part looked towards the sky and which towards the earth.* The rotundity

prevents there being any **up" or ** down." So we are prisoned within a shell, and do not know which is up and which is down. Walking over the whole world, we look up to the sk)-, and everywhere there is height, whilst at the same time everywhere there is depth. The cause lies in the rotundity of the globe and of the sky, and thus it is natural to every mortal body that all things g^ow in a threefold line, and not only man walks, but also trees, veins of metal, and springs take this course. As God created the circle of the globe and the sky, so he founded also the semicircle, the diameter and the meridian — a threefold line — ^and other similar ones. For in heaven and earth, in fire and water, are found all lines and all circles. Here, too, are the true Geography, Cosmography, and Geometry. By the elementary geography of the air are conserved the structures of the air, that is, the sun and moon, all
I the stars, the trees of the earth, and other things, as the minerals of the
f water and the rest. Here, too, beyond a doubt, is found the true basis of all
geometry, where man stands like the straight line looking up to heaven. Of this geometry God alone is the artificer, the mason, the geometrician. From this line nothing falls away or emerges, be it water, fire, earth, tree, man,
I beast. All things tend towards this aerial geometry, which God made and
I graved as a mason does the statues on a tower.
! TEXT XII.
I Now, as to the philosophy of the three prime elements, it must be seen
/ how these flourish in the element of air. Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt are so
t prepared as the element of air that they constitute the air, and make up that
■ element. Originally the sky is nothing but white Sulphur coagulated with the
spirit of Salt and clarified by Mercury, and the hardness of this element is in this pellicle and shell thus formed from it. Then, secondly, from the three primal parts it is changed into two — one part being air and the other chaos — in the following way. The Sulphur resolves itself by the spirit of Salt in the liquor of Mercury, which of itself is a liquid distributed from heaven to earth, and is the albumen of the heaven, and the mid space. It is clear, a chaos, subtle, and diaphanous. All density, dryness, and all its subtle nature, are
* Air preserves the elements and all creatures, so that they may perust in their coarse and centre. Land and sea are the centre of a circle of which the air is the circumference. Earth and wato- constitute one globe, resting on nothing, but free on all sides, being encompassed by the element of air, which b like a vast chaos, which oxsaoals that which is called heaven by the ij^norant. Within this chaos all creatures are induded and involved. Between the circle of the air and the globe of earth and water which is at the centre, a sustaining operation intervenes, which maybe compared to the albumen interposed between the shell and yolk of an egg. ^ibid.
Co7uerning the Gtfierations of the Elements. 209
resolved, nor is it any longer the same as it was before. Such is the air. The third remnant of the three primals has passed into air, thus : If wood is burnt it passes into smoke. So this passes into air, remains in its air to the end of its elements, and becomes Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, which are substantially consumed and turned into air, just as the wood which becomes smoke. It is, in fact, nothing but the smoke of the three primal elements of the air. So, then, nothing further arises from the element of air beyond what has been mentioned. Many of the ancients and later writers, nay, even some now living, ascribe wind to the air, making out its cause to be the mobility of the sky. That is all nothing. It never reaches the sky ; and the air is by itself, coming forth from its element as smoke from wood. Whoever wishes to understand more clearly about it, and what its motion is, let him read about the properties of fire, where more is set down than can be here comprised.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE GENERATION OF THE ELEMENTS.
BOOK THE SECOND.
CON'CERNING THE ELEMENT OF FlRE.
TREATISE I. TEXT I.
WE have spoken thus far concerning the element of air, according to the position in which the elements have been arranged. The air is first in position ; next to it is the fire. These two constitute and sur- round the entire globe.* We shall next philosophise as to what concerns the element of fire.
First of all, from the Iliaster were separated the air and the fire. After- wards these two were sundered the one from the other, so that the air occupied the first place, as we pointed out in the former book. The next place to this the fire occupied. By a process of separation, these two elements, air and fire, were divided. From the air were produced the heavens ; from the fire came forth the firmament As in the air there is only chaos and nothing besides, so, in the element of fire we find nothing but heat and cold, light and darkness. But, whatever withdraws from the globe and from the air, is sustained in the element of fire. It is not, however, called the element of fire because it can only burn, as many have foolishly said. It is not the element of fire which burns, but that which burns and is contrar}* to it, is congelation. The element of fire is not by its constitution warm and dry ; the cold and the moist come from the element of fire. They are quite beside the mark, then, who seek the element of fire in the element of earth or of water. Though these probably produce something of a warm complexion, still that warmth does not constitute the element of fire. This element is not, therefore, called an element because it is fire, but rather because in it the whole firmament subsists. It is an element from which should proceed day, night, brightness, white or red, rain, tempests, winds, and all impressions. It is also the place and portion of the four parts of creatures. Therefore it is called an element. For as the earth gives heat and cold together, though it be the element of
* Fire and air constitute the chaos which encircles the globe of earth and water. The two superior elements send down their impressions upon the two inferior. Fire is ducposed and digested by God into the stars. - UtW., c, 7.
Concerning the Gemrations of tlu EUvienU,
2\ 1
earth, so is it to be understood also of fire. Yet there is a difference, because material fire Is called an element when \l is not really an clement. It is not even produced by the element of fire, but It Is like elementary fire in that position when it looks towards the sun. So also the water is like the element of fire In a place where it rains. Material fire> which we use, is in the four elements ; it is called Tristo, and exists in them thus : The element of water requires the element of fire for its operation- That fire remains in the element of water, and shews itself in steel and in those stones w^here it exists. So is it with the air, and so with the other elements. Each has its own Tristo within itself, as is demonstrated in the Nature of Things. So, too, the sun can shew its element In wood, can kindle and burn It, because it is of the same nature as that by which the element of fire moistens the earth w^ith rain. As the element of fire moistens the earth, and it is its nature and property to do so, it kindles wood also by a mirror in the sun. The material fire is brought to the globe just as rain to the earth> Both come from one element divided as to their nature. But the fire which is extracted from stones and metals has penetrated thither from the sun by means of its own Ares. As the earth is nourished by the sun, so is the qw^ element by another. Of the three primaries, Salt could not coagulate unless the element oi fire were in it. So Mercury could not give a body unless it contained in itself the element of water. So neither is Sulphur without its terrestrial quality. The air is without material or body, impalpable. Therefore, of itself, like the other elements, it cannot give a body ; but it works together with it, as the rest do.
TEXT 11,
Having thus far explained the separation of the two elements, fire and water, it remains to speak of their order* which is as follows : — Originally the distribution of them was made into the sun, the moon, and the other stars. Beyond these there is no element of ^t^. Whatever virtue they are endowed w*ith beyond this is only trifling. This is more fully shewn in the treatise De NaturA, Here it is sufficient to know that this element, the firmament, to wit, is nothing but stars. What these produce and send on the earth, as snow, rain, wind, hail, cold, heat, night, day, summer, winter, and the like ; all these things come from the element of fire, as an infant from its mother, or an apple from its tree.
This element of fire is placed in the element of air. For as the water
and the earth are comprised in one globe, so the fire and the air are mingled
in one, neither injuring the body of the other. They move freely in the air,
not leaning or propped up on any foundation. As birds fly in the air, so the
sun moves in the sky, that is, in the air. For just as it is appointed that
man walks on the earth, the bird flies in the air, the fish swims in the water,
and the gnome lives within the earth, so has it been arranged concerning the
elements, that one lies still, another flies, one is in this mode, another in that,
not moving from one seat or place. Every star has its own special orbit, nor
P2
2 1 2 The Hernutic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
does one collide with another. For as no one man walks exactly like another, and yet there is one mode of progress for all, so is it with the stars. And as men by Nature are not precisely alike, neither are the stars ; so manifold is their nature and condition. On this topic one need not philoso- phise more deeply than to say that all these things are arranged and con- stituted bv fate.
JREATISE THE SECOND.
Concerning the Sun, Light. Darkness, and Night,*
IN the first treatise It was stated that the prima! Iliaster was furnished with all the colours^ and with brightness and splendour all mingled to- gether. From thence the four elements were secreted. Herein shall be stated in due succession what was added or subjected to the element of fire. In the beginning the first element, that is to say, the air, was extracted from the Iliaster, and afterwards the element of fire. From this a separation was made. First of all the white brightness was drawn out, and therefrom w\as made a material body, the sun. Therein is all the white brightness of the element of fire, and besides this is no white brightness at all in the whole element. The red transparency was also extracted and transferred to the stars, that is, to the moon and the other stars, which were distributed into many parts. While the white brightness w^as conglobated into one form, the red brightness was divided into many parts. Hence now follow day and night. For since all the white brightness was coagulated into one globe, it will be day wherever that globe is. Where that globe is not, there is no white brightness, but it is night and darkness ; for the red brightness transfers no light to the white brightness. Moreover, it must also be known that in the element of fire two natures exist, a warm and a cold one. Heat is universal in the white brightness, cold in the red. .All fire which is warm is in the sun, and not in any element besides. All coldness is in the stars ; there is none in the sun. Hence it is clear that summer comes from the sun, winter and cold from the stars. In the sun is an expulsive heat, in the stars an expulsive cold — thus : The sun emits from himself heat to the earth by means of his rays. For just as the wind blows from its cave, or as from the ground a stalk rises above the earth, so heat goes forth from the sun over the globe*
^ All the clarity which in the element produccit night is 6^^ anil twofolil— white and rcJ. The white n from mercury and «iji« the red from pure kulphtir. Thc«c two coloun inhere in the iluve principles by reason of the pre> dominant fire in the luhstancc. The siajnc are divided, the red into one port^ the white into the other. The &m i* di&tribuied amotii; aII the »tar«t the second into oi\t only. But if the nxli Uic the white, were compacted and digested into A Kingle unr, instead of into 40 many, the red splendour would be et^ually great with reference to rtdnns as ii^ the white with reference to whiicne&^t. On the other hAnd, were the white «tAr distributed after the manner of the red, lliere would be a faint and perpetual daylight. Such a perfect and condensed splendO'ur would tva illuminate the esirthf but one weaker and more divided. The uni^-ersal splendour of the mercury hx\ bowevcr* been concentrated from the three prime principles into one orb or «ar, which r motion of thb star Lakes place round the globe. When it radiates upon the earth there i» day^ but elsewhere night n:ig^n», for aJI the brilliance of day is in it, and without its radiation there is no brilliance upom canh. The red briUiauce of the other stars i« the light of the fire in red, aniy in ralphur. where there t^^^ no mcnniry or f>.iU
514 ^^ Hermetic and Alchemical Writings o/ Paracelsus.
Heat is the fruit of the sun on the globe, and it has no other fruit. Hence it follows that the sun has two operations, a greater and a lesser heat, in this way. The sun divides his heat in two modes. Hence it is granted to the stars to lose their coldness. The matter stands thus : For us Germans if the sun is supreme his heat is greatest with us. Then the autumn and harvest are at hand. In winter the cold comes on, not because the sun is low and depressed (for it is the same sun which can by his rays shed heat everywhere), but because his harvest is not then imminent as in June. All fruits are then in a state of repose, and have been harvested. But below us, in Ethiopia and other places which verge towards the antarctic pole, the sun is warm while with us he is cold, for this reason : because it is his harvest-time, but with us the fallow season. This fallow season he makes more or less. Everything which has to produce fruit needs rest and sleep ; and unless the sun were lying fallow, its heat would be equally intense with us in winter as it is in summer.
In the meantime, while the sun is lying fallow, the harvest and autumn of the cold stars are substituted, so that during the whole year there shall be no sterility, but fruits shall be constantly produced. Now the snow falls, and the north wind blows. Then follow the east and the south winds, which are the attendants of the sun. Thus are produced winter and summer, night and day, and the whole year. In this way is there transition from one autumn to another through the year of the sun and the year of the stars.
