X. The Hennetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus,

obtains among non-mystics, namely, that Paracelsus was a great charlatan, though at the same time it is true that he was a great physician, at least for the period In which he lived. This judgment as little, perhaps less than the other, is derived from any solid knowledge concerning the man or his writings.* At the same time it is noticeable that even hearsay condemnations admit that Paracelsus performed notable cures. How it comes about that the application of what would be termed a distracted theory both in medicine and physics enabled its inventor to astound his age by what seemed miracles of the healing art would be a crux for such criticism if the criticism knew anything about it. It is not a crux for the mystics, because by these it would be replied that Paracelsus was a veritable adept, that his Hermetic teachings require to be interpreted, and that the key to their meaning would lay open for those who possess it an abundant treasure of sapience to which the literal significance is only a btsarre veil. Between these views it is unnecessary to make choice here. It is proposed to enable those who are interested in either to judge this matter for themselves by placing completely before them, for the first time, and in an English dress, the Hermetic writings of Para- celsus. It is proposed, also, by way of a brief introduction, to notify a few facts In connection with the (ife of the author, which may be useful at the beginning of an inquiry.
There are, however, many debateable points in connection with the life of Paracelsus to which a reference in this place scarcely requires to be made. What proportion of his long designation belonged to him by birth or baptism, to what countries he actually extended his travels during incessant wanderings which terminated only with his life, under what circumstances he died and what was the precise manner of his death, all these are points about which there is considerable uncertainty, and they are at this day not likely to be set- tled. Theophrastus and Bombast seem to have been assumed names, to one of which an unfortunate, and in some respects an undeserved, significance has been since attracted. The surname of Paracelsus was conferred by his father in alchemy, and it signified that he was greater than Celsus, the physician of ancient fame. To the style of Hohenheim It is believed that he had only a doubtful right. His alternative designation of Eremite suggests the monastic state, but the reference is simply to his birthplace, Maria Einsiedeln, or Notre Dame des Eremites, a short distance from Zurich. He appears to have been christened Phillppus Aureolus, and in his writings he indlflferently
* M. Louis Figoier, the French sdestLst* who otherwise might perhaps be regarded as exhibiiing more than Gallic accuracy, may be cited in ihi* connection. Rererring to the fact that Paracelsus has Laid some stress upon an optnioo not uncommon among ald&etnistSt tuunely* that astrology and magic are ooUaterally a help to the seeker after the Great Work, be goes on to itfllnii that the writing;} of ParaceUus are fiUed with foolish invocations to the inmible worldt while, as a fact, there is not a single treatise comprised in the great Geneva foliot nor is there any other extant work attributed to Paracelsus, and known to the present editor, which contains any invocations at alL M. Louis FiEmo- subsequently tuies, apparently on the sole authority of bis intuition as a Frenchman and a man of parts, that tha fullgtnous Swiss physician enjoys otily a contested authority among alchemists, which if only pani^ly true ; and addt that he was a theoretical writer who did not apply himself manualty to the accomplishment of the Mmgmtm £>/««, whkbT io for jia tl is pocslble to jttdgCi as not true at alt
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XL
describes himself as a Helvetian and a German. He was born in the year 1493, following the tradition which is most generally accepted, but other dates have been indicated, the earliest being 1490. According to one account he was descended from the ancient and honourable family of Bombast, which had abode during many generations at the castle of Hohenheim, near Stuttgart, Wurtemberg, but this is most probably romancing. His father was a physician of repute, who is said to have been in possession of a large collection of curious books» and has also been described as a grand master of the Teutonic order, but the precise meaning attaching to this high-sounding dignity is uncertain and the authority is suspicious. His mother is variously identified as the matron of a hospital and ** superintendent of the university of Einsiedeln. " Paracelsus is reputed to have been their only child, born one year after marriage, but it has also been hinted that his parents were not married, and that the great master of Hermetic medicine was a natural son, He Is said also to have been emasculated in his childhood, but there is reason to suppose that this was merely a hypothetical explanation to account for his beardless and somewhat feminine appearance, and for that hatred of women which seems to have been one oi his social characteristics, and can be traced indirectly, but with sufficient distinctness, in his writings.