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 when Mercury has been matured, developed, and perfected, that it is able to transmute inferior metals into gold.