Moreover, on this subject it must be remarked that drj-ness and humidity occur thus : Dryness is in heat, that is, in the sun. There is no other dryness in the whole element of fire save that which the sun has in himself. Moisture is in cold, that is, in the cold stars, which are of red brightness. This is the true state of the case. Humidity cannot coexist with heat. Heat consumes all moisture and brings back dryness. Coldness never coexists with dryness. What is cold is dissolved if heat coagulates itself. Thus the element of fire is divided into two. In one is dryness, and this is in the sun ; in the other is humidity, and this is in the cold. If coldness some- times seems to be dry, the dryness is only as when one sweats in the sun, where that moisture is quite foreign. So is that coldness foreign too. It is true, indeed, that a humid body on the earth can be dried by the stars, though not on account of their dry nature, but on account of their cold nature, whereby they are able to coagulate so that a thing seems dried up. Thus must their nature be understood as frozen water. Such, too, is the method of the sun for rendering moist. By its heat it melts wax, so that it liquefies, as does tallow. But what has this to do with the matter ? Nothing. These things are only given as illustrations. There is dryness, too, in the stars, for instance, snow, hoar-frost, sleet, hail, lightning and the like, as metals and stones coming thence. But what is the dryness of snow, which does not last ? In what respect is a metal dry which returns to its original matter ? And so of the sun. Where is his humidity? It does not last. What is it if, indeed,
Concerning t/te Generations of the Elements.
215
he moistens fal ? No sooner has he withdrawn than it is drj' again. After- wards it is no longer moistened. It is the same, too, with fire. It dries wood so that it never afterwards grows damp again, that is, so long as it is ashes. But what does the star do ? It wets Salpalla so that it never again returns to dryness, but always remains moist. The stars moisten the rain, which always remains moist, and is never again dried. Wherever it is poured out, wherever it breaks forth, it is always moist, always wet. So, that which is dry remains in heat ; what is wet, in cold ; dryness never grows wet, and moisture never grows dry. In like manner, lime remains lime ; glass, glass ; wine, wine, etc.
But in order that the element oi fire may be more thoroughly understood, we will, ill the first place, describe the sun, the account of which is as follows : All heat is drawn together and rounded out into Magdalion. The whole white light is therein. Thus, then, white light and heat make up Magdalion, composed of ignited white Sulphur, congested into one body of noblest Mercury, pre-eminent over all the other elements, and coagulated by the most subtle spirit of salt. Out of these three the sun exists, so dry and so warm that there Is place for no humidity, but it would all be consumed. In this way, both the daily raiji and whatever water is poured out by the three other elements is consumed by the force of the sun, lest a too copious supply of w^ater should cause inundation. So, then, the sun is the death of aqueous nature, both of the sea and of the Rhine, Danube, Nile, and Tiber. They are consumed by the heat of the sun so that they do not increase in volume. Death exists in all things for this very purpose, that they may not increase too much but may keep within bounds. So man has his own form of death, which is invisible. So dryness has its death, namely, water. So, too, the waters have their death, fire ; and it is not true to say, thiit what the fire consumes reappears elsewhere. It perishes ejitirely in its own form.
But the spirit remains, and this the sun consumes. It is the veritable death, consuming and taking away the other three elements— alike with man on the earth and with the bear in the cave.
But now to philosophise more about the sun. It regulates its course by Divine providence, which decides when and how all things should exist. By this it is arranged that the sun going round the globe rounds out its circle for the sake of this autumn and harvest of the sun. In this course is nothing but day and night, summer and winter, light and darkness ; and the darkness which falls upon some lands is intercepted from others in due succession. From this impetus and motion no wind is aroused ; but the sun moves and proceeds just as a ball is driven along the surface of the earth, without any wind arising, or as a ship in the sea, which does not of itself generate any wind. So neither does the sun produce wind. It does not grow warm by its motion ; for, although the globe should roll on for a hundred years, it w^ould not of itself grow warm. If it be warm, it must have been warm before. So the sun going upon its course is a globe, and may be compared to birds in its
2i6 Tlu Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
mode of motion. It even diminishes heat^ that is to say, if it be fallow. But its brig-htness remains always and under all circumstances. For Mag"dalion is fixed, and will remain from the first point of time to the latest in one shape and appearance and one proportion of light, of Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury. These have only one year of their fixation, which will endure from the first lliastcr to the last Iliaster, wherein the world will be renewed. I say there is one year, the year of the sun. In like manner all the stars have fixity. That is the year of lire, or the stellar year, yielding place to the time of the year, as if to its own daughter.
But, now, in due course, we must speak of the other stars in which exist coldness and red brightnessi as, for instance, in the moon, planets, and the rest. In this red brightness is a different kind of rest from that in the sun. For the moon has no fallow season, but simply dies and departs. The seed only is left there, from which the new moon is born. And the generation is of such a nature that it gains its power of increase from the sun. Whatever grows does so by force of the sun's heat, and without that heat nothing grows at all. When* therefore, the Creator made the moon after such a manner as that she should wane and wax, He did it for this purpose, that the moon, like seed, should be united with the sun, and should thence acquire her power of increase. Thus it is that she increases and comes to fulness, and then afterwards wanes. For whatever increases, the same also decreases. As man by disease w^astes away and dies, so the decrease of the moon is her sickness even to death, wherein she passes away, leaving only her seed behind. The moon is, in fact, the phoenix of the firmament, from which, when it dies, a new" oxi^ constantly issues forth. So, in like manner, there are other stars, and they are made up of the redness of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. And there is a cold of Sulphur, Mercurj^ and Salt, too, which has its origin in that virtue from which the sun, too, received its own. Thus it is that the moon has such strong influence over the earth o\\ account of her coldness and her humidity. She is superior to all the other stars in this element of the coldness of fire. The other stars, too, are composed of these three primal elements ; but, still they are divided into many parts. For the cold in the element of fire is divided into a thousand essences and natures. Thus, in some stars are produced winds circling over the entire globe ; in others, snow, rain, and the like, have their origin. In truth, so manifold are they, that manifold natures and virtues flow down from them to the earth ; and this could not otherwise be the case if there were but o\\^ Magdalion, like the sun, possessing only a single nature, heat. Therefore, in the stars there are many cold natures. Now, cold produces many more forms of eOBuence than heat. A warm man is a healthy man. A cold man is exposed to more misfortunes than tw^enty warm ones. Since, therefore, cold has a nature w^hich is contrary and opposed to the sun, the element of fire is divided into many stars, so that each virtue should exist by itself without the impediment of another nature. From these come forth warm winds, warm showers, warm tempests, and the rest,
Concerning ike Generations of the Elements,
217
coruscations* dragons, lanceaB, and the like. Yet, all these are cold fire, without ardour. On the other hand, what is warm and burns has its origin from accident, as the special chapters demonstrate. An entire section follows on the properties of the stars, as to the necessities they produce, and giving* what is necessary for a description of their natures.
Concerning Winds.*
Through the course of the globe, there are scattered the windy stars which continually bring round their autumn and harvest. They surround Zedocli In a circle and at the same time embrace the globe above and below. As, there- fore, the firmament goes round the globe in Its rotundity, and the round globe lies therein, so the stars consist in the circle of Zedoch, and the globes touch Zedoch in the midst. Tw*o winds, therefore, proceed to the two sides, and separate above and below, that is, one part to the arctic and the other to the antarctic pole. These stars are actual stars of the winds, because ihey blow upon us annually, and have their own year, which is the year of the whids. The other stars of the wintls blow above and below us, not according to the year, but sometimes they blow^ and sometimes they do not, and infringe upon one region only, wherever that may be. The true stars o\ the winds blow each according to its year continually, above and below, across the whole globe, and are without hail, without lightning, without frost, without coruscation.
* Since the mftieorological principles hAV« now been abundaaily ftxpUJnecl imd reoognii>cd, die next Uilog U to impart some informauofi oonceming meteoric things generated, or theif generations But h-c witt Hr^t write of the ri^ Of gcncfMtun of the wjnd*„ proceeding from their predestined circle!*. There are four parts of the orb and circle of the winds \ one looks to the estsx^ another to the west, a ihirj to the south, a fourth to the north. The manner uf I he circles is as follows. As in the middle of the firmam^iiat there are placed two elements, earth and water, bjk! the eletneni ofaif stands betwecii the clement ot heaven and the lower globe" as, I say* the earth i* placed in the middle, «fkd the heaven surrOuDd» it completely, vi tliere proceeds or advnfioes a circle txaAivcrsely on a level iit the middle of heaven, earth, and water, similarly surrounding. ... In the «ame way you will further note that heaven gc»e* round the world with a certain circle. In this circle iiand the mother of the wiod«, and the places whence arise the prcd»tiaatcd winds. If these are about to emerige from that circle, they blow upon the gluhc through the i*lcment of air. But while they are airiving at the rotundity of the terrestrial globe and dash upon it^ it b povuble that the wind* may be either stirred tip below the globe and impelled luwards those who live below us, or mjiy be driven aliove the globe to the dwellers on higher ; or again tnay be divided and driven in either direction through the heights and the depths of the globe. Thus the winds are impelled through the air beyond land and tea, and persbl until they axe worn out by reai^n of the distance, the way, or the viulent motion^ etc. Each of these four p peculiar and proper to itself, for the oriental part is wann and ^ry^ not being so on account of the »un, vt becatiae it iMCupka the eaftt* but becauise such a nature is derived from the three prime principles. Tlierefore, alsto, in the trme •Otttb-eatt wind and its satelUtcs no other nature and operation arc perceived than %t arm and dr>\ On the other hand, the westt wuid. by the tetllng of Ihe sun. b cold and humid, not bccau!>e it rises from the west (for the completion of the e:ut and the we>l ts one and the «ame), but because: the matter of 1 he winds has been created cold and humid in the west. From the north blow winds of a cold and dry nature, which they aJ%o impart to tho^e regions, not that the winds are so aH'cctcd by the regions, but the regions receive that nature fro«i the winds. The south wind i^ warm and huniid^ not l>ecau4e much water is accumulated there, or that moist and bumid ptices abound there, but because such U the peculiar nature of ihb wind, and it b imparted to the region that it occupies. For thw b to Ije observed, that the winds acquire no property from without^ but are tempered from themselves, and are ivot aifected by their regions. The generation*, therefore, of the wind^ flre circular, from their proper uAiure. They atr produced from their siars, and the star* are ibcir mothers. Stars of thb kind are imiumemble in the four quarrets From these all the wirul» proceed. For although winds are also stirred up by the star* of rain or hail, yet ihe>' are not enumerated with the circle at the four cardinals. And since we have already spoken of the place and di^pertiion of the winds, because they ftow from the farthest heavea across sea and land, it must now be added that iboAC stars liave the power of generating winds, and disposing of them according to their nature aiKl quality. As a tree puts furtli its fruit out of tl« internal tiaiure. which consists in wood and tmrTOw, so abo tbe same b to be understood of the stars. But the seed of the winds b the fintt matter of the three principles, salt, sulphur, and lH)Uor. These three .\re the mothers from which are bom those foetuses which we call wu»ds. In the nortbem i|Uitrtefs tliey ore of a cold and dry nature ; in the south, warm and humid ; in the ea&t, warto and dry ; in the west, co^d and humid. For as b the nature of the three principles, so are f^eir fn*ft*, Moreoscr, yuu mu^t \,Vl(^v( that the wind> ari*e from their stars Kj*
2i8 Tfu Hertnetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus,
There are very many which surround the whole Zedoch, like the Galaxy, and over against the Galaxy is Deneas. Concerning the elementary nature of these stars it may be said that they are all humid. Antiquity has given to these four names which we retain, though not with the ancient interpretation. All those stars which are situated at the north throughout the' entire Zedoch are called Boreas. Censeturis is dry and cold, yet not altogether dry. It is cold and congelated, that is, its humidity is coagulated, whence it appears dry. Zephyrus comprises the western stars, all being humid and cold, but not congelated. So it is that by comparison with these Boreas is accounted dry, on account of its congelation. The other stars in Zedoch, Eurus and Auster, are altogether cold. As soon, however, as the winds issue forth from their stars, they become warm by the sun whose beams they pass through, and thus they are held to be warm, which they are not by their own nature. Eurus is accounted dry, but is not so. The sun consumes the humidity which it possesses until it comes to that moisture contained within it, which the sun cannot take away. Auster is called humid, and is so because the sun does not take away so much of its humidity as in the case of Eurus. That is pre- vented by the sea, which supplies to the sun sufficient moisture for its consumption. So Auster with its humidity bursts forth on us throughout the lower and the upper part of the globe.
