BOOK V.

Concerning the Death of Natural Things.
THE death of all natural things is nothing^ else but an alteration and removal of their powers and virtues, an overthrow of their potencies for evil or for g'ood, an overwhelming and blotting out of their former nature, and the generation of a new and different nature.* For it should be known that many things which in life were good, and had their own virtues, retain little or none of that virtue when they are dead, but appear altogether fatuous and powerless. So, on the other hand, many things in their life are evilj but in death, or after they have been mortifiedj they display a manifold power and efficac^^ and do much good. We could recount many examples of this» but that is altogether foreign to our purpose. Vet, in order that you may see that I do not write from my mere opinion^ however plausible, but from my experience, it is well that I should adduce one example with which I will quiet and silence the sophists who say that nothing can be gained from dead things, nor anything ought to be sought or found in them. The cause of this assertion is that they value at nothing the preparations of the alchemists, by which many great secrets of this kind are discovered. For look at Mercury, live and crude sulphur, and crude antimony ; as they are brought from the mines, that is, while they are still living, how small is their virtue, how lightly and tardily do they exercise their influence. Indeed, they bring more evil than good, and are ratljer a poison than a medicine. But if, by the industry of a skilled alchemist, they are corrupted into their first substance and prudently prepared (that is, if the Mercury be coagulated, precipitated, sublimated, resolved, and turned into oil ; the sulphur be sublimated, calcined, reverber- ated and turned into oil ; and, in like manner, Venus be sublimated, calcined, reverberated, and turned into oil), you see what usefulness, what power and virtue, and what rapid efficiency they afford and display, so that none can fully speak or write of it. For their manifold virtues are not to be investigated, nor can anyone search them out. Every alchemist, therefore, and every faithful
• Death is the mother of tinctures, for tinctures proceed from the mortification of the body, in %vhii:h the cdotir^ lire contained^ even as In a seed there are green, yellow, black, blue^ and ptirple colours^, which tirr, nevcrihe- IcsSi invisible uniil the «eed has perished in the earth, and till the sun has prepared and produced therti, hi thAt uhat wft* first hidden from the Minaes is now revealed to them-— Z?*? IctfritiU,
Concirning the Nature of Things,
U9
physician, ought to seek into these three things during his whole life, and even lip to his death should play with them and find his pastime in them. Most assuredly they will nobly compensate him for all his labour, study, and expense.
But let us come to particulars, and specially describe the death and morti- fication of each natural thing, what its death is» and in what way it is mortified. First of all, then, with regard to the death of man, it should be understood that, beyond a doubt, it is nothing else but the end of his day*s work, the taking away his air, the evanescence of his balsam, the extinction of his natural light, and the entire separation of the three substances, body, soul, and spirit, and the return to his mother*s womb. For since the natural earth- born man comes from the earth, the earth, too, will be his mother, into which he must return, and therein lose his earthborn natural flesh, so that at the last day he may be regenerated in a new^ a heavenly, and purified flesh, as Christ said to Nicodemus w^hen he came to Him by night. For, as we said, the^e words apply to regeneration.
But the death or mortification of the metals is the removal of their bodily structure, and of the sulphurous fatness which can be removed from them in many ways, as by calcination, reverberation, resolution, cementation, and sublimation. But the calcination of metals is not of a single kind only. For one is produced by salt, one by mercury, one by strong w*aters, one by ihzfuligo mercttrii and quick me^cur}^ Calcination by salt is when the metal is formed into very thin plates, and stratified and cemented with salt. Calcination by sulphur is when the metal is formed into plates^ stratified and reverberated with sulphur. Calcination by strong waters is when the metal is granulated, resolved in aqua fortis, and precipitated therein* Calcination by ih^fuligo mercurii is brought about thus : Let the metal be formed into plates ; let the mercury be put into an earthen vessel, narrow at the top but broad below, and afterwards set on a moderate coal fire, which should be blown a little until the mercury begins to smoke, and a white cloud issues from the mouth of the vessel. Then let the plated metal be placed on the orifice of the vessel Thus the common mercury penetrates the metal and renders it as friable as a lump of coaL Calcination by quick mercury is when the metal is cleft into small particles, made into plates, or granulated, and formed into amalgam with mercury. Afterwards let the mercury be pressed out through a skin, and the metal will remain within the skin in the form of lime or sand. But beyond these mortifications of the metals, destructions and whitenings of their life, you must know that there are many other mortifications of the metals. For beyond the fact that ail rusting of iron and steel is a death, there are others w^hich are to be esteemed as more important. For instance, it should be known that all vitriol, or even burnt brass, is mortified copper ; all precipitated, sublimated, calcined cinnabar is mortified mercury \ all white lead, red lead, or yellow lead are mortified lead ; all lazurius is mortified silver. So, also, all Sol, from which its tincture, quintessence, resin, crocus, or sulphur has been withdrawrn, is dead.
