Before entering in the Spagyrics properly, we should know the main techniques and rudiments of work in the laboratory. This is of fundamental importance for all alchemists that really want to progress and improve their technique, as well as be able to design their own procedures in accordance with the precepts of our Art.

In order to could make it, it is due for force, know and dominate the rudiments of the chemical laboratory. We already mentioned that the Alchemy is going beyond the Chemistry, but in order to reach the borders of that " further on" we should dominate the basic routines.

Otherwise the Alchemist will be mere repeater of cooking recipes and he will do it wrong, because in Alchemy the instructions are not for nothing clear and suppose previous knowledge of whom follow them, mainly keeping in mind that we should study and analyze documents classics that go from the Half Age until our days.

For this the Alchemist could not be an improvised casual attracted only for the mysterious and hermetic of our Science. Neither a "golden instantaneous searcher" that take out from poor, or an opportunist to the hunt of "miraculous remedies" in order to make great business manufacturing and selling alchemical medicines, so requested formerly in the alternative medicine and holistic.

These improvised minimum will risk their life and health like the celebrated occultist Israel Regard, who convinced by Frater Albertus (Albert Riedel) of the certainty and accuracy of the Operational Alchemy, he bought laboratory equipment and to the first alchemical routines burned the lungs of such a form that he had to be close to a tank of oxygen even the last days of their life. For this reason he gave the laboratory to a friend and he was devoted to the Psychological Alchemy and Magic, where is a refuge for whom that for they lacking knowledge deny the validity of the Operative Experimental Alchemy, reducing it to mere speculative reference.

Apart from a humanistic and scientific culture that should maintain "in crescendo" constantly, the Alchemist should have a solid formation in the science and art of the transformations. For that reason we should begin for the "modern" routines in order to understand those that gave them origin many centuries ago.

Don't hope to understand the alchemical operations well if you don't know about chemical rudiments.

That would be like to make poetry or write magisterial works of literature without knowledge of the alphabet. We go beginning with the first letter.

You never weigh the substances putting them directly on the plates of the scale.

For solids, place a thin paper of it or minor surface that that of the plate of the scale, or a capsule, glass of clock or a flask. The paper filters is not adapted in order to weigh, use a white paper, rigid and if it is possible glazing, bending it in form of box.

In order to take out a powder of a container with cleaning, rotate the flask quickly, inclining it lightly with the right hand and in such way that the substance is gone accommodating inside the container toward the mouth. Then with slight come across blows the left hand, on the right, allow leaving from the container, as you need the material. If the powders are very slight should extract them with a grooved spatula, otherwise will breath good amount of material with risk of intoxication.

For trasvasing powder or granulated, use a paper bent in form of U. Don't bend in form of V, because the substance will run with difficulty.

The separation of the two walls of the U should be same to the diameter of the mouth of the container to deposit the powder.

The material very clean is essential for a good work.

Eliminate the old possible amount of residuals for mechanical methods, pouring them in a special collector for waste, previous reflection on their possible reactivity with present substances.

Wash their recipients so soon are vacated, because you will select the solvent appropriate when the residuals have not dried off and stuck strongly.

Wash in the mere form and easy possible: Begin using hot water. Mouthwash 3 to 5 times and finally washes inside and on the outside with small amounts of distilled water.

If the water doesn't clean their material, wash it with soap or with sulphonic detergent, if this is not enough; try the combination of a detergent and an abrasive.

The addition of small amounts of commercial nail polish remover, alone or in combination with abrasive, facilitate the breakup of resinous materials. When the material loosens, add small amounts of water for emulsification.

When they remain residuals of coal in the material of glass (very frequent in vegetable spagyrics), add to the recipient 1gr of dichromate of sodium or of potassium and 5 ml of sulphuric concentrated acid. Hot the recipient trying to distribute the mixture homogenously until come off sour vapours.

In these conditions still the elementary coal is oxidized. Later pour the chromic mixture in a flask of glass amber with polish stopcock and conserve it as long as it will not green. Next wash the recipient with much water.

Instead of the chromic mixture could be used a mixture of 5 volumes of sulphuric acid, added with agitation to 1 volume of nitric acid. This mixture could be used several times.

The recipients of glass that have had solutions that emit smoke or vapours should be filled totally with water at least twice in order to expel the whole gas, before beginning their washing.

The remains of lime, alkaline residuals, manganese dioxide, iron oxides and inorganic similar residuals are evicted easily with a little of hydrochloric commercial acid. The acid could pick up and use again until drain it.

