Figs. IV. and V. are reduced from _The Book of Lambspring_; they express the need of the conjunction of two to produce one. [Illustration: Here you behold a great marvel-- Two Lions are joined into one. The spirit and soul must be united in their body. FIG. IV.] After dissolution came _Conjunction_, wherein the separated elements were combined. Then followed _Putrefaction_, necessary for the germination of the seed which had been produced by calcination, dissolution, and conjunction. Putrefaction was followed by _Congelation_ and _Citation_. The passage through the next gate, called _Sublimation_, caused the body to become spiritual, and the spiritual to be made corporal. _Fermentation_ followed, whereby the substance became soft and flowed like wax. Finally, by _Exaltation_, the Stone was perfected. [Illustration: Here are two birds, great and strong--the body and spirit; one devours the other. Let the body be placed in horse-dung, or a warm bath, the spirit having been extracted from it. The body has become white by the process, the spirit red by our art. All that exists tends towards perfection, and thus is the Philosopher's Stone prepared. FIG. V.] The author of _The Open Entrance_ speaks of the various stages in the perfecting of the agent as _regimens_. The beginning of the heating of gold with mercury is likened to the king stripping off his golden garments and descending into the fountain; this is the _regimen of Mercury_. As the heating is continued, all becomes black; this is the _regimen of Saturn_. Then is noticed a play of many colours; this is the _regimen of Jupiter_: if the heat is not regulated properly, "the young ones of the crow will go back to the nest." About the end of the fourth month you will see "the sign of the waxing moon," and all becomes white; this is the _regimen of the Moon_. The white colour gives place to purple and green; you are now in the _regimen of Venus_. After that, appear all the colours of the rainbow, or of a peacock's tail; this is the _regimen of Mars_. Finally the colour becomes orange and golden; this is the _regimen of the Sun_. The reader may wish to have some description of the Essence. The alchemists could describe it only in contraries. It had a bodily form, but its method of working was spiritual. In _The Sodic Hydrolith, or Water Stone of the Wise_ we are told:-- "The stone is conceived below the earth, born in the earth, quickened in heaven, dies in time, and obtains eternal glory.... It is bluish-grey and green.... It flows like water, yet it makes no wet; it is of great weight, and is small."