rule of time and sexson. For they retain the nature of the three principles. The variations of their strength are in proportion to the distance they have travelled . . . Boreas is affected by the summer but not by the winter stars, and if it be impregnated with sulphur it produces sulphureous maladies ; if with salr, it dries up and cracks the skin. The south wind at its proper season, namely, in spring, is most healthful. These riLsings of tlte winds we are able to prove by a terrestrial example. Water boiling in a jar emits a wind ; so do all boiling substances, whether dry or humid. Moist coction, as of water, produces a moist wind ; the dry coction which is known to the alchemists occasioa^ a dry wind. There is no other generation of the winds than when the three principles are set in motion and driven to their work by Vulcan. This action produces wind, and imposes its own nature thereon, whether warm, cold, humid, or dry. We must understand that God has constituted a generation of the firmament of such a nature that the three principles sliould generate and produce all things in their places to which they were ordained by God, and should by their operations tend towards the centre of the earth. Above all things, therefore, it is necessary that the three principles should be rightly recognised. These three principles are all of an igneous nature till they arrive at their operation, that U, at their ultimate matter. Sulphur is a fire which bums ; salt nitre bums also ; and it is in like manner with mercury. Now, fire cooks wind, and in the generation of winds the stars are vials and cucurbites, con- taining in themselves meteoric sulphur, mercury, and salt, which operate in these phials by means of our ethereal Vulcan. From these ethereal operations ethereal works are produced, such as the winds. . . . From earthly examples we understand the operations of the firmament, not, indeed, according to one grade, for as the heaven is higher than the earth, so also is it stronger ; and as the heaven has more of clarity than has earth of grossness, so much more sublimely graded and intense is its operation. That which is unseen by the eye is judged analogically by things which the eye beholds. But you must know that the hour and time of the generation of those winds must be fundamentally understood by astronomy and all its branches. If the winds blow, they advance to places suited for them. Much concordance produces strong wind. To frequently concord and generate is frequently to excite winds. Many species and a strong Vulcan generate mighty and violent winds, which root up trees and demolish houses. For the wind is, according to its own nature, as corporeal, and substantial as stone or any matter hurled down from a great height. And although a stone is one body and wind is another, yet the latter is capable of great bodily destruction, for therein are invbible as well as visible corporeities created by God, diverse in appearance but equal in virtue. Concerning the origin of winds it is then to be concluded that they are generated in windy stars above, and by the operation of Vulcan they are matured at their proper time, when they dash forth into the centre of the globe, trans* forming all obstacles into their own nature and property. As Boreas coagulates, so the south wind dissolves, the east preserves, the west putrefies. They perform their operation according to their implanted nature. But if they blow at those times when their innate malice is removed from them and modified, they effect nothing of importance. Among other things, the wind exercises great force upon the waters of the sea, stirring up tempests, and so petletrating through everything that it enters through the depths of the sea into the earth itself, whence it again issues through mountains, caverns, etc. In this way tremblings of the earth are generated, although this is not the sole cause of such occurrences. Wind has the power of penetrating all stones, all metals, and all things without exception.— Liher Meieorum^ c. 5.
Concerning the Generations of the Elements,
219
As to how wind proceeds from the stars* this must be held to be the method. As the son pours its heat on the world, so In these stars there is no other nature and property except to produce winds, which are decocted from Sulphur, Mercun , and Salt, and issue forth according- to Adech. Their wind is daily; hourly, blowing gently and peacefully over the whole world. So the rcspecti%^e winds must be learnt in the course of our exposition as to the other windy stars.
Concerning the Temtiirate Stars* Zedoch,
The following is the theory concerning the stars in the firmament.* Evcr\' star has in it a certain amount of frigidity. This causes winds. Cold is the parent of all winds. But the nature of cold is that some cold produces winds with rain» some with snow, some with hail and the like. The truth is that all winds, intermittent and temporar}f\ proceed not from Zcdoch, but are collected from all quarters out of particular stars* The mode in which all winds arc generated is as follows:— By means of frigidity the stars periodically beget their own vacuum, which is manifold in
* The philosophy oonceramff the ttan In Uie firnuunenl ami, ^vmnSXyi, csoneermng ih« cdHiAdtuUon of heaven, \%. dUcusMid elsewben At greater length by PoraceUuA, jin ttement^ it has been snid thait they are four. Man hns^ need of the^e. But the>' are divided into four complexions, which are by no means as the ancientsi have imagined them^ as^ Tor cxanple, that the earth \% cold and dry. Tlii* \% VKiihout foundaiian ; certainly in some ptaces it ia cokJ and dr^'. but in others it i^ cold and ivet, while in yet othen it is warm and dry. Neverthelesss, it Vk an clemeni, that l$, the muther uf frutu It is called an element, inasmuch as it is the mother of these thinffs^ not on account of the complcicion. The ca« is the lame with water. This \s specified to be cold and humid. It ought certainty 10 be humid, but not equally cold. At the liAnie time, that humidity is often dry and wartn, by reavm of the %irtueu The body itielf, iu it* corporal naturvi i» humid. The earth Is dfy» so that its fruit can be corvcetved in it and come forth from it. So, a!«o, the heaven isi not of one complexion, hut of many complexions. It \% not fire, but is undentood a» fire, becau^ie tl proceeds Lherefn>m. The fi(re tliereof is at tinie» a w^^ier, at others a lire, now^cold, now warm, etc. We must cmisider. therefore, that the elements arc only matrices, nor arc they restricted to one complexiotu For, as the offspring ii, so is that which generated and produced it. Thus, a flaxnnnita proceeds from a flammula, and soialrum from solairum. Accordingly, hearken concerning the*e ihingv It pcrlaini» to thr: eaiih to bear and *u»tatn man and his dwelling-place, as abo rocks, stones, sand», and all groiA-ing things. Hence it 11 cicdir that the cirlh is nece^i&arily compact and volid, so as to be capable of bearing them. Consequently it is bard, and requires to be cut ajid ploughed, h is, En like manner, exiually neces&ary for water to be moi move ftcid swim through it* which can by no means take place on land. The same ought aUo to produce salt and siones. Now, all thc»e lhing^ mu?it be humid in their fir»t matter, and mtist pas* from humidity into a coagulate. liut that which is bom from the earth has seed, that \i^^ a dr>' body, such a^ are seeds, roods, trees, etc. For all these things are dry and compacted from the first matter. Bui in the fir»l matter of water |here is no compact body, the whole being li'iuid. The matrix hereof b from the clcmctit of water. In this clement grow those ultimate matters, the pHnciple of which is liquid and humid. The third body is the atr This element bos oeeid of another kind of body, which must not be humid like water, or solid like earth. Out of this element whatsoever things sire htvn have their ingress in the body of the air, just as the C^ in w^ter. Man has been surrouudcd by an aeriform vehicle that he may walk in it, as the fish moves in water. Thus the air also ^mtains all tree* and whatsoever gnows. It U ncccssAr)-, tlterefore^ that the air shouki beafihaos; not earth, not water, hut something per>»picuous, duiphanous» imipafpAble, invtJiible, so that the palpable and the visible may be inibphered (liieraJly, feuihta) by it, and may be seen ibrtrugh it as through glass. Furthermore, the hea%'en is a body of this kind, not humid as the water, not pen^picuous a» air, nor iotid as the earth, but one of another ef%ence, so th^t heaven i« not eartliy* but ts yet compact in its essence, not. however, with terrene compactness. It is also tenuous and permeable as water, but still Is not water ; it is likewise limpid and perspicui^us vk-ithout being air. It Is most comparable to smoke, which is diverse from other budies in re^ipect of ci»rporality and substance —that is, ti is not like siune or wood, earth, water, or air, but i* a botty without mixture or aOintty with others. It is in like maimer with heaven, and the bodies which are boni therefrom are at once bodies and not bodies, compact and not compact, permeable like water, > et not water, perspicuous and impalpable as air. yet not air. Such a body is the sun, such is the moon, and such are the other stars. ' Heaven is without complexion and the element of Are, and the matrix out of which fire is generated and grows. For as fire has a certain corporality, so hav« heaven and the star«, which take their nature and substance from heaven. Consider, therefore, that such corporality is derived from heavenn the pectdiar quality thereoT, and the very cletnoit of fue ; and whaLboevcr fire is about to do. the wune Ss performed by heaven, wtiencc fire proce««l«. But we mast make inquiry* concerning the colour of heavca»
220 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracchus.
character. But as to the winds, the foJ lowing is the received theor)\ The stars have their own emunctories^ by means of which they excrete those things produced in them to which the emuiictories refer. The duration of the wind is as long as that required for the purpose of emptying. The stars Zedoch perform this process of emptying every day, and raise up winds in the world for moderating the heat of the sun and dispersing the cold in the frigid portions of the earth. They mitigate both heat and cold, and are the most perfect moderators of summer and of winter alike. When these winds do not obviate such a result chaos is frozen just like water. The reason why water is frozen is that the winds of Zedoch do not penetrate it. They penetrate chaos, and therefore do not allow it to be frozen. There is no other use of winds except to mitigate each season of the year, and to moderate their excesses, which might otherwise do damage.
The common nature of all the stars comprised in the sky and the firma- ment is that, every day^ nay, every hour and moment ^ they exude. For the stars attract to themselves the heat of the sun, just as the fruits of the earth absorb the same. The solar heat causes the stars to be resolved from their
That of earth tends towards black. Whaitsoever b of iunoth«r colour thcFelii belongs to minerA. So water has its own colour alike through all thiiig!i. ItA colour* however^ lias no nsune, for it is neither white, nor grey, nor blue, nea ^reen. nnd yet it can be called al) tbe^e. Earth, too, b really neither black nor purple, and yet up to a certain point it corrc^pwndA with borh. The case i.s the «Ame with air, which is pure and pellucid in chaoft, aad yet is tietthcr white, n'^ blue, nor citrine, etc.^ while it U ii^till partially assimilated to thejMr. So aUo heaven has ili special colour - like blue, like retJ. Jikc grreJit and yet n*?ne of the^^e colours i* present therein oihcrAvise than appiiref)tly>^ For elcroeulary bodies are so Tormed a& to have no iterfect ci:>lour b)' which they may be uamed> But the tilings which are produced from them hive iljtir di^linct^ detennin.ite coloum, amtl to these names can be given. Tbus, many colouri are produced from ibc dccnent^, ajid they are therefore composed of many, even of that nuuibcr which tht:y produce from them^lvcs. From the earth proceedl hlue, red, bkcktc:c^» while from water alt colours come forth>and so also from air and heaven. Accord. iT^gly, ctjli>un are collected from many into one, heaped together and mixedt and such mixture produces no express,. det«fmiTuite,and definile colour. Give heed to an example taken from heaven and ixs fruits. For ye «;e that evcrj'thing which grows from the earth has its palpable foot and root .aj« are tree* and hcrlis, etc But the star* are the fruits q^ heaven, yet they do not put forth their root*; tn heaven, for they stand immov;ib1e below the heaven, without any support or attach* mcnt. Earth and heaven are oppo:iiic in thi* re!*pect- one yields* its fruits with rx>ls, the other without; one tend^ upward'** the other downwards, and as fishes rest upon nothiuf*, and, without feet, swim about in the water, *.o in like manner, itars swim about in the heaven, that Li, in the bctdy of heaven, preserving tliat order which God has prcscrtlied ibera.fiome moving at a bigcr. some at a lowert level, at different distance* ♦ipart, and with a quicker or slower motion. The details of this queylion mti«t be referred to astronomers, but thU, at least, should be remembered, that heaven is a body which, like water^ is capable of nmtaining a swimming thing, yet it is not water, but dry, while that which float* in it is alio d^)^ It \a not strictly swnmming« but has analogy ihercwtch ; it is not going or running, since it \% not effected by handv or feci ; it U the miraculous work of God, and an element which conlaiiis and includes, all the rest^ and drives tbem in a round or a circle. The star* were born from heaven, and stand (herein a* if they flew like a bird through the iiir, according to the order and circle, even a&God has destined and formed tbem to motion. Having been once formed, they henceforth remain for ever the same. The trees and fruits of the earth fall and arc re-l)Om, The stars can perish opice only^ namely, at the end of the world. \Vhate\'cr cUe is formed in the elements is eaten awtiy by mould, motli, and death. It i« only the stars of the celestial heaven which remain in immunity, and yet their fruit.s riseatxl fall, as rain, snow, etc. But they have a unique and spccint colour, which is licry. Thus, earth chiefly di^ptaj's greenness, though it has also other coluurs^ The sun is peculiar in colour, and if the same be igneous, it i* not after the manner
of wood, but of an element We must rct>cai concerning fire that it has l>een enumerated as one of the
elements, but with manifest absurdity. The earth, indeed, eichibita itself as an cJement, water in like manner, aiKl so also air* But consider the fourth elemeuu Tbts cannot be fire, for it confers nothing elemental and no fruits upon maUt nor does it possess any .ifSnky Vi'ith man^ or vicf vertn, but it has an altogether fatal power, whereby the soul is separated from the body. It is, therefore, necesa^ary that heaven should be regarded as the fourth element, for this is akin to man, nor can man dispense l herewith , whereas he can dispense with fire and can live without it* The pr^ssibility of his di night, summer and winter, increasing all fruits, and helinng the other elements. The Scripture states that God created the heaven and the earth fir^t. In heaven are the other elements, and even as Uie jar is made ready before the wine it pressed out, so the clemcul of beavcn is in reality the first element, which we have here named for the fuurth.— Z/Arr
Cimtertiing the Generations of the Elements,
221
frig'idity* This resolution is one and the same with that of a cold stone, which exudes on account of the vapour which it has acquired from Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt. That vapour exists in all elementated bodies. For as man, by natural exercise and the process of excretion , purges the phlegfm from his nostrils, so do the stars also and all the elements underg-o these excretions. This vapour flows down every day from the stars » and falls on the earth- During the day it is consumed by the sun. But by night it glides down to the earth before the sun rises^ and is called dew. Through the winter, or during a cold autumn, it is frozen, and becomes hoar-frost. This is nothing else than the exudation of the stars in the whole firmament, which thus falls drop by drop. For as boiling water evaporates upwards towards the sky, or sends its dew on high, so the stars send their exudation down- wards.