* About 1502 the family removed to Carinthia, and there the father continued to practise medicine till his death in 1534. From him Paracelsus is supposed to have received the first rudiments of education, and he entered the university of Basle at the age of sixteen, when he betook himself to the study of alchemy, surgery, and medicine. To the first of these sciences he had previously had some introduction through the works of Isaac the Hollander, which are said to have inflamed him with the ambition of curing diseases by medicine superior to the fnateria at that time in use. It was from the same source that he derived the cardinal principle which is enunciated everywhere in his writings, namely, that salt, sulphur, and mercury are the three elementary constituents of all substances. This doctrine, however, by no means origin- ated with the first alchemist of Holland, and Isaac himself was a follower of Geber, Morien, and Arnold. t The actual initiation of Paracelsus into the mysteries of alchemy is, however, supposed to have been attained under the
* So free wafl Paracebus oTaU wnourous wealuiesses, that he made even hit «ex teem doubtful.— Z^^^pftv d* Im
t Contemporatry with Bo&Uiiu Valentinus were I&^inc ihe HolLnnder nnd bb sou, m'ho are supposed to have worked with success. They were the first akbenusts ofHoUand, and tbeir operations were bifEhty esteemed fay Paracelsus, Boylc, and RuockeL In praciicaJ chemistry they followed the traditioiu of GcbcTt and cheiir akliemiea] experimetits are the mo^t plain and i^plidt to the whole raxige of Hennetic literature. They woiiccd prindpalJy to metaUi describing minutely the particulars of ever)' proce$«^ Their lives are almoi^t unknown^ . . . They are placed to the fiA^eenth century by conjecture, from the fact that they do not cite any philofiophers subi «peak of Geber, Da^tin, Morien. and Arnold, but not of more modem authorities, while, on the other hand» their references to aquaforlb ant! aqua rcgia, which were discovered in the fourteenth century, prevent \a from ai&igmns their labt>ur« to an anterior epoch. The two Isioacs were particularly skilful In the manufacture of enameU and amfidal gem stont%. They taught that the Gnind MagUterium could convert a million tirue^ its own weight intogoJdf and declared that any perw^n taking weekly a smalt portion of the philosfiphical ttone wilt be t\'€t preserved \a perfeet health, and lua life will be prolonged to the very tasl boor vrhkh God has aisigticd to him.— Zfrcf ^ Akhtmyttkmt
xii. The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Parcuelsus.
tuition of the Abbot Trithemius,'^ who is regarded as an adept of a high order, and had been previously the instructor of the more celebrated, though less illustrious^ Henry Cornelius Agrippa*t From this mysterious ecclesiastic, who at the present day, in so far as he is remembered at all, is best known by his treatises on cryptic writing, he is supposed to have acquired **the Kabbalah of the spiritual^ astral, and material worlds." About 1516 he is still found at Basle pursuing his researches in mineralogy, medicine, surgery, and chemistry, under the guidance of Sigismund Fugger, a wealthy physician of that city. Subsequently, having got into some trouble with the authori- ties, he fled, and commenced his nomadic life, which an apparently inaccurate tradition represents to have begun at the age of twenty years. Though his father was still alive he appears to have been without any means of subsis- tence, and supported himself, like many distressed students of that period, by psalm-singing, astrological predictions, chiromantic soothsaying, and, it is even said, by necromantic practices. He wandered through Germany, Hungary, Italy, France, the Netherlands^ Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. In the last mentioned countr>% if it be true that he ever reached it, he is reported to have been made prisoner by the Tartars, to have been brought before **the Great Cham/' to have become a favourite at the court of that potentate, and to have accompanied his son on an embassy from China to Constantinople. In spite of the tuition of Trithemius, he had apparently something to learn, and that was nothing less than ** the supreme secret of