No further particulars of the life of Basil Valentine have descended to posterity. Numerous works have been printed in his name, and the authenticity of several is questionable. He wrote in high Dutch, and comparatively few of his treatises have been translated into other languages. The best are as follows:--1. _De Microcosmo deque Magno Mundi Mysterio et Medecina Hominis_, Marpurg, 1609, 8vo; 2. _Azoth, sive Aurelia Philosophorum_, Francfurt, 1613, 4to; 3. _Practica, unà cum duodecim Clavibus et Appendice_, Francfurt, 1611, 4to; 4. _Apocalypsis Chymica_, Erfurt, 1624, 8vo; 5. _Manifestatio Artificiorum_, Erfurt, 1624, 8vo; 6. _Currus Triumphalis Antimonii_, Lipsiæ, 1624, 8vo; 7. _Tractatus Chimico-Philosophicus de Rebus Naturalibus et Prœternaturalibus metallorum et mineralium_, Francfurt, 1676, 8vo; 8. _Haliographia, de præparatione, usu, ac virtutibus omnium Salium Mineralium, Animalium, ac Vegetabilium, ex manuscriptis Basilii Valentini collecta ab Ant. Salmincio_, Bologna, 1644, 8vo. Every letter and syllable of the “Triumphal Chariot of Antimony” is declared to have its special significance. “Even to the pointes and prickes” it bristles with divine meanings and mysteries. The metrical treatise on the first matter of the philosophers declares that this stone is composed of white and red, that it is a stone, and yet scarcely a stone; one nature operates therein. Those who desire to attain it, Basil elsewhere informs us, must labour in much prayer, confess their sins, and do good. Many are called, but few chosen to this supreme knowledge. The study of the works of the philosophers and practical experiment are both recommended. There is much in the writings of Basil, in his suggestive if impenetrable allegories, in his curious Kabbalistical symbols, and in his earnest spirituality, to suggest a psychic interpretation of his aims and his principles. This is particularly noticeable in the “Triumphal Chariot of Antimony,” and yet it is clear from this remarkable work, which is the masterpiece of its author, that Basil Valentine was one of the most illustrious physical chemists of his age. He was the first to describe the extraction of antimony from the sulphuret, though it does not appear that he was the inventor of this process. Previous to his investigations the properties of antimony were almost unknown. He was also acquainted with the method of obtaining chlorohydric acid from sea-salt and sulphuric acid, with the method of obtaining brandy by the distillation of beer and wine, and the rectification of the result by means of carbonate of potassium, and with many other operations which eminently assisted the progress of chemistry. FOOTNOTES: [S] Eadem ætate (scilicet anno 1413) Basilius Valentinus in divi Patri monasteris vixit arte medica _et naturale indagatione admirabilis_. ISAAC OF HOLLAND.