Concerning Nebul.e,
Nebula is nothing else but a vapour of this kind, differing from the former only in this, that while not yet quite matured, it is excreted by certain stars. When it falls to the earth like hoar-frost, it rests on the earth and the w*ater, and is like smoke. It cannot be completely resolved into hoar-frost or ^ Nebula is imperfect dew which has not yet fully matured. If it is thin it falls to the earth and vanishes. But if it is dense, but not yet prepared, it descends to a higher region of its own, where it is consumed by the suii» If, however, it be mixed with rain-clouds, then rain is produced from it, but oi a more subtle kind than other rain. Very often nebula? of this nature descend and produce a spell of rainy weather. For if the stars are rainy they cannot be resolved into dew, but only into nebula. But if sometimes they bring clear weather, the cause is that the nebula, being more subtle in its preparation, disappears on the surface of the globe.*
* Earth IS blacki grou rough, c]aye>', Impure, Hlrty. and noUiIng could be cruder. Waler U more subtle, {mre, t and clear, so that the eye can penetrate far into its depths. The air » completely pellucid antl intangible, so per- * fectly purified that nothins foreign can be seen in it. Heaven U, however, by far superior to the air, but* thoujgb it \s the clearest of all the elements, it is yet a body, which is proved by the fact that its fruits are bodies, such as rain, «rtow, hail, the thunderbolt^ etc., for a body can only be geiMrated from a body. Ltut inasmuch as the heaven is more subtle than the earth, so arc it^ fruil» in comparison, and not only in stiblkty but in operation. We have said enough of the heaven, but there remains something to be imparted concertung the fitars and their risings. The star* bear the same rdation lo the *ky a* do trees to earth. But whereas trees have their root* iu the earth, the stars are without foundAtion in heaven. The reason is this : trees do not need to be removed from the place where tliey are pbuited^ but the Stan must describe their orbit, for which reason they are separated from the heaven, while at the same time they are in the heaven. At the same time, they do not remove from their own mansions any more than the tree from its garden. Now, so often as there is a new genus among tree*, there is likewise a new genus among stars. The same must be understood of herbs and all things that grow on the cartlK GT\>\*ing thingi correspond exactly to the tutmlter of influences and stars. Ever>' genus corresponds to its like. But zs, some trees produce pears and others apples^ wa some stars yield rain, others snow, hail, etc., and in tiiis fashion is generated whatsoever foils^ from heaven. The qualities which arc specialised on earth exist more strongly in the heaven, because that element is superior to earthly things. And as the magnet attract* towards itself, so al.>o the stars attract in the heaien. Accorfluj-gly, as certain natures on earth are dry and other* humid, so throughout the whole Unnameni some stars are drier than other*. Con- cerfUAg ihe operations of the si.ors, they are produced out of congenital properties, and they arise from the three prime ptindpteiit* That meteorology is false which makes absurd statements about the heat of the sun. of its motion^ or other moclcs of generation, made by attraction from the earth. There is no star which attracts rain, and then again pours itdonra. The opetation of rain proceeds from a nature congenitd thereto. Even summer and winter are produced from the stars, the sun being supreme among those of the calorific kin^d, whkh arise at the beginning of summer, and
CONCERNING METALS, MINERALS AND STONES FROM THE UPPER REGIONS.
TEXT I. Concerning Metals.*
1"^ H E metals which come from the upper regions derive their origin from the seven planets. But these planets are manifold. There are many suns, many moons, many Marses, Mercuries, Jupiters, and Saturns. They are only called seven because they produce seven metals, and one kind of metal is ascribed to each planet. Those are not planets which the astronomers point out ; and they are in error when they assign these to the metals : nor are they unanimous among themselves in what they do say. From these seven kinds of planets proceed the seven metals, and they are the same in the first three, just as in the element of water. The only difference is that in the first three they are volatile, not fixed, in their species. In this way the metals which are found do not stand the test of the lower metals. Neither, again, do the lower. metals stand the test of the superior ones. There is not one and
are strengthened by their own heat till they reach the supreme grade, when again they gradually fail. Then the winter stars rise in their turn, display their own nature, afterwards die out, and are succeeded by another summer. The var>'ing cold of winter and the varying heat of summer are occasioned by mutations in the potency of the respective stars. The moon is chief among the stars of winter, and is furnished with no small escort. Were the summer stars to fail, there would be no summer, for the sun, whether high or low, dispenses an even heat. Unless, therefore, the summer stars were to arrive, perpetual winter would prevail. The summer stars, however, derive their increment from the sun. So, also, we must not assign a diverse origin to day and night. The day arises from the light of the sun, but the night from the light of the moon. The departure of the sun by no means causes night. It is the peculiar nature of certain stars to produce darkness, which is so gross that unless the moon interfered with her presence, nothing whatever would be visible. Such a course, therefore, has God imposed upon the stars, that, going round the whole firmament, they retain their order and continual progress. For lest they sliould cease, or have a g nocturnal stars take the place of the receding sun. The bodies of the three prime principles are the cause of those bodies whence day and night proceed. The sun is a perspicuous and duiphanous salt, clarified and extracted from these principles, being puritied from all obscurity. Its brilliancy has been extracted from the mass of the first matter of heaven. And whereas that is a white brilliancy which has been digested into the sun, so has a red into the moon and stars. The transparency and perspicuity of the white were extracted in sulphur, salt, and liquor, to make the sun thereof. Afterwards the brilliance of the red was put into a body of sulphur. Thus salt is the body of the sun, sulphur that of the moon, while liquor is the body of darkness. -/^
* Metallic natures also subsist in the element of fire, for as in heaven there are stones, so also there are metals, but differentiated beyond all recognition from those of earth. Fiery thunderbolts, with their corruscations, are only metals, harder than all iron or steel, fluxible as copper, mixed with colours, and formed like a thunderbolt. Their fall is solely owing to some miraculous conjunction of elements, which produces them in bodily form. Many marvellous matters are carried up into the heaven and fall down to us. If it were possible for the stars of mercury, salt, and sulphur to be joined in a like copulation, several impressions of this kind would fall hourly. But the disposition of things is not favour.iLle herein, except in the case of the thunderlx>lt. — De Mit^vris. Lib. I J,
Concerning the Generations of the Elements.
223
the same ductilitj% or fluxibility, or hardness in tlie one as in the other* Neither are they uniform in colour ; there is a distinct difference in them. So, again, there is a volatile nature of this kind in the element of fire, which is the metallic operation and nature of all the seven stars, which also falls down from them to the earth at the same time, just like rain and similar e01uxes. Many such metals lie under their own stars, some in Asia, a few in Africa, and few^er still in Europe. These stars do not reach our earth, so that these meials are not found amongst us. All those grains, however, which are among the seven metals, and are rough in external appearance, come down from the stars« and not from the element of water. And all the metals which are coagulated without fire, and are rounded in shape like pulse, of whatever kind they are, have come down from the sev^cn stars, ^vhether they lie above them or not ; and the earth strikes against them just as rivers do. But where they are found is neither their source nor their root, but they come forth just like kidneys. Their origin is in the stars, and all have come down from thence. For there, in the element of fire, is no rudeness or density to mix itself up. It purges itself according to its own stars, and coagulates of itself purely and entirely. These metals, just like those in the element of waiter, exist in com- mixture with Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, save that the igneous metals have not a watery fixation, just as the aqueous metals have not a firmamental fixation.
TEXT 11.
When, then, the three primals have completed their effect in the metallic star— as when, in the star of the sun, a composition has been formed of the Mercury of the sun with the solar Sulphur and Salt, then they are digested into a perfect metal, by Adech, who shapes therefrom the form of his own gift* Then at length the star throws off its efilux, warm and liquefied, as if from some furnace. This is shaken in falling, is coagulated in the cold, and lights upon the globe. In the same w^ay, also, the star oi the moon makes a compo- sition of Mercur)', Sulphur, and Salt. When these are brought to their effect (just as in the case of the sun) it casts them forth. The same thing takes place with Saturn, Mars, Venus, Mercur}% and Jupiter. It must be remarked, how- ever, that out of the seven kinds of the seven stars, each one embraces the three primals of one metal ; not as in the element of water, where in one Ares the seven are latent. The names of the seven metals, therefore, bear reference to the seven metals not of the earth but of the stars In the same way, too, many liquids fall down from the stars, being not yet m a state of coagulation* If the earth be moistened with these, a brightness rises thence like each i mis, talcs, and sometimes marc^ites, though it does not fully and perfectly arise from any of these, nor perfectly bears reference to the same. Hence it will be inferred that the superior metals excel those of the lower earth by many degrees, in goodness, in purity, and in nature, and so in all respects deserve greater praise,
224 '^^^ Hermetic and Alclumical Writings o/ Paracelsus.