I40 The Hermetic and Akhimical Writings, of Pardcehus.
because it no longer has the form of gold^ but is a white metal like fixed silver- But now let us go on to lay before you by what means the mortification of the metals is brought about. First of all, it should be known concerning iron that it can be mortified and reduced to a crocus in the following way : Form very thin plates of steel, beat them red hot, and then extinguish them m vinegar made from w4ne. Keep on doing this until you see the vinegar has become very red. When you have enough of this red vinegar, pour it all out, and distil therefrom the moisture of the vinegar. Coagulate the residuum into a dry powder. This is the most excellent Crocus of Mars. There is, however, another way of making the Crocus of Mars which partly surpasses the former, and is carried out with much less expense and labour, thus : Stratify very thin plates of steel with equal quantities of sulphur and tartar* Afterw^ards reverberate. This produces the most beautiful crocus, which should be taken from the plates.
In the same way you should be informed that if any plate of iron or steel be smeared over with aqua fortis, it renders also a beautiful crocus. Such is the result* too, with oil of vitriol, water of salt, water of alum, water of sal ammoniac, water of salt nitre, sublimated mercury, all of which mortify iron, and reduce it to a crocus ; but none of these methods is to be compared with the tw^o mentioned above ; for they can only be used in Alchemy and not in medicine ; so use in preference the first two methods, and avoid the rest.
The mortiiication of copper, to reduce it to vitriol, verdigris, or burnt brass, can also be accomplished in various ways ; and there are various pro- cesses w^ith this metal, too, but one is better and more useful than another. Wherefore it will be %vell to make a note of the best and most useful, and to say nothing about the others. The best, easiest, and most reliable method oi reducing copper to vitriol is as follows ; Let plates of copper be smeared with water of salt or of saltpetre, and hung or exposed in the air until the plates begin to become green. Wash off this greenness w^ith clear spring water, dry the plates %vith a rag ; again smear the plates with water of salt or salt- petre, and again proceed as before, repeating the process until the water becomes quite green, or sends forth much vitriol to the surface. Then remove the water by tilting the vessel, or by drawing it off, and you will have an excellent medicinal vitriol. For Alchemy, there is no more beautiful, noble, or better vitriol than that which is made by aqua fortis, or aqua regis » or water of sal armoniac. Proceed thus : Let plates of copper be smeared wnth one of the aforesaid waters, and as soon as the greenness has been ex- tracted, and the plates have been dried, let the greenness be taken off with a hare's foot, or by some other means at pleasure, as white lead is scraped off leaden plates. Let them be again smeared as before^ until the plates are entirely consumed, and thence is produced a ver>^ beautiful vitriol, such as you cannot fail to admire*
Water of saltpetre is made thus : Purify saltpetre, liquefy and pulverise it.
Coficerning the Nature of Things.
