CHAPTER XIV.

CONXERNING VlTRIOL.*
Nature produces from the bowels of the earth a certain kind of salt, named Vitriol, possessed of such virtues and powers as can scarcely be described to the full by any. In it are contained peifect cures for the jaundice, gravel, calculus.
* An important variation of this and th« folio wing chaptcn on vitriol occurt in the Geneva folio. Concerning the USE OF- VITR10LATEP OIL IN AtcWEMV ; and in like manner concerning iu crude form. By way of saying sometbing about the bidden alchemicaf powers in Vitriol, I would f\n\. of att Srubmit to you, concerning crude vitriol, that each separate kind of cnide vitriol makc^ copper out of Iroti. It i* not the AJchemist wKo do** ibL*, but Nature or Vitriol b>' the operaiion of the Alchemist. In the light of Nature it is the .subject of no small wonder to observe bow any metal, as it were, puts olT it&elf and becomes .something else. It ts reallv very much the &am« as if a woman should be produced from a man. In these mattcr^^ however, Nature has her own peculiar privileges conferred upon ber by God, for the benefit of
102 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
fevers^ worms, the falling sickness, and many other diseases which are v-ery ctiffi- cult to treat, and arising from obstructions, as we shall describe at greater length below. In both faculties, that is to say, in Medicine and in Alchemy, it pro- duces marvellous effects, varying according to the method of its preparation. As from one log of wood different images are carved, so from this body various most excellent medicines are prepared, not only for internal disorders but also for surgical cases, such as ringworm and leprosy. In a word, whatever other remedies are not able to effect against diseases, on account of their own weak- ness, this it does from the very foundation by remo\'ing the cause of the ctisease. Some of its powers it puts forth in a crude state, others when it is reduced to water, others when it is calcined, others when it is reduced to a green oil, others in the form of a red oil ; others, again, it possesses when in the form of a white oil. It assumes new powers with every fresh form of preparation which it receives. It can serve for a fourth part of all the diseases and all the drugs ever thought of. There is no need for the true physician to turn his eyes hither and thither. Like a modest maid, he can keep them fixed on the ground, for there, beneath his feet, he will find more power and wealth in this treasure of Nature than India, Eg^-pt, Barbary, and Greece could bring him.