alchemistry," the '* universal dissolvent," the Azoth, alcahest, or sophic fire. This was imparted to him by a generous Arabian, about whom no other particulars are forthcoming. It is easy to see that the greater part of this nomadic legend is purely fabulous, and so also, in all probability, is his subsequent journey to India and Egypt. It is not an unusual device to account for obscure periods in the lives of Hermetic philosophers by extensive eastern travellings. However this may be, Paracelsus ultimately returned to Europe, and passed along the Danube into Italy, where he appears as an army surgeon, and where also his wonderful cures began. He is said to have re-entered Germany in 1526, at the age of thirty-two, and if this be accepted the date 1516, when he is supposed to have been at work with Sigismund Fugger, will be found approximately correct. It is to the period immediately succeeding his return that most of his biographers assign his induction into a professorship of physics, medicine, and surgery, at the university he entered
* Tntlbetiuiu was a monk of the Benedictmc order, who began life us a mendicant child leuing forth ixk search of knowledge. He was received into a convent at Tr^'e». where he made astounding pHrogreu tn hb studtes. Having exhausted the possibilities of his teacben, he betook himself to Lou vain, thence to Heidelbergt and ^ubsequemly bo Mayence. He became familiar with oriental languages, pagan and Chrbtian phDosopby, astronomy, and alchemy. He was a theologian, a poet an astronomer, and a necfo«nanccr. He took monai^tic vows im 148a, and in the year following he became tbc abbot of a convent at Spanheijn^ which he transformed speedily into a saiictuar>' of art and the sciences He subnequently was made superior of an abbey at Wurtbcmrg, and there it would appear be remained dlJ his death in the ytM 1516^ His works are chiefly historical, but, as above indicated, there are some upon secret writing which are exceedingly curtotis, and one, Ckr
t Agrippa^ who seem* to h«ve divided with Parac«l*tt* the reputation of the TrisjnegKt\i« of hi« time, w.n* Horn in S4S& and died in i535«
Preface io the English Translation,
XllL
as a youth. This was a position of some importancei and It was offered him at the instance of Erasmus and Ecolampidus* ** There, in his lectures, he pro- fessed internal medicine, denounced the antiquated systems of Galen and other authorities, and began his instruction by burning the works of these masters in a brass pan with sulphur and nitre. He created innumerable enemies by his arrogance and his innovations, but the value of his mineral medicines was proved by the cures which he performed*"^ These cures only increased the hatred of his persecutors, and Paracelsus, with characteristic defiance, invited the faculty to a lecture, in which he promised to teach the greatest secret of medicine. He began by uncovering a dish which contained excrement. The doctors, indignant at the insult, departed precipitately, Paracelsus shouting after them : * If 3^ou will not hear the mysteries of putrefactive fermenlation, you are unworthy of the name of physicians/ " It will be easily understood that the Hermetic doctor did not long retain his professorship at Basle. He came into conflict with the municipal authorities, and a second time he was forced to flee the place. He betook himself once more to a wandering mode of life. In 1528 he proceeded to Colmar ; in 1530 he is found at Nuremburg, in embroilment, as usual, with the medical faculty, by whom he was de- nounced as an impostor, but the tables were turned on his opponents after his successful treatment of several aggravated cases of elephantiasis. For the ten years succeeding this date there are no certain records of his movements ; he commonly lodged at inns and other public places, still performing cures which were astonishing for the period, andi according to the accusations of his enemies, also drinking to excess*! The testimony of Oporinus on this point is ver)' clear, though it has been indignantly repudiated by some of his later defenders. In 1541 Paracelsus was invited by Archbishop Ernst to settle at Salzburg^ and there, according to one account, he died on September 24 of the same year, but the manner of his death, like that of his birth, has been the subject of contradictor)^ recitals,^ By an alternative statement it occurred on a bench at the kitchen fire in a Strasburg hostelry. One writer supposes the event to have been accelerated by a scuffle with assassins in the pay of the orthodox medical faculty.
There can be no doubt that Paracelsus obtained a wide, though not altogether a happy, reputation during the brief period of his turbulent life, and there is also no doubt that this was immeasurably increased after death.