141
Afterwards dissoh^e it by itself in a vessel with boiling water. Thus you have water of saltpetre. Water of sal ammoniac is made as follows : Calcine sal ammoniac and resolve it in a case on marble. This is water of sal ammoniac*
In order to make verdig-ris from copper there are several ways not necessary to recount here. We will therefore describe two only, with a two- fold method of preparation, one for Medicine and the other for Alchemy. The verdigris used in medicine admits of the ensuing process : Take plates of copper, and smear them with the following compound : Take equal quantities of honey and vinegar, with a sufficient quantity of salt to make the three together the consistence of thick paste. Mix thoroughly, and after- wards put in a reverberator}^ or in a potter's furnace, for the same time as the potter bakes his vessels, and you will see a black substance adhering to the plates. Do not let this circumstance cause you any anxiety or detain you at all ; for if you suspend or expose those plates in the open air» in a few days the substance will turn green, and will become excellent verdigris, which may be called the balsam of copper, and is highly esteemed by all physicians. And this need not cause surprise, because the verdigris first becomes green in the air, and because the air has the power of transmuting a black colour into such a beautiful green. For here it should be known that, as daily experience in alchemy proves, every dead earth or caput mortuum^ as soon as ever it comes out of the fire into the air, immediately acquires another colour, and loses its own colour which It had assumed in the fire. The changes of these colours are very diversified. According to the material such are the colours pro- duced, though, for the most part, they flow from the blackness of dead earth. You who are skilled in Alchemy see that every dead earth, flux of powder, or of aqua fortis, comes black from the fire, and the more ingredients there are in it the more varied are the colours displayed in the air. Sometimes they only appear red, as vitriol makes them ; sometimes only yellow, white, green, cerulean j sometimes mingled, as in the rainbow or the peacock's tail All these colours display themselves after death, and as a consequence of death. For in the death of all natural things new colours appear, and they are changed from their first colour into another, each according to its own nature and properties. Moreover, we will say about verdigris that which we dedicate to Alchemy. The process of its preparation is as follows ; Form very thin plates of copper, which stratify on a large tile with equal portions of sulphur and tartar, pounded and mixed. Reverberate for twenty-four hours with a strong fire, taking care that the copper plates do not melt. Then take them out ; break the tile ; expose the plates to the air, with the matter which adheres to them, for a few days, and the matter on the plates will be con- verted into most beautiful verdigris, which in all strong waters, in waters of gradations, in cements and colourings of gold, tinges gold and silver with a deep colour.
But in order that copper may become ms ustttm^ which is also called the crocus of copper, the following process must be adopted : let copper be formed
142 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
into plates, smeared with salt reduced into a paste with the best vinegar, then put on a large tilei placed in a blast furnace^ and for a quarter of an hour burnt with a strong fire, but so that the plates may not melt. Let these plates, while still glowing, be extinguished in vinegar wherein sal ammoniac has been dis- solved — half an ounce in a pound of vinegar. Let the plates be again heated, and extinguished as before ; but continually scrape off into vinegar the scales which adhere to the plates after they have been extinguished, or else knock them off by beating the plates, or in any way you can. Keep doing this until the plates of copper are nearly consumed. Then let the vinegar be extracted by distillation, or let it evaporate in an open vessel, and let it coagulate into a very hard stone. Thus you will have the crocus of copper used in Alchemy. Many persons commonly make ms tistum^ or the crocus of Venus, from Venus by the extraction of alcohol (others of vinum aceti)^ like the crocus of Mars ; but I much prefer this method.
The mortification of Mercury, in order that it may be sublimated, is brought about by vitriol and salt. When it is mixed with these two and then sublimated it becomes as hard as crystal and as white as snow. In order that Mercur>^ may be reduced to a precipitate,* nothing more need be done than calcine it in the best aqua fortis ; then let the graduated aqua fortis be extracted from it five times, more or less, until the precipitate acquires a beautiful red colour. Sweeten this precipitate as much as possible j and finally distil the rectified w^ine from it seven or nine times, or as often as necessary, until it burns in the fire and does not escape. Then you have the diaphoretic precipi- tate of Mercury,