TEXT III. Concerning Stones from Above.*
In the same way there are also other stars which cast forth from them- selves gems, granates, and other forms of stones. For Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury in the element of fire possess a powerful force for generating gems. There are many stars which consist of ruby Sulphur, many of sapphire Salt, and many which are powerful in emerald Mercur}-. There are also stars which contain the primals of copper, vitriol, salt, or alum. Hence, many of this kind appear rainy. If these are prepared they manifest themselves. From these stars are generated sapphires of lazurium. There, Salt is the body, solidly coagulated with pure Sulphur and with the spirit of Mercur}-. In the emerald Mercury is the body, having the nature but not the body of copper. It has its colour but not its body from copper. In this way, all the colours of gems which proceed from fire are found in proportion to the nature and condition of the three primals which are found united in the ratio of colours in the metals. For instance, in copper there is redness. But these three primals, if they have not a metallic body, become green. So, from silver, if the metallic body be wanting, lazurium is produced ; from iron, a red body ; from lead, the same ; from Jupiter, a clay-coloured one mixed with white ; from gold, a purple body ; from mercur)-, one that is saffron-coloured. In like manner, also, if only the Salt predominates, it produces various colours, such as are conspicuous in certain stones, purple or blue, either lightly or deeply impressed. Equally, too, that which comes only from Mercur>' is marked by many colours, saffron, red, etc. That which is from Sulphur has for its prevailing colours, white, red, saffron, black, coerulean, and so on. These stones are very rare, and those which are of a metallic nature are exceedingly precious. Thus, the emerald is a copper stone ; the carbuncle or jasper is a golden stone ; the ruby and chalcedony are iron stones ; the sapphire lazurius is a silver stone ; the white sapphire is a stone of Jupiter; the jacinth is a mercurial stone. After this manner, then, stones are generated in their own stars, which closely adjoin the planets, and then are ejected, just as metals are ejected, and so are found in theloftiest parts of the earth, according to the ratio of their generation.
• In the height of the firmament stand the three principles from which impressions arise. These are so high and so lofty that we cannot behold their form, and yet they have a form. We see, however, the green which is their colour. Hence it is gathered that in the element of fire generations of stone also take place. But where stones are generated they fall. Although this be considered wonderful, rare, and unheard of, it more frequently happens in the '««a than with us. The generations of these stones take place as follows. If the principles of thunderbolts are present, any number of thunderbolts may be generated, for with every peal there is a stone. The matter of such stones exists first of all in an aerial condition, and is afterwards coagulated into an earthy one, so that the air can retain them no longer, and they ultimately fall to the earth. Furthermore, the matter of these stones may collect into one place in the absence of any tempest, but it will remain aerial until it comes in contact with a contrary nature, when it will at once begin to coagulate and to fall, even as a cloud Is precipitated downward in the form of rain. — ///^.
Concerning ike Generations of the ElenunU, 225
TEXT iV.
Concerning Crystals and Beryls.
Of cr>'stals and beryls it should be known that they are generated from the snowy stars, which produce snow» in the following manner : Fn the snowy starSf the power of congelation is so strong that sometimes they are of a double nature ; that is, one and the same star contains within it both snow and congelation, and so becomes twofold. Now, a star of this nature, which has gained at the same time the power of congealing and also of producing snoW| easily generates the crj'stal, the citrine, and the beryl. For, if snow falls, and frost accompanies it, and, moreover, a place be given to him on the globe where Boreas predominates, while the sun or the solar nature does not prevail strongly, then the water which is in combination with the snow is coagulated into a stone. Now, if this water is caught by an intense frost midway, while the snow is falling, stones are formed from it before they fall on the globe. Thus, large or small granules are found in proportion as the frost has caught the snow in falling. But, if this seizing has not been so sudden, the frost collects and drives together all the water contained in the snow, which, however, is not itself snow, into one centre towards the bottom of the earth, and when it is massed there, coagulates it into ice. This, however, does not again liquefy like other frozen bodies, nor is it dissolved, and that because it is derived from snow-water. Other waters, it is true, which are frozen, are partly snowy, but the snow is dissolved with them. Here, this should not take place, but the water is extracted from the snow. The fact that the snow remains, happens only through the snowy star, wherein, also, the power of congelation subsists, so, that, wherever they meet in one place on the earth, the snow is not liquefied, but goes on to the end of the intention or operation. In snows of this kind are produced stones, such as crystals and the like, pure and dark together, for this reason, because S.S. of Mercurj* and Salt have clarified and purified themselves. Very often, too, ciystals, berj'ls, and citrines of this sort, are found in places which are not snow>^ The reason of this is, that they have been coagulated in the higher regions and have fallen down in that form. They are nothing but coagulated snow-water. But their shape and species and angularity are bestowed upon that in proportion as the Salt in them exists in a subtle or a dense state.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE GENERATION OF THE ELEMENTS
BOOK THE THIRD.
Co%CEMXlSG THE ElEXEVT OF EaRTH.
TEXT I.
COXCERXIKG THE EaRTH, PeR SE-
TO philosophise concerning the element of earth, its matter was first made on the following principle : Its three primals were separated, as if out of the great Iliaster, from the two primal elements into another form and nature, so that in the beginning not only the element of earth, but the element of water was segregated, and these were afterwards joined together into one globe, which is the centre of the exterior elements. From the«^ two elements, first the earth was completed, afterv^ards the water. But concerning the earth, it should be known that all the force and nature which lay hid in the Great Iliaster for nourishing not only man, but cattle, by means of food and other necessaries, were collected into the element of earth, and consisted of all trees, herbs, and other growths. But they were so divided from the other three elements that this virtue exists in the element of earth alone, and not in any other element. Therefore this Iliaster is peculiar to the clement of earth so as to afford aliment. For this cause the earth is called, and is, an element, because therein consist all the force and power of nourish- ing things which are due to living beings.
TEXT II.
These three— Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury — are the earth, taken out of the great Iliaster, out of that nature which is the element of earth. For there the clement and the three others were one Iliaster, in which the four elements existed. They were, however, divided one from the other, and the Iliaster was divided. Nevermore, then, can the four elements from hence- forth be joined or stand together, but each subsists separately by itself in its own place. Those, therefore, labour in vain who endeavour to separate the four elements, or to seek besides these a fifth essence.
Concerning the Generations of the Elements.
227
From these three primalSi disjoined from the other elements, was the matter of the earth produced, in such form as it now is and is seen. And as the air was made heaven, the fire, the firmament, the water, the sea, etc, so did separation bring- it about that this element should pass into matter and end in a globular form^ and that in it should be included all the virtues of trees, herbs, fungi, so that from it should be procreated in the world all those genera which had been silently sown and had lain hid within it.
TEXT IIL
Fn this element of earth was hidden the seed of wood, of roots, of herbs, of fungi, and also the force whereby the stem rises, and is formed and planted according to the will and pleasure of its cultivator. The seed is here invisibly proceeding from the nature of the element, which alone is that seed, as the abode and seat of the same» in which it is elaborated and prepared. But originally that force is separated into its own genus, so that the two do not remain joined in one, but each genus exists solely and separately, one in wood, a second in the herb, a third in fungus. Each of these, again, passes separately, this into cedar, that into anthos, this, again, into balsam, and that into bolin,* Of herbs, too, one passes into meligia, another into a lily with thorns — and so with the rest. But in order that this seed may be rightly understood according to its distribution, it should be remarked that in the separation of the great Aniadus the nature of trees was collected into one place, botin into a second, and ebony into a third. So, too, with others. Equally, too, the great Aniadus so disposed of herbs that into one portion of earth was cast grass, into a second trefoil, and into a third lavendula. For so to each land is given its own herb, and its own tree. We should pay attention to what has been the distribution made by the Aniadus.
TEXT IV.
As to why the Aniadus thus fell among trees so that in one soil should be produced the orange, in a second the plum, in a third the fig, and in a fourth acorns, the cause may be supposed to have been that the fig and the orange require their soil to be of a peculiar kind which should be favourable to their increase, just as they also require an appropriate climate. If now the
* In th« boiin, the pine, ftod the fir, there exUt two kinds of sulphur — ooe poshes away lato coaguUttODi the ocber is ftepArated thrrefrom, iind is not coaguUted. From the sulphur which b &uM:cptible of coogulAtion, the woodt of the trees Vk prepared, and the same abounds in »alt. It U owing to thU sulphur that wood bunu, aiid it goes on burning «o long Ja there \\ sulphur in it. Whatsoever remains is saH^ and this is in the form of ashe&. And that truly is salt which the sulphur in trees coagulates into wood, whence rIass is made. For salt is fluid. And this gtaAs is the ultimate matter of any salt of wood wbaooever. But the other jsulpbur which i» not susceptible of coagulation gives terebinth* resin of the fir and pine^ which inhert^ cbiefiy in the wood, and by rea.son of it* subtlety penetrates through the pores outride the bark* either by liquefaction or by a natural resolution. The sulphur which vs in botin u more subtle than the sulphuis of the (ir or pine, while that of the pine is more subtle than that of the lir. But iill three are of one generation, proceeding from the Aniadas, which i» united through Mcrcurj', The harV is aof htng else but sulphur coagulated afier the manner of resin « and it i« educed into this form by the AniaduiL For it b a bard congealed sulphur. And as there is no outside in ajiy body without hardness, so is the bark formed fro«n the hardest parU of the sulphur which exists in a growing thing. The branches, the shoots, etc.* as also the fruits, proceed, in like manner, from the AntaduSt and derive theix cpecial form and character therefrom. This U to be understood also coooemijig other trees.— T?** Bkmmto Ttrwtt^ Tr»ctll..Tex I.
Q2
228 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
soil be unsuitable and the climate ill-adapted, the one fruit or the other cannot emerge, but its seed of necessity perishes and never bursts forth. For though it be present there and lie in the earth, it is, nevertheless, dried up by the climate and oppressed by the unfavourable constitution of the soil, which is varied by the variety of the climate, not by its own nature. For the soil is everywhere one ; but variety and change accrue to it from the climate, which either encourages or impedes the growths themselves. The sun burns up the genus of lilies, or some other genus ; but this rarely happens, for the seed is ready, to hand, which Nature produces from the tree or flower. This material seed is the cause why the sun cannot burn up the whole genus of this or that flower or tree, but allows it to come to a condition of vigour : unless perchance it happens that the force of the sun is less than suffices for fertility. Thus in the work of planting, herbs and trees are produced which, on account of the aforesaid defect in the soil, would not otherwise be forthcoming.
TEXT V.
But we must proceed with our philosophy of the earth. The fruits pro- ceeding from the element of earth are twofold. The earth either produces them of itself or by means of seed. In this way all growths are produced by the element out of the soil in two ways ; that is to say, either from the proper seed of the soil, or from seed entrusted to the earth. The proper seed is when the earth puts forth a herb which springs from itself. Seed that is sown is foreign and not proper. Here the gifts of herbs are twofold. Neither spelt, nor wheat, nor lily, nor pear-tree, nor anything of this kind, grows spontaneously out of the earth, but all have to be sown. Here the philosophy of this treatise is deep, to find out whence come those seeds which do not issue from the earth itself. If neither spelt nor wheat be sown, none of these things will be pro- duced. But herbage and grass do grow. Herbage and grass, therefore, are growths of the earth itself, not like apple trees and cherry trees. So there remains another philosophy by which we learn whence are produced spelt, whence apple trees and pear trees. You must know that the seeds of all these growths are propagated from Paradise, sown outside it, then planted and cul- tivated far and wide. These fruits of Paradise come to be understood in the same way as we understand that Christ was God and yet a mortal man.
TEXT VI.
As to the method whereby the seed passes into its shoot, it must be known that the seed takes from the earth nothing more than its increment and formative power. The other is from Paradise, and is taught in the Paramirum.* But as to how much of an element is taken from the earth,
* Every seed is threefold ; that b, the seed is one, but three substances exbt and grow therein. But even as the seed appears one, so are these three to be understood as one only. Every individual thing is united in its seed, and not divided, but the same is a conjunction of unity. An illustration may be taken from trees, which have their bark, their wood, and their roots, which are distinct in themselves, and yet co-exist in a »ngle seed.— /^omMrfnMW, Lib. II., c. X-
Concerning the Gepurations of the Elements.
229
that may be understood from the fact that in the beginning the three primals of the earth mix with the seed, so that it lends towards the end destined for it, and becomes that which it is before. For the seed is that which is of itself, but not yet manifested. Out of this proceeds first the root ; from this, afterwards, the stalk. From the root and stalk issue forth the branches. From these three burst out the leaves. After this appear the flowers and fruits. This shoot or growth is formed by the great Aniadus, and is like a man. It has its skin, which is the bark. It has its head and hair, which are the root. It has its figure, its signs, its mind, its sense in the stalk, the lesion whereof is followed by death. Its leaves and flow^ers and fruit are for ornament, as in man hearing, vision, and the power of speech. Gums are its excrement, and the parasite is its disease. Philosophise as we will about its growth, this is nothing more than its Aniadic nature, which arranges all forms and directs them into their essence for which they were created. Its death and passing away are the period of its years. A pear-tree will stand for ten or twenty years. After that time it dies. Thus a shoot or a tree growing in the earth dies according to the time appointed for its death. Its decay is the element of fire. That is, fire destroys wood, leaves, grass. Whatever is left in the field decaying and passing into rottenness is consumed by the sun and the movement of the galaxy, so that it is no more left on the earth than as though it had never grown there, as happens to wood in the fire. Thus are growing things consumed and eaten away so that no relic remains, but all are removed like dust. The very remnants are so dispersed by a strong wind that not a fragment survives and remains at the expiration of a year.