* Paj^celtiK. who was lh« first who made kiKtim rinc^ has obuuned an immenise and de^rvcd reputation by introducing into medicine the um ofcbetnicaJ compounds furnished by melals. To the old tbci:?peutic> of the Galcnisti, abounding tn complicated and oPten Inoperative preparatian»t he sub^tituieil the simple medicaincDU furiiuhed by chemtstn't ftn op^ti the audacious path to the application of this science to human physiology and pAthology.— Louti Figuier, VAlckimit it Us Akkimistei^ trouii^me i^/ittan, pp. 99, too,
t Marvellous Paracehus, aW^y^ drunk and atwaj-s luddj like the heroes of Rabelais.— i7«^7Mr tit ia Hautt Magie* lotroduction.
t He proceeded to Maehren, Kaemthcn, ICrain, and Hungary, and finally landed in Salxburg, to which place be was invited by the Prince P.-datine. Duke Ernst of Bavamf who was a (prcat lover of the secret arts. In that place Paracelsus obtained at last the fruits of his long labours and of a widespread fame. But he was not destined to enjoy a long time the re&t he «o richly deserv«d. . . . He died, afier a short sickness (at the age of forty •eight years), in a fmall room of the White Hor*e Inn, near the quoyt and hU body wa* buried in the p^veyanl of St. SeViftstian.— |Janin."iinii's Pittitcfhitji.
xiv. The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
It is in no sense inexact to affirm that he founded a new school both in medicine and in alchemy. The commentaries on his medical system became a literature which, in extent, at least, is formidable ; out of the mystic physics of his alchemical teachings the Rosicrucian doctrines developed in the first • part of the following centurj-. The works of Benedictus Figulus arc evidence
that he was idolized by his disciples. He was termed the noble and beloved monarch, the German Hermes, the Philosopher Trismegistus, our dear preceptor and King of Arts, Theophrastus of blessed memory and immortal fame. The collection of his genuine writings was made with devout care, and as a consequence of his celebrity many fictitious treatises were in due course ascribed to him.* Students attracted by his doctrines travelled far in search of like-minded persons to compare obser\'ations thereon, and to sift the mystery of his instruction. In the course of these inquiries it seems to have become evident, from the experience of his followers, that his prescrip- tions in many cases were not to be literally understood, even when they were apparently the ordinary formulas and concerned with the known materia of medicine. It will scarcely be necessar}* to add that in things alchemical the letter of his teachings was found still more in need of interpretation. The very curious influence exercised by Paracelsus for something like two hundred years over certain sections of restless experiment and speculation is still unwritten, and it would be interesting to trace here, were it possible within the limits of a preface. A task so ambitious is, however, outside those limits, and will perhaps be more wisely surrendered to other hands, for it is, in the main, part of the history of medicine, and demands an expert in the medical literature and medical knowledge of the past The translations which follow are concerned only with the Hermetic writings of Paracelsus, to the exclusion of many formidable treatises on surgical science, and on the causes and cure of disease. They comprise what Paracelsus would himself have comprised in a collection of his alchemical writings, and this in itself is much more than is ordinarily understood to be within the significance of the term. With Paracelsus the province of alchemy was not limited to the transmutation of metals. It was, broadly speaking, the development of hidden possibilities or virtues in any substance, whether by God, or man, or
* More especially, dear friends, have we to complain of the devilish cunning w-ay in which the wtyks of Theophrastus have hitherto hecn supprea^cd. only a few of which (and those to be reckoned the ^-ery worst) having appeared in print. For although they have been collected together from all countries b which Tbeophnstus has lived and travelled— the books he has written in Aurooomy. PhiSoMpfay. Chemistry, Cabala, and Theology, numbering some thousand volumes— yet the same has only been done from avarice to get riches^ For, haWng been trafficked in and sold for great sums they have become kcattered amv«ig t^K ccmris of princes and nobles, while Christendom at large, for whose use and benefit Theophrastus wrvte. Lak ov part iu them. Particularly his theological works (because they annihilate the god!e». and do not »uit chilii/en of tbi» »«jfld— Urlly-vtrrers, deceived by the de\-il) have hitherto been totally suppressed. . . . But. at the La>t D«y. 1. t account of them for having . . . shut Trutb away v.i WjLe». wulU. and vaults and behind locks and b these precious and revered writings were ordered by 0 weal of the whole of Christendom. A» rvgji/ our port, will not supprcM his Life, bi> «e!]-u.«ritod pi;«i»c. . . . gi>en him by God, the Angels, and the whole Firmament, but will heartily defend bis h'.^^iour vA. uatLifij; t^ tl«« ^^wy ^A of our life.— Benedictus Figulus. A Gulden and BUsud Casktt 0/ yatmrg i MmrtnU
Preface io the English Translation.