Moreover, here should be noted a great secret concerning precipitated Mercury* If, after its colouration, it be sweetened with water of salt of tartar, by distilling it until the water no longer ascends acid, but is altogether sweet, then you will have the precipitate as sweet as sugar or honey. This is the principal arcanum for all wounds and ulcers and the Gallic disease, insomuch that no physician need wish for better ; and it, moreover, brightens up despondent alchemists. For it is an augmentation of Sol, it enters into the composition of Sol, and by it gold is rendered constant and good. Although, then, much labour and toil may be required for this precipitate, it compensates for these and returns to you what you have spent. Moreover, you get sufficient gain from it — more than you could compass by the highest artifice of any kind. You ought, therefore, to rejoice over it, and to thank God and me
• It b also stated that there is nothing in medicine to compiafe wuh precipitated mercury for the cure of ictericiii. — Fragmenta Mgdic*t,%. v. An.Halation^i £» L ib, d$ UUritiii. The medical preparation of the precipitate of mercury as a healing unguent ha* been boastfully claimed to their own credit by many* persons, though they are all filched from thft writing* of the ancient arti&ts and Spagj-mts. Vigo was not free from tbe disgrace of this faUehood. Precipi- tated m^ercur)' ts certainly aii andent remedy, but has lain hidden for a long time by the perftdy of ph>'?»icLaii5. All cavernous ulcers (except those of the eating and siireading kind) are completely cured by its use. But experience teaches us that the oil of argent vi%'e, when outwardly applied, has much greater efficacy*— /?* Tumoribus^ttc.^ M&r^i Galiici, Lib. X* The bloodlike redness of the precipitate of mercury has caused it to be Ignorantly confused with the ruddy powder into which the sweet balsam of mercury is reduced when it Li prepared without sublimation or culeination by means of the water of eggs. —/^*d!. Precipitated mercury of the metah is the reduction of the metals into their first matter* which afterwards l& deposited below, -CAimf^fta Atagfitt, Dt lftif>QiiHmii in A^eriyo GtiUico, Lib. IL
Conciming the Nature of Things.
143
for it. But in order that Mercury may be calcined, I have already said that this most be done in sharp aqua fortis, which must be abstracted by distillation, and the precipitation is made* But in order that Mercur)^ may be reduced to cinnabar,* you must first of all mortify it, and liquefy it, with salt and yellow sulphur. Reduce it to a white powder, then put it in a cucurbite ; place an aludel above, and sublimate with great fluxion, as is customary. Thus the cinnabar ascends into the aludel and adheres to it, as hard as hsematite.
The mortification of lead, in order that it may be reduced to white lead, is two-fold, one for Medicine, the other for Alchemy. The preparation of cerussa for Medicine is as follows : Suspend plates of lead in an unglazed vessel over strong^ vinegar made from wine, the vessel being well closed so that no spirits may escape. Place the vessel in warm ashes, or, in winter, behind the fire. Then, after ten or fourteen days, you will find the very best cerussa adhering" to the plates. Scrape this off with a hare*s foot, and replace the plate over the vinegar until you have sufficient cerussa- The other preparation of cerussa for Alchemy is like the formerj save that a quantity of the best sal ammoniac must be dissolved in the vinegar. In this way you wnlt have a very beautiful cerussa, most subtle for purging tin or lead, or for removing whiteness from copper. But if we wish to make red lead out of the lead, It must first be calcined to ashes, and afterwards burnt laterally in a glazed jar, stirring it continually with an iron wire until it grows red. This minium is at once the best and the most valuable, and should be used in Medicine as well as in Alchemy. The other, which dealers sell in the shops, is of no use. It is made up only of the ashes which remain in the liquefaction of lead ore, and the potters buy it for encrusting vessels. Such minium is useful only for pictures, but neither for Medicine nor for Alchemy.
In order to reduce lead to a yellow colour a process is required not altogether unlike the preparation of minium* Here, too, the lead must be calcined with salt, and reduced to ashes. Afterwards it must be stirred continually with iron in one of the wide dishes used by those who test minerals, over a moderate coal fire, careful watch being kept lest the heat should be too great or the stirring neglected. Otherwise it would melt and produce yellow glass. In this way you will have excellent yellow lead.
The mortification of silver so that lazurium, or some similar substance, may be produced from it, is brought about as follows : Let Luna be made into plates, mixed with Mercur>^, and suspended In a glazed jar over the best vinegar in which auratae have been previously boiled. Afterwards dissolve in it sal ammoniac and calcined tartar. In all other particulars proceed as directed in the case of cerussa- Then, after fourteen days, you will have the most precious and beautiful la>:urium adhering to the silver plates, which you will wipe off with a hare*s foot.
