth, and in fire diligently seek, shall to you No. 6. only here be given."
(1–4): They represent the four elements—Water (fishing), Air (holding a bird on a string), Earth (digging), and Fire (working at the furnace). They are described as "fools" because they seek the secret in isolated physical elements.
The Red Tincture: Each friar possesses a flask with red liquid, symbolizing the Philosopher's Stone, the agent of transmutation.
5 (The Cupid/Amur): He points toward the central truth, mocking the individual efforts of the four friars.
6 (The Alchemical Venus/Nature): This central figure represents the source of the stone. The poem suggests that the "Stone" is not found by laboring in just one element, but through the unified power of Nature.