TEXT VII.
Since, then, trees, herbs, corn, and vegetables are produced out of the earth, the power of this element should before all else be learnt : because some growing things are food and aliment, as vegetables and fruits ; others are drink, as grapes and berberis ; others purge the body, like turbiih, hellebore, and colocynth ; others strengthen it, as cinnamon, carraways, mace ; others have their virtue in the root, as parsnip and gentian ; others in the leaves, as pot-herbs and cabbage ; others in the flowers, as ox-tongue ; others in the fruits, as apples, pears, etc. ; others in the seeds, as pepper, nuts, and the like. Now, it is worth while to know how all these things take place. It is the Aniadus of the Earth who thus distributes them. The nutrimentat virtues he arranges in three parts, the seed, the roots, the extremities. Thus the apple is a fruit on the tree because the Aniadus thrusts it forth, and shapes the fruit into the form of an apple, or a pear, or a fig, etc. In the nucleus is a species of seed, as in wine there is a species of drink. So, then, the Aniadus, before man, operates the first preparation, and man directs the second for his own convenience. After these, whatever is of a laxative nature degenerates into another growth, as into the mountain brook-willow, the rhabarbarus, or
230 The Hertnetu and Alchemical Writings 0/ Paracelsus.
hermodactylos. Whatever is of a sweet nature passes into sugar, foenograecum, liquorice root and flowers. Hence it is that pears and figs derive their sweet- ness, and bees their honey. Bitterness turns to amarissima, warmth to pepper and grains of Paradise, coolness into nenuphar and camphor. For as in the element of fire everything by itself is divided from another, so also the virtue of the element of earth is divided to its own growth. And yet it often happens that two or three natures link in a single substance. So in cassia there are heat, sweetness, and a laxative nature. In mace there are odour, goodness, and strengthening power. Such is the case with many others, and yet one does not on that account destroy the other. In the same way the power of the element of the earth either makes for health, as in the tare, in persica and gamandria : or it is of a consolidating nature, as in the comfrey and the red artemisia : or in the odour, as in the lily of the valley and narcis- sus : or in its stench, as in the dane-wort. These are all either produced from the Aniadus, or distributed for the use of those who live on the earth. In this way the mighty gifts are learnt, just as the virtues of the elements which have flowed down from the great Iliaster.
* As out of the element of earth trees pass off into wood, so in the same element there is a certain sulphur which can be separated and passes off into food. Of this kind are vegetables and cereals. Dry tmd humid sulphurs are united, being the three principles duplicated according to nature and essence. One of these is for use, the other b not. Thus the avena is sulphur, but it is not edible. The seed, however, is edible. The non-esile sulphur is first of all developed into stalk, etc, and subsequently the esile sulphur is collected into the grains of the cereal.— Z7^ EUmento Ttrrm, Tract III., Text I.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE GENERATION OF THE ELEMENTS.
»*.- P'f »
BOOK THE FOURTH. Concerning thb Element of Water with its Fruits,
TEXT h
CONCERNING the element of water, the first things to be considered are : What is its origin, into what divisions it is broken up, and what the element is pef se. The element of water is a seed from Yle, bringing forth stalks and fruits, that is, water, and its fruits, such as stones and metals of various kinds. Concerning the seed of the element of water, it must be laid down that it is latent in its workshop, just as seed lies in the soil. From this workshop proceed the stalk and its branches and fruits, in this way. Out of this seed is produced the stalk, breaking out of the soil into the light, whilst it remains tying in the earth. For, as the element of earth bears its fruit in the body of chaos, so, in like manner, the earth is a body, which sustains growing things such as trees and fruits from the tree of the element of water. There is no element but requires a body by which it may be sustained. Chaos bears impressions. The element of fire sustains the fruits of the earth, the earth bears up the fruits of water, the water those of the air. Thus, the fruits of each element are borne by some other element. Now, as from the seed of the element issues its tree, so its tree is a flowing stream, distributed throughout the whole earth. All things are one tree, with one origin, one root, from one stalk. And the streams of the whole globe are the branches of this one stalk. All the humour of the whole globe is Abrissach, which falls down from the branches of this tree, and pervades all the pores of the globe with its distillation. For, as the fragments from the fir-trees fall down from above to the earth, so these branches from the water fall down into the hollows of the earth. In this way takes place the generation of the element of water. AH the water and all its fruits come forth from the element of water ; but they are not the element itself. The element itself is never seen by any, and yet, nevertheless, there is an element of water. From it emanates nothing but water. It is called an element on account of the water and its fruits, not on account of its own complexion and quality, just as is the case with the other elements.
232 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
TEXT II. But concerning its course and goal, as also its seats and termini, the truth is, that the tree has its exit and end of itself, rises and falls, is produced and perishes. Thus, all water that flows forth from it is new, not old, and was never before seen. For, as the element of water lies in the middle of the globe, so, the branches run out from the root in its circuit on all sides towards the plains and towards the light. From this root very many branches are born. One branch is the Rhine, another the Danube, another the Nile, etc. So, there are also smaller branches, all born out of that root which rises from the seed, whence proceeds the element of water. And all the stalks belong to one tree, which is born of the root along a triple line in the circle of the outer firmament of the two elements, fire and air. So, then, the tree is distributed by this triple line over the universal globe, tending towards the light. So the stalk and its branches grow out from the centre of the globe until they reach the two external elements where the line ends. It does not go on to its own body, or Yliadum. For, unless the Yliadum were so placed in that position, every tree would spring right up to the sky, extending itself further outside the earth than from above, where it is fixed in the earth. So, neither do the fruits of the element of the earth grow farther than to the prescribed limit of the Yliadum, which is the lower chaos of the earth, not occupying more of the earth than the height to which growing things rise. Chaos, therefore, is twofold. That which is above is the chaos in which fire is sustained ; and, unless the Yliadum were opposed, the element of earth would extend its fruits to the mid heaven. So, too, the element of water. The course and progress of the stalk of the tree is, that it goes on to its Yliadum above the plain of the earth, where its height ends. But how far it extends since it lies in its Yliadum, this must be sought from philosophy, because all the branches reach their Yliadum in the sea, where they all meet. For, as there is one root, so is it compelled to reach one summit or canopy, which is the sea. The sea itself is of itself neither the stalk nor the tree, but, as it were, the canopy of the stalk, which is not first or proximately bom from the root, but composed of the branches. Why it is salt, is on account of its position and because salt waters flow together into it, as will hereafter be shewn where we speak about the subject of salts. The cause of its ebb and flow is that all the fruits (or the humours) flow down by night, but by day they swell to a height, that is, clissus. And this clissus in water is the same as in other fruits, increasing and decreasing, going and returning.
TEXT III.
Now, since it is well to know all these things, so their death, that is, their consumption, should be understood. Nothing is free from this con- sumption. It should be understood, then, that everything, when it comes to its Yliadum, is subject to putrefaction and is consumed. Putridity is a kind of consumption, and the passing away of that thing to which it appertains.
Concerning the Generations oj the Elements.
m
so that it is consumed just as if it had never existed. This is the operation of its nature. As Nature produces things, so does she again remove them. As the thing proceeds from nothing, so it returns to nothingness again. Hence it is clear that the element of water itself is subject to putrefaction or cor- ruption. If it comes to its canopy, that is, to the sea, it grows putrid and is consumed of itself, no extraneous agency being accessory thereto, but through its own nature and arrangement. As the fire consumes and extin- guishes itself, so, in like manner, does the water. This is the way, then, in which the tree of the element of water and its branches are distributed. What fruits lie hid in it remain to be seen, as also concerning their nature and the generation of the outgrowths. The nature and property of this element is that some of its fruits it bears within itself, others it casts out, and some it altogether throws away. It must also be separately learnt con- cerning this in how many modes of nature and essence its effluents and streams arise. But in order that all things born of water may be under- stood in its death, it should be realised that the branches, but not the fruits, pass aivay to their canopies. Concerning the death of fruits it should be said that they all flow into Drachum. In that hour they are consumed, as lastly it should be understood and held on the subject of Drachum.
TEXT IV.
By way of simplifyng any study concerning the origin of fruits, we will consider that the following are the fruits o{ the element of water :* — Salts, minerals, gems, and stones. There are, therefore^ four kinds of growths out of the seed of the element of water, in this way. Sweet water is the stalk, Afterw^ards Its nature is manifold in the matrix. One matrix is of salt, one of minerals, one of gems, and, lastly, one of stones. t Each of these, again, is divided in a different way. For instance, there are three fruits of salt— salt, vitriol, and alum. And each of these has many genera ranged under it. There are many kinds of salt, many of vitriol, many of alum. J Some are metals, some marcasites, some cachimiae. But even these, again, singly, admit of more kinds. There are seven metals, nine marcasites, twelve
* The fruiu or waler are born rrom the vecd of Are». Archeu^t who b the Mporator of the elcmenLs and of atl thiugs whidi lie in them« divides one thin^ Tivm the other, and collocates it iuto it^ place. In tl)« vxA of the eleiueiii of water Archeui IT move* everything, and ordains it imo its Nedeon, for the Vliodum of the earth, scparatci the gertiu of&alt from all other nature*, and in like manner the gem» of tweet water and thingj^ which are of an acid Yliodunit tog«th«r with it« maturation to whidi it vk ordain^.— /> EUmfnto Agt*^, *. v. 0t G*H
t Metakt mlnerab, and stones, while they are all generated out of water, da yet owe their development and per* faction to the element of earth. There is a twofold corruption of these MibstAOce«~utie which re«nlt« from a too prolonged connection with the foreign etement. and the proper corruption which takes place in their own ekflie/it. eveti as the fruit at last passes into putrefaction on \i% own iTtc*—Dt t^atHraiikitt A^mi$^ Ub. 111.
* For example, the origin of vUrioK as also of alum, li a» foltowv To* a& salt U extracted tclely according to it» own essence, «o also are ftep4tratcd vitriol and alum. But the form which is manifested in saJt, even as in vitriol and alum^ is known from ihk| that all the fruit* of the element of water are mloerab, and »^tare the nature of metab. But from all tho»e things winch arii.e otit of salt»i mmc is more akin to mineral virtue ttum vitriol, because the salts are DUunraUt and all minerals lie hidden in one mass and Ares. But vitriol is the ultimate in the separaiioQ of jnincrals. It is followed as closely a* possible by the separation of meials| of which Venus is the Ant. Hence viedol adheres to the nature of Venu«. It is partly salt and partly mineral. So m every vitriol there U copper, and by rc4i*oij of thi»
^34 '^^ Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
cachimiae. So in turn every metal by itself is manifold : as fixed gold and not fixed, fixed silver and not fixed, and Venus is both copper and zinc. Such also is the case with the others. So there is a vast variety of marcasites and cachimiae. As to their origin and progress, their autumn and the rest— as, for example, their harvest and ingathering — suffice it to say that all the fruits proceeding from the element of water are divided into their branches and trees. So salt has its own mode of egress, together with sweet waters, even to the boundary of its Yliadum. The same is the case with the rest. But with regard to their division and separation, all such fruits consist of one root, out of which each nature is separately born according to its condition. So from one seed is born one tree, and in this the wood, the bark, the fruit, the leaves are all separate, yet all are but one tree. So also from one root innumerable fruits are produced, but each fruit passes to its own Yliadum and triple line, as the founder has arranged. If, therefore, the distribution proceeds in this way, from Yle into its own stalk, and fruit is produced after its kind, then different things are found proceeding from the element of water — on one stalk salt, on a second a mineral, on a third something else. As, therefore, in the earth every seed produces its own fruit, so the seed of water is the seed of numberless things springing forth from it. Now, if these are brought to their Yliadum, and await their autumn-tide, then at length the autumn and harvest come for the fruit of every branch, which fruit is in itself of this autumn-tide and this generation.
metallic affinity vitriolic salt is of venereal nature. Copper, in like manner, is combined with vitriol. Indeed, its generation instructs us that it is wholly vitriol. At the same time vitriol in itself remains a salt, and derives its body from the liquor of the metals. For this reason it acquires a certain fiery quality tmd brilliancy. Alumen, on the other hand, by no means has affinity with metals, but is a free salt, consisting solely of acetosity, and having a body which is devoid of earthy quality, unlike vitriol, which arises solely from a permixture of metallic bodies. Hence it exhibits a similitude Math marcasites and cachimiae, which come forth in the first generation of metals. The medium which unifies and conglutinates copper with vitriol is a phlegma.— Z7r EUmentc Aqua^ s. v. De Generibns Salium.