* The pii^'sidans of Montepe&sulano and Salema committed the error ofsupposmg that cuinnhiir was dlfTercot from merctiiy, when it Is clear that dicy are the ftatne^ — Dt 1 vmoribus^ ^/f., Mmrhi G^Uticiy Lib. I., c 8« Cinnabar i .xtracted from Sotuni and Mnrs by meant ofcnercur)-. - Ihd., Lib. III., c 7,
144 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
We do not deem it necessary here to repeat the method of mortifying gold so that it may be reduced to Us arcana, as, for instance^ to tincture, quintessence, resin* crocus, vitriol, and sulphur. These preparations are manifold, and for the most part we have already given such secrets in other bookSi as the extraction of the Tincture of Sol, the Quintessence of Sol, the Mercury of Sol, Sol Potabilis, the resin of Sol, the Crocus of Sol. These have been given in the Archidoxa and elsewhere. But the secrets omitted there we will impart here. These concern the vitriol of Sol* and the sulphur of Sol, which are by no means the least among such secrets, and, indeed, ought to delight every physician. In order to extract vitriol from Sol, proceed thus : Take two or three marks of pure gold, which form into plates and suspend above boys' urinei mixed with grape-berries, in a wide glass cucurbite closely sealed at the top. Bury this in a glowing heap of grape -berries, as they are taken from the wine-press, and let it stand there for a fortnight or three weeks. Then open it, and you will find a most subtle colour, which is vitriol of Sol, adhering to the plates of Sol. Remove this with a hare's foot, as you have been told in the case of the other metals — the crocus of Mars from the plates of iron, the vitriol of Venus and verdigris from the plates of copper, the cerussa from the plates of Saturn, the lazurium from the plates of Luna — all these being comprised under one process, but not with the same preparation. When, therefore, you have enough of this vitriol of Sol, boll it well in distilled rain water, stirring it continually with some sort of spatula. Then the sulphur of gold rises up to the surface like grease, which remove with a spoon. So also proceed with other vitriol. After the sulphur is taken away, evaporate that rain water to perfect dryness, and the vitriol of Sol will remain at the bottom. This you can easily resolve on marble in a damp place. In these two arcana, that is to say, the vitriol of gold and the sulphur of gold, a diaphoretic virtue is latent. However, we will not describe those virtues here, because we have sufficiently indicated them in the book on Metallic Diseases and elsewhere.
The mortification of sulphur consists in taking away its combustible and foetid fatness, and reducing it to a fixed substance. This is accomplished in the following way : Take common yellow sulphur, reduced to a fine powder, and abstract from it the very acrid aqua fortis by a threefold distillation. After* wards sweeten the sulphur ivhich remains at the bottom, and is of a black colour, with sweet water, repeating the process of distillation continually until nothing but sweet %vater proceeds from it and there is no more smell of sulphur. Reverberate this sulphur in a closed reverberatory, as in the case of antimony. Then it will become, at first white, afterwards, yellow j thirdly, red
• ArtiTKial vudd% are from, the mincralii of metnlx and cognate substances. But note be« that whal is uiually called vitriolated acid U really vitriolated capper of Venus For copper Ls vitriol. If, therefore, the addity be extracted from, copptr^ then he who u&es it digests copper. It la the same with aLI the other vitiiolates of metals. * . . In aJl mrtak there are vitriolated acid», except if* goW, which docs not know vitriol— Z?# Morbfi Tartartis, c, i6»
Concerning the Nature of Things.
145
as cinnabar. When you have it In that form you ought to rejoice ; for it is the beginning of wealth for you. This reverberated sulphur tinges any silver very deeply so as to turn it into most precious gold, and the human body it tinges into its most perfect condition of health. Of so great virtue is this reverberated and fixed sulphur.
The mortification of all salts, and whatever is of a salt nature, is the removal and distillation of their watery and oleaginous part, and besides of the spirit of salt ; for if these are taken away, they are called afterwards dead earth, or caput moritmm.
The mortification of gems and corals is that they shall be calcined^ subli- mated^ and dissolved into a liquid, as the crystal. The mortification of pearls is that they be calcined and resolved in sharp vinegar in the form of milk.
The mortification of the magnet is that it be smeared with oil of mercury or touched by common mercury. Afterwards it attracts no iron.
The mortification of flints and stones is calcination.