XV,
Nature. Thus it Included the philosophy of creation, and dealt with the first matter as developed into the universe by Divine Power. It included also the natural evolution which takes place round us, whether in the formation of metals within the earth, or the formation of animals in the matrix. Finally, it included the development by man's skill and art of whatsoever was capable of improvement in the products of Nature* Thus the Hermetic and Alchemical writings of Paracelsus have a wider scope than might at first be inferred from the title. The purpose of this translation is altogether of an unpretentious kind. It aims at providing, and that for the first time, a complete and faithful text of all that Paracelsus is known or supposed to have written on the subject of alchemy and Hermetic medicine. It does not attempt Io distinguish between the works which have been falsely attributed to him \ concerning this question there are no satisfactory canons of criticism, for those which have been indicated by the old author of the OnomasHkon are of an arbitrary and unpractical kind. A careful reader will probably regard with suspicion the ** Aurora of the Philosophers," at least in its present state, and he will possibly reject altogether the treatise ** Con- cerning the Spirits of the Planets." There is nothing else in these volumes, except the uncertain ** Manual," which from internal evidence is unlikely to have been the work of Paracelsus, and it is unnecessary to enter into the question which has been raised by some of his biographers as to his employ- ment of scribes under him, who reduced his dictations to writing and have possibly maJtreated their master, The text which has been adopted for translation is the Geneva folio, In four volumes, 1658, in Latin. The bizarre mixture of Latin and old German in which Paracelsus originally wrote presents many difficulties with which it is unnecessary to grapple, as the Latin collected edition appears to represent in a very satisfactory manner both the letter and the spirit of the originals.
It seems also desirable to state that a comparison of the medical and chemical knowledge possessed by Paracelsus with the chemistry and medicine of to-day is outside the purpose of this edition, because it is outside possibility within the limits of two volumes. There is no doubt that it would be an interesting as well as an important task to establish the exact position of Paracelsus, not only as regards modern knowledge, but as regards the science which preceded hini^ and it is hoped that such a work will be ultimately performed. Should this translation be regarded as final by students, or at least as a satisfactory foundation for a full and complete comprehension of the sage of Hohenheim, and should the encouragement which is indispensable to an undertaking so long and costly be adequately given, it is proposed, after a reasonable interval, that these two volumes of uncriticised text should be followed by one other which will contain all the materials requisite for understanding Paracelsus, and will further trace, methodically and historically, the development of alchemical symbolism, with the growth of chemical knowledge from the Byzantine period to the dawn of the Reformation, It is
xvi. The Hernutic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
anticipated that this inquiry will fix for the first time the true objects of Hermetic physics, and the place which must be assigned to Paracelsus in connection therewith. The less ambitious but indispensable preliminary of this inquiry has been alone attempted here, and the simple provision of a text, as intelligible as the circumstances will allow, has been truly no light undertaking, nor should it be regarded as the exclusive work of one hand. The editor has accomplished his task with the collaboration of other specialists, and is responsible only for certain portions of the actual trans- lation, and for its general revision and collation. The work, as it stands, consists of (a) the large body of literature, entire and unabridged, attributed to Paracelsus, and treating directly of alchemy, and the transcendental doctrines and physics of the Magnum Opus ; (V) The whole Paracelsian literature of the Great Elixir and the Universal Medicine ; (c) So much of the Hermetic philosophy and cosmogony of Paracelsus as has been judged necessary to illustrate his alchemical teachings ; [d) One important treatise illustrating the application by Paracelsus of metallic and mineral substances to the treatment of diseases ; (e) An exhaustive collection of alchemical references scattered through the chirurgical works of Paracelsus. Thus, the present edition is practically inclusive of everything except the exoteric medicine of Paracelsus, which, it is thought, is of inferior importance to the modern student.