Here ends the Philosophy of the Generation of Elements.
APPENDICES.
i;
i:
J;
t'
I.
APPENDIX I .
[In the Geneva folio of 1658, which is by far the largest, as it is also the best, collected edition of the works of Paracelsus, there are many treatises included which conspicuously overlap each other ; and further, there are many treatises, independent in themselves, which are devoted to precisely the same subjects. For example, the Philosophia Sagax occupies, and at equal length, a similar ground to the Explwath Totius Asironomicey and the latter js substantially identical with another astronomical interpretation included in this translation. It is much after the same manner that the Economy 0/ Minerals corresponds to the Liber Mineralinmy but, having regard to the metallorgical importance which, from the Hermetic standpoint, attaches to both these works, it has been thought well to include in an appendix the treatise which here follows*]
A BOOK ABOUT MINERALS.
f~^ INCE I have considered well beforehand, and come to the resolution of ^^J writing about minerals in general, all that relates to minerals, and everything bearing on the generation and nature of minerals, 1 would have you know before all else, that not a few persons have the priority of myself in publishing on the origin of minerals. When I read their works, I found that they were involved in many errors. As far as one can judge from their writings, the}^ have never fully understood what the ultimate matter was. Now, if the ultimate matter be not understood, what, pray, will happen to the first matter? Whoever can describe the beginning will probably be certain about the end and ultimate. What is a theologian who is ignorant of the end? What is an astronomer who is full of boasting, indeed, but without experience of light ? Since, then, these authors are detected as in a state of hallucination about the end, that is, the ultimate matter, how will they be more worthy of credit about the beginning? I repudiate their writings and their letters; this is not the foundation. But, in order that you may have proof positive in a short space as to my possessing much greater dexterity for writing about this matter than those my predecessors had, I will first of all explain to you the ultimate matter of minerals, so that you may plainly know on what basis I treat this subject, and hence may more rightly understand
238 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writinp 0/ Paracelsus.
what is the beg^inning. It is necessary that a physician should first be familiar with the disease with which he has to deal \ when he knows this^ the method of treatment will spontaneously unfold itself, But to know a disease is the end, not the beginning. The art resides in the departure, not in the entrance- The entrance is dark and dubious ; the issue is evident. In this knowledge lies hid, I point out this, therefore* as the foundation, namely^ that every matter must be thoroughly known at its commencement, so that it may also be more exactly understood for what purpose the matter has been framed. Now, if man ought to lay out before himself the works of God, and rlghUy use them, it is necessar)^ that they should not be hidden from him ; otherwise he will be sure to abuse them. What good is an axe to a person who is ig'norant of its purpose ? Let him hand it over to one who knows all about it In the same way, whatever God has created ought to be in the hands of a man who knows how he ought to employ it. Men should know and learn these things, not mere trifles and phantoms conjured up by the devil.
But when I propose to write about the origin of minerals, I shall do this not of myself* hut from my experience, and by means of him from whom I myself received it. What I said in my first paragraph, I here repeat, namely, that the last must be known before the first, and from the last the first should be understood. I make this clear from the example of Christ, who was not understood until He sent the Holy Spirit, who, at His coming, revealed all things. By Him we understand Christ, though He came after Christ. So, from the same ultimate, that is, by the Holy Spirit, we now understand both the Father and the Son.
Now this fits in exactly wdth the philosophy of minerals, because the ultimate matter is made up of those things which teach the beginning of their mother, or of their birth. From them this birth must be understood. Already in other philosophic paragraphs I have named these three substances, Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, as being the principle of all those things w^hich spring from four matrices, that is, the four elements. In the generation of minerals it is necessarj^ to explain that iron, steel, lead, emerald, sapphire, flint, duelech, etc., are nothing else than Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury. Everything produced by Nature is frail and corruptible, and it can be ascertained by Art from what it has issued forth. And here is a proof from Nature, since those three substances just spoken of are in the air, no less than in other things, such as fire, balsam, mercury^ etc. If, by the aid of Art you resolve steel, gold, pearls, or corals, you will still And Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury. When these are extracted by Art, nothing more of that mineral remains, but all is dissolved. Seeing, then, that the dissolution of substances reveals particularly what they are, and what is in them, you can gather that those things are three, namely, Sulphur, Salt, and Mercur>\ These three are the body, and ever^^where there is one body and three substances. Concerning these three substances I will now begin my teaching, by which you may know that in the ultimate matter there are three substances, neither more nor fewer, and out of these three all
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mtnerals have been formed. Furthermore, how God created Nature shall also be stated. On this basis nothing shall be found lacking*
In the beginning it pleased God to make one element— water — whereinto He infused the power of generating minerals, so that they might forthwith grow* and thus adapt themselves to human needs. Water, I say, He destined for this office, that it should be the Matrix of the Metals^ by means of these three substances spoken of— namely, Fire, Salt, and Mercury. In this arrangement so much foresight and discrimination were observed that from the one element of water were produced metals, gems, stones, and all minerals. And though the fruit be unlike its parent, so God willed that each should be produced according to its own nature. One is a bird of the air, another a fish in the water. And just as these differ one from the other, so do the natures of other created things. All these depend on the power of God, who willed that His good pleasure should be fulfilled in them.
Now, it should first of all be realised that the element of water is the mother of all minerals, though water itself is utterly unlike these. So also is the earth related to wood, though earth is not wood. Nevertheless, wood comes from it. In the same way, stone, iron, etc., are from water. Water becomes that which of itself it is not* It becomes earth, which it is not. So is it necessary for man also to become that which he is not* Whatever is destined to pass into its ultimate matter must necessarily differ from its beginning. The beginning is of no avail.
Now, in water is the primal matter, namely, the three first substances. Fire, Salt, and Mercur)^ These have certain different natures In them, as will hereafter be pointed out. They have metals, they have gems, they have stonesi they harv^e flints, and many things of this kind. One is a metal, another a stone, another a flint. So in the sky, too, one is snow, another thunder, another the rainbow, another lightning. In like manner on earth, too, one thing is wood, another a herb, another a flower, and another a fungus. Such an artificer has God shewn Himself, the Master of all things, whose works no one is able to rival. He alone is in all things. He is the primal matter of all : He is the ultimate matter. He is all things. Then, when we come in due succession to explain minerals, %ve will, in the ensuing discourse, speak before all else concerning the properties of the matrix, that is, the element of water. The things whereof I write were supposed by the ancients to spring from the earth. Their meaning was good ; but the position was incapable of proof. In this point they were defective, as also in the materials for estab> lishing that proof.
The principle, then, was first of all with God, that is, the ultimate matter. He reduced this ultimate matter into primal matter. It is just in the same way as the fruit, which is to produce other fruit, has seed. The seed is in the primal matter. So in the case of minerals, the ultimate matter is reduced to the primal, as in the case of seed. The seed here is the element of water. God determined that there should be water- Then He conferred upon it, besides
240 Tht Htnnetic and Akhemical Writings of Paracelsus.
this nature, that it should produce the ultimate matter, which is in water* This water He subjects to special preparation. That which is metallic He separates into metals and arrang-es each meta! separately by itself. That which belongs to gems He also digested into its own nature. That which is stony in like manner. The same is the case with marcasites and other species.
Moreover, if God created time— harvest for the corn and autumn for the fmits—He also appointed its own special autumn for the element of water, so that there might be a certain harvest and definite autumn for all things. So, too, the water is an element, is the matrix, the seed, the root of all minerals. The Archeus is he who in Nature disposes and arranges all things therein, so that everything may be reduced to the ultimate matter of its nature. From Nature man takes these things and reduces them to their ultimate matter* That is, where Nature ends man begins. The ultimate matter of Nature is the primal matter of man. So, then, by an admirable design, God has appointed that the primal matter of Nature should be water, which is soft, gentle, and potable. Yet its offspring or fruit is hard, as metals or stones, than which nothing is harden The ver>^ hardest, therefore, derives its origin from the very softest — the fire from the water — in a way beyond the capacity of man to grasp. But when the element of water becomes the matrix of minerals, this is not beyond the capacity of Nature. God has produced a wonderful offspring from that mother. You judge a man by his mother. Every one has his own special feelings and properties, not according to his bodily organization, but according to his nature. Thus all metals according to their body are water, but according to their special properties they are metals, stones, or marcasites. In no other way can reason grasp that these things are diverse in substance and in body.
Thus, then, God created the element of water, that it might be the element of all metals and stones ; and He separated it from the other three elements into a peculiar body which was not in the air, in the earth, in the sky, but was something special, different from these. This he placed on the lower globe so that it might be above the earth and occupy the cavity in the earth where it lies. He founded it with such wonderful ingenuity that together with the earth it should carry men, who might walk and move upon it. And the first thing which moves our wonder in this respect is that it surrounds and encircles the globe and yet does not fall away from its appointed station ; so that the part lying under us is turned upwards just as we are, and in the same w-ay hangs suspended downwards. Then our wonder is increased, seeing that the bed or pit of this genuine element, at its centre of greatest depth, is quite bottomless, so that the water receives no support from the earth on which it lies ; but it stands freely and firmly in itself like an ^%%y nor does anything fall away from the shell; and this is a clear miracle of God.
Now, in this element are the generations of all metals and stones, which
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exhibit themiieives under multifanous natures and forms. Moreover, as you
see, all fruits grow out of the earth into the air, and none of them remain in
the earth, but go out of it and separate themselves from it, so, growing out
of the water, there go forth metals, salts, gems, stones, talcs, marcasites,
sulphurs, etc.^all proceeding from the matrix of this element into another
matrix, that is, into the earth, where the water completes its operation, but
the root of minerals is in the water, as the root of trees and herbs is in the
earth. But they are brought to perfection above the earth, and pass on to
th^ir ultimate matter* which is entirely in the air.
In like manner is completed on the earth that which grows in the water.
So, then, when the root is in the water the growth takes place on the earth,
and hence the doctrine of those writers is clearly erroneous who advance the
the opinion that minerals grow out of the earth, and that all these minerals,
how many soever they be, recognise the earth as their mother. This idea is
worth nothing. Indeed, nothing grows from the earth save leaves, grasses,
woods, herbs, and the like. Everj^thi ng else is from the water* Otherwise,
by the same method of reasoning, il might be said of the growing things of
the earth that they grow^ in the air since they live in the air ; but this is clearly
fallacious* Their roots are found in the earth, and hence we learn that their
origin is in the earth, but their perfecting in the ain In the same way, that
which originates in the water acquires its perfection in the earth. The growth
of minerals follows the same course, convincing us that they are aqueous, and
proceed from the water, existing in the water as the primal matter of those
same minerals, just as all fruits of the earth are generated in the earth, and
after the predestined period they burst forth into harvest, or autumn, and
generate that which is in them. When a root of this kind is born, it first
rises into its own special tree, that is, its body, from which the particular
mineral, metal, or other growth, should be produced in the earth. In like
manner, also, the nut or the cherry does not spring straightway out of the
earth, but first of all the tree is produced, and afterwards the fruit ; so, also, in
the water Nature first puts forth a tree, which is the aqueous body, and this
afterwards grows out into the earth ; that is, it occupies the pores of the
earth, just as the tree fills the air. When this tree is now put forth into the
earth, the fruits are forthwith born, congenital with the tree, according to
their nature and condition. Here the metal grows in its own special kind,
there some sort of salt is produced, there again some genus of sulphur breaks
forth, and elsewhere some sort of gem is protruded. And, just in the same
w^ay as many cherries or pears are found on one tree, so similar fruits of the
water are found at the extremities, and, as it were, on the shoots oi the trees
appertaining to the element of water. Again, like as some trees put forth
many frtiits, and others only few, so, in this case too, there is a similar
property, nature, and condition. Trees of this kind, therefore, should first
be sought, and afterwards their fruits. Thus, the rustic who pursues his
culture in the element of water will be taught and instructed, as the husband-
R
242 The Hermetic and Akhemical Writings of Paracelsus*
man who plies his craft in the soil is taught how he should pursue his husbandry and where fruits must be found.