The mortification of marei^sites, cach^^mise, talc, cobalt, zinc, granites, zwitter, vismut, and antimony, is sublimation, that is, their being sublimated with salt and vitrioL Then their life, which is the metallic spirit, ascends with the spirit of salt. Let whatever remains at the bottom of the sublimatory be washed, that the salt may be removed from it, and you will have dead earth wherein is no virtue.
The mortification of arsenicals, aunpigment, orpiment, realgar, etc, is when they are made fimd with salt nitre, are turned to oil or liquid on marble* and fixed.
The mortification of undulous things is a coagulation of the air»
The mortification of aromatic substances is the removal of their good odour.
The mortification of sweet things is that they shall be sublimated with corrosives and distilled.
The mortification of carabae, resins, turpentine, and gum is their being reduced to oil or varnish,
The mortification of herbs, roots, and the like is that their oil and water shall be distilled from them, the liquid squeezed out in a press, and afterwards the alkali extracted,
The mortification of woods is their being turned into charcoal or ashes.
The mortification of bones is their calcination.
The mortification of flesh and blood is the removal of the spirit of salt.
The mortification of water is produced by fire : for the heat of fire dries up and consumes all water. So the mortification of fire is by water ; for the water extinguishes the fire and takes away from it its force and effectiveness.
Thus you are sufficiently informed, in few words, how death is latent in all natural things : how they are mortified and reduced to another form and nature, as also what virtues flow from them. Whatever else is necessary to say we will set down in our book concerning the Resuscitation of Natural Things.
U
CONCERNING THE NATURE OF THINGS.
BOOK THE SIXTH.
Concerning the Resuscitation of Natural Things.
THE resuscitation and reduction of natural things is not the least important in the nature of things, but a profound and great secret, rather divine and angelic than human and natural, I would, however, on this point be understood with the greatest discrimination » and in no other way than according to my fixed opinion* as Nature daily and clearly points out and experience proves ; so that I may not be exposed to the lies and mis- representations of my enemies the quack doctors (by whom I am constantly ill judged), as if I myself pretended to usurp some divine power, or to attribute that same to Nature which she never claims. Therefore^ at this point, the most careful observation is necessary, since death is twofold, that is to say, violent or spontaneous. From the one, a thing can be resuscitated but not from the other. Do not, then, believe the sophists when they tell you that a thing once dead or mortified cannot be resuscitated, and when they make light of resuscitation and restoration ; for their mistake is great. It is indeed true that whatever perishes by its own natural death, or whatever mortifies by Nature according to its own predestination, God alone can resuscitate, or that it must be done by His divine command. So whatever Nature consumes man cannot restore. But whatever man destroys man can restore, and break again when restored. Beyond this man by his condition has no power, and if any one strove to do more he would be arrogating to himself the power of God, and yet would labour in vain and be confounded, unless God were with him, or he had such faith that he could remove mountains. To such a man this, and still greater things, would be possible, since Scripture says, for Christ Himself has said — ** If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, and say to this mountain : Depart and place yourself yonder, it would do so and place itself there ; and all things shall be possible, and nothing impossible, to you.*'
But let us return to our proposition. What is the difference between dying and being mortified, and from which of these conditions is resuscitation possible ? The matter is to be understood thus. Whatever dies by its own nature has its end according to predestination, and as the pleasure and
Concerning the Nature of Things,
dispensation of God arrangfes* But this, too, happens from different diseases and accidents, and herefrom there is no resuscitation, nor is thereany preservative which can be used against predestination and the cognate end of life. But what is mortified can be resuscitated and revivified, as may be proved by many arguments which we will set down at the ^nd of this book. So, then, there is the greatest difference between dying and mortifying, nor should it be thought that these are only two names for one thing. In v^zy deed these differ as widely as possible. Examine the case of a man who has died by a natural and predestined death. What further good or use is there in him ? None. Let him be cast to the worms. But the case is not the same with a man who has been slain with a sword or has died some violent death. The whole of his body is useful and good, and can be fashioned into the most valuable mumia. For though the spirit of life has gone forth from such a body, still the balsam remains, in which life is latent, which also, indeed, as a balsam conserves other human bodies. So, too, in the instance of metals you see that when a metal has a tendency to die it begins to be affected with rust, and that which has been so affected is dead ; and when the whole of the metal is consumed with rust the whole is dead, and such rust can never be brought back to be a metal, but is mere ashes and no metal. It is dead, and death is in itself : nor has it any longer the balsam of life, but has perished in itself.
