CHAPTER VHL

Concerning the Natural Dispenser of Minerals, and His MmtsxERS.
In the manufacture of minerals by men for preparing them and adapting them for use» not one man alone, but many in succession^ are required, and each of these has his own special gift and duty. Who is benefitted by a metal being dug from the bowels of the earth, unless it be its separator, preparer, or liquefactor? What is he, again, without the smith? He, too, is of no avail without some buyer, nor the buyer unless there be someone who knows how to adapt those metals for use* Nature does not need all these ; but still she needs her own people. Among these is, first of all, Archcus, the dispenser ol minerals, who has ministers under him** He himself, the minister of Nature, has the following: the first, who exhibits the corporeal matter into which the operation falls, namely, the mineral Sulphur, is this or that condition and nature ; a second, who fabricates the properties and virtues, and operates o\\ the previously existing matter, say, for instance, Mercury ; a thirds who, by compaction and coagulation, unites all the single portions together into one body, that is to say, the Salt, which is the confirmer of the w^ork. When all these are brought together into one, and enclosed in an athanor, Archeus decocts them, exactly as the seed in the earth ; and not only so, but they are decocted mutually together, one with the other, in the following manner : The Sulphur submits its body to the other two, that they may do with it what they will, and lead to that end whereto is destined that which has to be done. Mercury is added with the properties of its virtues, and this is decocted by the other two. When all the decoctions of this kind are fulfilled^ then, at length, the salt begins to operate on the other matters associated with it, and on itself. By first condensing, afterwards congealing, and, lastly, coagulating, it strengthens the work for its autumn and harvest, so that nothing is wanting except a harvester and a smith.
Briefly, then, we have gone through the whole genealog}^ of minerals, It remains that we specially, but still concisely, hear the force and virtue of each in Alchemy and in Medicine respectively, so far as it is necessar)' to learn these for the aforesaid faculties. I would admonish my readers to put aside for awhile the mere dreams and opinions of others who romance about these things, until they see that they are only philosophers on paper, not in Nature, who have been taught by men like themselves, and with the same amount of
♦ Archeus %% Nature antl the dUpcii^er of ihtngs.— ^ ««i>/ Arch«tjs u the anatomy of life. - Frag-mtnta Auaiomitr. Archeiu U the tepamior of the etement* and of all tliOM
thing^s whicli exist in them, dividing each thing from the i^»t, and gathering it into itn own placc^— i?/ EUmttkto Aiftm^ Tract II., c. ».
a
gS The Hermetic and Alchemical Wriiings of Paracelsus.
learnings to think by rote and not by experience, while they shew themselves to others such as they really are. Though they may not care to see, I will still pJace them so that at least they may perceive the light and nature and life more easily, without being disturbed through the darkness of death. Beginning, then, from the first principles of minerals, which are Salts, we will run through each, that is to say, right up to the ver>' end of the metals.