It is convenient that you have one or two gallons turpentine and thinner in order to dissolve very sticky and adhesive resins.

More frequent Calculations.

Conversion of weight and volumes:

Density = weight/ volume; Weight = volume X density

Moles to Grams and vice versa:

Number of moles = grams/ molecular weight.

Grams = number of moles X molecular weight.

Theoretical Yield is the amount of product that should obtain in accordance with the chemical corresponding equation, without considering secondary reactions or losses for other causes. This yield is of 100%.

What you indeed are obtained of the product it is the practical yield. And it is calculated of the following way: % Practical Yield = (100 X practical yield in grams)/ theoretical yield in grams.

The technique of extraction is basic for the spagyrical solve. By this means is been able to isolate, from mixtures of reaction, the required substances, and separate from raw mixtures the natural products.

The solution or suspension of the compound that is going to be extracted places in a funnel of separation and adds you a second solvent, that it should be immiscible with the first. The funnel subject is placing the bulb in the palm of a hand, with the index on the plug. The other hand is used in order to hold the end of the key of the funnel and purge it.

It is necessary open the way to the air, because in the first agitation's a part of the solvent evaporates (in case of using ether or ethanol), until the balance settles down, should expel an equivalent amount of air in order to avoid an excess of pressure.

The first agitations are made gently, liberating the internal pressure frequently, investing the funnel with the shaft up and opening the key carefully in order to open the way to the excess of the vapours.

Once the initial pressure has been liberated becomes agitated with more force so that the extraction is complete.

When the mixture has been balanced, the funnel of separation is placed in vertical position, with the shaft down in a ring recovered with small pieces of rubber.

Once they have been formed two layers very defined and they have separated completely, the inferior is extracted slowly. The small drops that remain after the separation could eliminate making rotate the funnel with small rotational movements; the layer that separates extracts of the same form.

The superior layer, that should be the only that remains in the funnel after the extraction, empties for the superior part in a flask. You could wash the funnel with a small additional amount of the solvent less dense. Before arriving to this point it is necessary know the relative densities of the solvent employees, in order to knowing if the component of interest remained in the superior layer or inferior.

It is important that they are conserved the two layers of extraction, until make sure that the undue layer (the most important) is not discarded prematurely.

Sometimes they are formed emulsions (mixtures finely divided of small drops that don't sit down) during the extraction of a watery solution (mainly of an alkaline solution) with an organic solvent. One of the methods in order to separate emulsions is saturating the watery phase with chloride of sodium or with another inorganic salt, add some how many drops of ethyl alcohol and filter the mixture.

In vegetable and animal spagyrics will limit the use of the mixture ethanol-water like binomial drawer, under particular conditions that we will already specify.

If any alchemical process is famous it and diffused in the external world is the distillation.

More than a process is all a science and an art. In this point there is one of so much divergences between the chemistry and the alchemy.

While in the chemistry the distillation is used in order to separate mixtures based on the several point of boil, in alchemy goes on many further more. She uses the distillation for enlivens and spiritualization of the matters.

Only so one could explain the cohobating or repeated distillation up to seven times on the same grounds. For the chemistry this is not right of being; the separation was already made from the first time. Alchemically occurs life to the compound and it in fact increase the concentration in quality and amount of the distilled principles, a proof of this is that spagyrical distilled " work" better than the pharmaceutical preparations chemically processed.

For the old Masters the distillation was all one ritual with their special liturgy, teaching that we continued today in day as alchemists.

We are going to describe the chemical process of the distillation with apparatuses "modern" and we in their moment will enter in the alchemical temple in order to approach the distillation in the traditional stills.

Begin by the simple distillation.

Here are used an electric grill and a bathroom that could be of water, oil or sand and a flask of round bottom with a head of distillation or one of them called distillation flasks of a single piece, which unites to the cooler and by means of the pick of distillation to the collector flask, which in turn, could rest in bath of ice if is very volatile what it is been going to distill.

It is important remember that they should add controllers of boil to the distillation flask so that the boil will be softer. These controllers (stones or pieces of glass or former pearls profess) they provide nuclei for the bubbles of vapor and they avoid an excessive overheating, preventing the "jumps" or violent boil.

Upon beginning the distillation, in accordance the vapor raises in the head of distillation, the temperature will increase, first in very quick form until arrive to the point of boil of the liquid, then increase with much slowness and stays constant while distilling the liquid.