The lime and the ashes of metals also are two-fold, and there is the greatest difference between these two. For the one can be revived and brought back to be a metal, but not so the other. One is volatile, the other is fixed. One is dead, the other is mortified. The ash ts volatile and cannot be brought back to be a metal, but only to glass or scoria;. But the lime of metals is fixed and can be brought back again into its own metal. If you would understand the difference and its cause, know that in the ash there is less fatness and more dr)'ness than in the lime, and it is this which gives the fluxion. The lime is fatter and more moist than the ash, and still retains its resin and its iTuxion, and more especially does it retain the salt which of its own special nature is capable of flux, and also makes all metals pass into flux, thereby reducing them. Hence it follows with the ashes of metals that they cannot be brought back into metals. The salt must be extracted ; then they are perfectly volatile. This is the chief point, and must be very carefully noted, since wo little depends upon it. Among sham physicians a vast error is prevalent. In place of Sol Potabilis, the Quintessence of gold, the Tincture of gold, and so on, they have palmed off on men a leprous Calx of Sol, not considering the difference or the e%ils resulting therefrom. For two notable and necessary facts must here be observed, namely, that either calcined or pulverised Sol, when given to men, is congregated into one mass in the bowels, or passes out per anum with the dung, and so is vainly and uselessly taken; or else by the great internal heat of the body it is reduced, so that it incrusts and clogs the bowels, whence ensue many and various diseases, and at last even death.
14^ The Hervietic and Alchemical Writings 0/ Paracelsus.
And as with Sol, so also io the case of other metals, you should take no metallic arcanum or medicament into the body unless it shall have first been rendered volatile, so that it cannot be brought back to its metallic condition. Wherefore the first step and beginning: of preparing Aurum Potabile is this ; afterwards such a volatile substance can be dissolved by spirit of wine, so that both ascend together, becoming volatile and inseparable. Just as you prepare gold, in the same way you prepare potable Luna, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury*
But to return to our proposition, and to prove by illustrations and by adequate reasons that mortified things are not dead and compelled to continue in death, but can be brought back and resuscitated and vitalised by man, according to natural guidance and rule* You see this in the case of lions, who are all born dead» and are first vitalised by the horrible noise of their parents, just as a sleeping person is awakened by a shout. So Ihe lions are stirred up ; not that they are sleeping in the same w^ay — for one who sleeps a natural sleep would necessarily wake — but this is not the case with lions. Unless they were stirred up with this noise they would remain dead, and life would never be found in them. Hence it is understood that they acquire their life and are vitalised by that noise. Vou see the same thing in all animals, except those which are produced from putrefaction, like flies, wliicli, it they are drowned in water so that no life could be discerned in them, and were so left, would continue dead, and never would revive of themselves. But if they are sprinkled with salt and placed in the warm sun, or behind a heated furnace, they recover their former life, and this is their resuscitation. If this were not done they would remain dead. So you see in the case of the serpent. If it be cut in pieces, and these pieces be put in a cucurbite, and putrefied in a venter equinus^ the whole serpent will revive in the glass in the form of small worms or the spawn of fishes. Now, if these little worms are — as they ought to be— brought out by putrefaction and nourished, more than a hundred serpents will be produced from the one, any single serpent being as big as the original one. This can be accomplished by putrefaction alone. And just as with the serpent, so many animals c^in be resuscitated, recalled, and restored. By this process, with the aid of nigromancy, Hermes and Virgil endeavoured to renovate and resuscitate themselves after death, and to be born again as infants, but the experiment did not turn out according to their intention and it w^as unsuccessful
Let us, however, pass by these examples, and come to the practical method of resuscitation and restoration. It is advisable to begin with metals, because metallic bodies more frequently resemble human bodies. KnoWj then, that the resuscitation and renovation of metals are twofold : one brings back calcined metals by a process of reduction to their original metallic body ; the other reduces metals to their first matter. The former is a reduction to argenium vivum^ and such, too, is the latter process. Calcine a metal by means
Concerning the Nature of Things^
149
oi the fultgo Mercurii, Put this calx and a sufficient quantity of the quick- silver into a sublimatory, and let them stand for some time, until the two are coagulated into one amalgam. Then, by means of sublimation, elevate the Mercury from the calx. When elevated, pound it again with the metallic calx, and sublimate as before. Repeat this until the metallic calx liquefies over a candle, like wax or ice, and the thing is then done. Let this metal be placed in digestion for such time as may be required, and the whole will be changed into iMefcurius vivtts^ that is, into its first matter. This is called the Philosophers* Mercurius of Metals. Many alchemists have sought itt but few have found it. So is now prepared Mercurius vivus from all metals, namely, Mercurius of Gold, Luna, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.
