ALCHEMY - MUTUS LIBER, OR SILENT BOOK - PLATE 5. Plate 5 from the series of 15 plates of the Mutus. For the first time in this series, we find ourselves in the laboratory of the alchemist (who is portrayed as a male-female - as the quintessential duality which lies at the root of all Men and Woman). They pour into a heating oven the Dew collected in the previous stage of the process, and subject this to heat. The residue of this process is bottled, and, in a four-fold state, is handed to a lunar-Saturn figure, to the right of the middle register. Saturn and Moon mark out the two extremes of the spiritual realm - the stability and aridity of Saturn is contrasted with the limpid and ever-changing Moon. Evidence for the Moon is in the crescent which overlays the figure: evidence for Saturn is in the similarity between this image and the traditional picture of Saturn devouring his own children. At the foot of the oven in the bottom register is inscribed the number 40 - this is a reference to the Biblical 40 days in the wilderness, as well as to the number of days in which the liquid should be heated in the four cucurbites. The alchemical masterpiece, Mutus Liber (or Silent Book) first appeared in print during 1677 - probably brought into the light of day by the French alchemist, Jacob Saulat, as a book with 13 plates, which was later increased to one of 15 plates (as in the series available here). The book is almost without words, and such words as appear are rarely what they seem to be, and are certainly susceptible to more than one level of interpretation. The alchemical importance of the images resides in the subtle graphic symbolism. A clear exposition of this symbolism may be found in Adam McLean, A Commentary on the Mutus Liber, 1982.