Fire acting on Air produced _Sulphur_; Air acting on Water produced
_Mercury_; Water acting on Earth produced _Salt_. Earth having nothing
to act on produced nothing, but became the nurse of the three
Principles. "The three Principles," he says, "are necessary because
they are the immediate substance of metals. The remoter substance of
metals is the four elements, but no one can produce anything out of
them but God; and even God makes nothing of them but these three
Principles."

To endeavour to obtain the four pure Elements is a hopeless task. But
the Sage has the three Principles at hand. "The artist should
determine which of the three Principles he is seeking, and should
assist it so that it may overcome its contrary." "The art consists in
an even mingling of the virtues of the Elements; in the natural
equilibrium of the hot, the dry, the cold, and the moist."

The account of the Elements given by Philalethes differs from that of
Basil Valentine.

Philalethes enumerates three Elements only: Air, Water, and Earth.
Things are not formed by the mixture of these Elements, for
"dissimilar things can never really unite." By analysing the
properties of the three Elements, Philalethes reduced them finally to
one, namely, Water. "Water," he says, "is the first principle of all
things." "Earth is the fundamental Element in which all bodies grow
and are preserved. Air is the medium into which they grow, and by
means of which the celestial virtues are communicated to them."

According to Philalethes, _Mercury_ is the most important of the three
Principles. Although gold is formed by the aid of Mercury, it is only