The resuscitation or restoration of calcined Mercury is produced by distillation in retorts. For only Mercurius vivus ascends into the cold water, and the ashes of Saturn, Venus, or sulphur are left. But the resuscitation and restoration of sublimed Mercury is brought about in hot water. It is necessary, how^ever, that it should first of all be very minutely pounded, so that the boiling water may resolve from it the spirit of salt and of vitriol, w^hich it raises up with itself in the process of sublimation, and the Mercurius vivus runs together at the bottom of the water. If, now, such Mercurius vizms be sublimated anew with fresh salt and vitriol, and again be resuscitated in boiling water, and if this be repeated seven or nine times, it will be impossible to purify and renovate it more effectually* Preserve this as a great secret in Alchemy and Medicine, and rejoice over it exceedingly ; for in this way all the impurity and blackness and poisonous nature are taken away from Mercur}*. The resuscitation, restoration, and renovation of Mercury cannot be accomplished without sublimation ; for unless after calcination it be sublimated it will never be revivified. Sublimate it, therefore, and afterwards reduce it as you would any other sublimated substance.
The resuscitation of cinnabar, lazurium, aurum musicum, or precipitated gold, in order that they may be revived into Mercurius vivus, is effected as follows : Take any one of these substances, pound it very fine in a marble mortar, and make it into a paste with white of eggs and smegma. Then make pills, the size of a nut, which place in a strong earthenware cucurbitc. At its orifice arrange an iron plate which has several little holes, and let it be fastened with lute. Distil by descent over a strong fire, so that it may fall into cold water, and again you will have Mercurius viims.
The resuscitation and restoration of wood is difficult and arduous ; poss-ible, indeed, but not to be accomplished without exceptional skill and industr>% The following is the method of its revival : Take wood which has been first of all carbon, then ash, and place it in a cucurbite with the resin, liquid, and oil of its tree, the same weight of each. Let them be mixed and liquefied over a gentle fire* Then there will be produced a mucilaginous matter, and so you will have the three principles together from w hich all things are born and generated, namely, phlegma, fat, and ash. The phlegma is
1 50 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
Mercurius, the fat is Sulphur, and the ash is Salt. For that which smokes and evaporates over the fire is Mercury; what flames and is burnt is Sulphur; and all ash is Salt. Now, when you you have these three principles together, place them in a venter equinus^ and putrefy for the time required by each respectively. If afterwards that matter be buried, or poured into a rich soil, you will see it begin to revive, and a tree or a little log will be produced from it, which, indeed, is in its nature much higher than the original one.
This is really wood, and is called resuscitated, renewed, and restored wood. It was from the beginning wood, but mortified, destroyed, and reduced to coals, to ashes — to nothingness ; and yet from that nothingness it is made something, and is reborn. Truly in the light of Nature this is a great mystery, that a thing which had altogether lost its form, and had been reduced to nothingness, recovers that form and becomes something from nothing— something which afterwards is much nobler in its virtue and its efficacy than it had been at first
But, in order that we may speak generally concerning the resuscitation and restoration of natural things, this should be understood as the principal foundation — that to each thing may be again conceded that which had been taken from it and separated in mortification. It is difficult to explain this specifically here ; so we will conclude this book, and in the following book make these things more clear with regard to the transmutations of natural things.
CONCERNING THE NATURE OF THINGS.