Upon changing the point of boil of another blended liquid, the temperature increases progressively.

This is one of the fundamental operations in the vegetable spagyrics for the obtaining of the volatile sulfur or essential oil.

At the generating flask provided vapor of a tube of security is connected to the container flask that is a balloon where you puts on the compound to extract, it is inclined in order to avoid the solution that one is distilling to jump on the tube of leaving and dragged mechanically to the cooler, which allow to fall the distilled in the collector.

The solid or the solution that it is been going to be distilled places with a little of water (not indispensable) in the container; you warm the water of the generator and when begin to pass vapor to container warm a little it in order to avoid the condensation of the water. In order to interrupt the distillation it is enough with suppressing the heating of the generator and upon cooling, uncover the container.

When it is wanted to purify or separate compounds that have points of boil superiors to 200oC, or that they break down upon arriving to their point of boil, or, that they are very sensitive to the high temperatures, like the alkaloids and other vegetables compounds, the suitable is distill to reduced pressure.

A Claisen flask is connected together with a receiving. A tube of rubber closes by means of a clip of Hoffmann, and all this is connected to a manometer built with a flask of 60 ml like receiver of mercury, a tube of glass of 6 mm of diameter and one meter longitude, bent in U at the 76 cm, lingering for another tube until a T union of glass. It is necessary a trap in order to avoid the contamination of the distilled or that the vapors attack the vacuum bomb. By means of a key that opens up slowly in order to normalize the pressure upon finishing a distillation. All the operation must be done in a bath of water, of air or of oil whose temperature will stay 20oC up of the temperature of boil of the liquid that is distilled.

The vacuum could be made by means of a trap of water or of a vacuum bomb.

The liquid that is been going to distill won't fill more than a third part of the flask, neither less than a fourth part. Placing the liquid to be proceeded to make the vacuum and later are begun to heat the bath of air, in some cases the bath could be suppressed, but then should warm the Claisen flask vigorously.

When you are wanted to conclude the distillation or change the recipient, it is necessary to suspend the heating and wait for to that cool down a little the flask, before interrupting the vacuum.

For very delicate substances, like alkaloids and derived sensitive vegetables to the heat, the most sure thing is make a division to a vacuum, for which a graham cooler is placed between the distillation flask and the head of distillation, which in turn unite with a second right liebig condenser.

In general all agrees in which the technique of crystallization is a mixture of art and science and, in the difficult cases, it sometimes consists of a work from divination and magic. With everything, the method is of great importance in chemistry and spagyrics, and it is the simplest form in order to purify solid compounds.

The purification of the solid substances is based, largely, in the differences of solubility in a solvent or in a mixture of solvent.

The process consists basically in:

1.- Dissolve the substance in an appropriate solvent, in the very point of boil or very near.

2.- Eliminate any insoluble particle, filtering the hot mixture.

3.- Allow to cool the hot solution slowly, so that the crystals of the dissolved substance are deposited.

4.- Separate the crystals of the mother water mothers (over floating).

5.- Wash the crystals with a solvent cold in order to eliminate any vestige of mother waters stuck.

6.- Dry the crystals.

The properties that should have the solvent of crystallization are:

a.- High solubility to temperatures high and little solubility to low temperatures of the compound that is been going to crystallize.

b.- High solubility of the impurities, even to low temperatures, or insolubility in order to permit the filtration.

c.- Inertia with regard to the compound that is going to crystallize.

d.- Capacity in order to produce crystals well formed and that they could separate easily of the solvent.

In spagyrics the solvent more used and natural is the water, ethyl alcohol and acetic acid of vinegar of wine.

Some substances are crystallized properly using pair of solvent, being the very soluble substance in a solvent and very insoluble in the other, being the pair of solvent perfectly miscible. In this procedure the compound is dissolved first in the solvent in which is very soluble and filter. The solution warms to the point of boil of the solvent, and the other, in which the compound is difficultly soluble, begin to add in gradual form. The addition is continued until a slight turbidity takes place. In this point a small amount of the first solvent is added, until the turbidity disappears.

When this solution is allowed to cool slowly to the ambient temperature or in a refrigerator, crystals are almost always obtained.

A good rule in order to select solvent of recristalización is" similar dissolves to similar." A polar substance is more soluble in polar solvent and vice versa.

In order to separate the crystals formed of the mother waters are used the filtration at vacuum on paper whatman 40 of preference.