Careful attention, too, should be g^iven in this method of generation, so that the illustration from the earth may hold good— in this way : There are some trees which bear their fruit, not nakedly* but under mixed conditions. The chestnut, the nut» and other similar growths, have a bark, thorny in appearance, and inside another, while, lastly, a thin skin encloses the kernel. So, in like manner, there are metals, also, and minerals lying hid in fiesh and skin, such as are the ore of iron, the ore of silver, and so on. These have to be removed in order that, after separation, the desired fruit may be extracted. On the other hand, there is another kind which puts forth its fruits nakedly, as cherries, plums, grapes. From these nothing is thrown away, but all is useful and good* So in the aqueous fountain are found pure and naked silver, gold, coral, carabe, and the like. These are all so arranged by Nature that there may be different sorts of trees and of barks, tn which the mineral lies, which also depend upon the variety and division of water, climate, and geographical position. That which lies hid within has to be extracted from the bark or shell, just as in the case of fruits. And yet further, as you see in the kernel a body and the kernel itself, so be well assured that, similarly, in the element itself there is a body and a spirit, so that the body has first to be sought for, and then the spirit in the body. Now, it is the spirit that makes the body, and so it makes also the mineral (or the nutriment). The mineral has one body, the fruit another. That is the same as saying that, although there may be gold in a body, and the body is worthless, because impure, and it must be separated by the goldsmith, so gold has a body which is not impure. There are two bodies. In the second is incorporated the fruit of the mineral, which need not be separated from that gold* So then the fruits are first developed out of the element into a trce^ afterwards into a body, and within the first shell that which is precious and good. Just as man is a twofold body, a dense body which is worthless, and within this another body which is good, so is it with all growths. Whatever God has created He perfects its corporality by a similar process. He has made man in one way, a tree in another, and a stone in another. But He made man more carefully, because He would that man should be created in His own likeness, so that eternity, in which other created things have no share, might reside In man.
The same judgment is to be passed concerning the death of elements, because water has its own death no less than other things. Indeed, water is its own death, eating into, strangling, and consuming its own growth. We have proof of this in the earth. That which grows from it returns to it and perishes, so that no part of it any longer sur\^ives* So yesterday perishes and no man will ever see it again, and it is in like manner with the night past. In like manner also pass away all things born of the earth, which return to the earth, and are consumed by it, and yet it is not heavier by half an ounce then It was yesterday^ nor is it heavier to-day than it was a thousand years ago.
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Its weight remains one and the same. God has gifted His elements with this peculiarity, that they should give fruits and consume their superfluities, but whither those superfluities have gone no ijian knows, any more than he know^s whither yesterday has gone. In like manner, the element of water is its own death, inasmuch as it consumes and mortifies its own fruits. That death is in the great centre and terminus of water, the open sea, into which all water flows Whatever passes hereinto dies and decays, passing away even as wood is con- sumed in the fire. And as, year by year, new fruits emerge from the earth, while the old ones perish^ so, every day new minerals are begotten, be they metals* marcasites, gems, stones, salts, or springs. These all come forth girt about with death, as an infant who brings along with it death bound up with life. By the same method of reasoning, metals, too, bring with their ow^n be- ginning their own death too, and they die in the terminus of the w^ater, that is, in the open sea. The Rhine, the Danube, the lilbe, and other rivers are not the element itself; they are its fruits. The element is in the open sea. It is that out of which all grow and into which all must perforce return, and thus they acquire death whence life is allotted to them This death will be more fully described hereafter in distinct paragraphs, when it is pointed out separately how each mineral comes into being and dies.
Now, with regard to the tree of the element of water, mark this. When Nature is about to put forth any growth into the world — be it gold, silver, copper ; be it gem, emerald, sapphire, granate ; be it a spring, sweet or brackish, warm or cold ; be it coral or marcasite — she then raises up, from the element of water, a tree on the earth, so that its root is fixed in the centre of the sea (or of the matrix). That tree sends forth its seed into the earth, and spreads forth its branches. Know, therefore, that its stock has the form of a liquid, which is not water, oil, bitumen, or mucilage. It has the appearance of wood produced from the earth, but still it is not wood, nor seed (or stock) and yet it is of the earth, and each has its own body. That liquid is the stock, and its branches are that same liquid, just as a tree is wood, and its branches are like in kind. So, then, the mineral tree is formed into a body of this kind, and afterwards divided into its ramifications, so that one branch very often extends from another into a second or third, running out and separately extending itself to a space of twenty, forty, or sixty miles. One branch turns to the German Alps, another to Lungia, another to the Valley of Joachim, and another to Transylvania. Such is its distribution throughout the whole world. In this way innumerable trees are interwoven, wherever the earth extends. As trees grow forth in this fashion, onQ after another on all sides, their extremities extend to the uttermost parts of the earth. Sometimes they crop up to the surface of plains under the open sky ; sometimes they remain in the earth according to the nature and condi- tion which is special to each tree. Hence it follows that at the extremities of the branches the nature of the element of w^ater pours forth its fruits on the earth. As soon as ever these fruits drop on the earth they are at once coagu*
244 7J^ Hermiiic and Alchemical IVrUings of Paracelsus.
lated, and there i% produced from every such tree just what should be produced in proper kind and quantity. When its fruit has been completely shed^ that tree withers and dies within itself. It perishes like all other things and itself passes on to the consummation where all thing^s find their end ; while, lastly, accofxfingr to its nature, a new growth emerges thence.
From this you may learn that the primal matters of all minerals are put ti^;«ther in m^ater* and that this primal matter is neither more nor less than Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, which are now made the soul, spirit^ and true essence of the element These three substances contain within them all metals, salts, gems^ and the like. And when, at the predestined period, it is about to be^et those fruits which it cannot help producing, then each genus 9Ji^ species gives birth to that which is like itself. Thus, if any person had different seeds^ as many as ever the world produces^ mixed together in a bag, and if he were to cast these forth, or to sow them in a garden, Nature, being equal to the occasion, would by-and-by allot to each its own fruit, bringing e**ery separate seed to its own vigour and perfection without injur)- to the others. Exactly the same is it with the element of water, as though this were the bag filled with seeds of all kinds to be sown. Here, too, even' genus and species is brought to its own nature and perfection- God, according to His marvellous plan, has gifted the four elements with these miracles of creation. These are the elements from which issue forth fruits destined for the ser\ice of man. Ever>' different kind has been created by God. By such investigations as these the mighty works of God are explored and understood.
Surely, thereforei that philosophy is worthy of all praise which puts forward only the works of God for our consideration. Every man is bound to learn all he can about these, so that he may know what, and how much, his Creator has done for his sake.
True, the enemy has intruded and sown his tares in this philosophy. Such as this are Aristotle, Albert us, and Avicenna, with their accomplices, who are mere tares of the field. That enemy bursting in has devastated everything and begotten other noxious philosophers whose system is destitute of all knowledge of Nature, and is without any foundation at all. Lacking all light of experience, such philosophy violates in the most disgraceful way the light of Nature. Its professors are the busy-bodies who, mixing themselves up with all good things, exhibit themselves to the devil as sons of perdition.
So far, you have heard that the primal matter is conjoined in the matrix as in a bag, being compounded of three parts, .'^s many as are the fruits, so many are the different kinds of Sulphur, Salt, and Mercur>'. There is one kind of Sulphur in gold, another in silver, another in iron, another in lead, tin^ and so on. So, there is one kind in the sapphire, another in the emerald, another in the ruby, cr^'solile, amethyst, magnet, etc. Furthermore, there is a different kind in stones, flint, salts, fountains, and the rest. And there are not only so many Sulphurs, but so many Salts. There is one Salt in metals, another in gems^ another in stones, another in salts, another in vitriol, another
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in alum. Such, too, is the case with Mercury. There is one kind in metals^ another in gems* and so on as before. Yet these things are still only three. One essence is Sulphur, one Salt* one Mercur}\ Add to this> that all these are still more specially divided. Gold is not one but manifold, as also a pear, an apple, is not on^ but manifold. There are, therefore, just as many Sulphurs of gold, Salts of gold, Mercuries of gold. The same remark applies to metals and gems. .\s many sapphires as there are, some more valuable^ others more common, so many Sulphurs of sapphire, Salts of sapphire, and Mercuries of sapphire are there. The same is true of turquoise and all other gems. All these things Nature holds, as it were, as in one closed hand, from which she puts forth every separate kind, the best and noblest that she has. Thus, she contributes metals to one genus, and divides that genus into other and vaiious species, all comprising metals. In this way the three primals are to be understood, namely, that they embrace as many created species as grow ; and yet they are only composed of one Sulphur, one Salt, and one Mercur}'^ As a painter with one colour depicts numberless figures and forms, no one of which is like another, so Nature is like that painter. In this alone they differ; Nature produces these things with life, while the painter produces only dead ones, Nature*s productions are substantial ; the p;i inter's are mere shadows.
Then again, the reasoning about colours leads to a similar conclusion. On that head, notice this brief information, that all colours proceed from Salt. Salt gives colour, gives balsam and coagulation. Sulphur gives body, substance, and build. Mercury gives virtues, power, and arcana. So these three ought to be combined, nor can one exist without the other. God gives life to those whom He has predestined to derive it from these as it has seemed good to Him. Now Nature herself extracts the colours from the Salt» giving to each species that colour which is suitable. The body which is appropriate to each it takes from Sulphur. Thus, too, the necessary virtues are derived from Mercury. So, then, whoever wishes to learn the bodies of all things must before all else make himself acquainted with Sulphur. Again, he who desires to know colours must seek his knowledge from Salt. He who wishes to learn virtues let him scrutinise the secrets of Mercury. So he will have laid the foundation for examining the mysteries of every growing thing as Nature has infused these mysteries into each separate species. But you should know that Nature has mixed up such bodies, colours, virtues, one with the other ; yet with a little effort it is possible for any one who w^ill, and to whom God gives the power, again to separate them, to form^ colour, and endow them. Vou see and know how it wakens our wonder wlien from a dusky black seed emerges a tree adorned with its bright and joyous colours, with leaves, fruits, and flowers. This mystery of Nature, as it exists in flowers, is so sublime and great that no one can fully investigate it. God is very much to be ad- mired ill His works, and from the contemplation of these one ought not to with- draw by night or day, but constantly to take delight in the study of them. This is in the truest sense to walk in the ways of God.
246 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
Moreover, it will be in consonance with my subject, and of practical use as well, if I advise you in one course of the order obser\'ed in this book about minerals. This order is different to that which has been pursued by others. First the metals will be treated, and these are not of one kind but distributed according to their own essences and also according to the uses which they supply for men. Some of these are fragile, others durable, and in proportion they are subservient to human convenience. So, also, some gems are useful to man not m their metallic form, but in order that they may be worn, or minister to human health. Such as these are the sapphire, the magnet, the cornelian, etc. These are created in a special form, so that a man may be able easily to carry them about with him. Then, again, there is another kind of stones which man does not use as he uses a metal or a gem, but which he employs for building houses or other receptacles necessary for human life. Further still, another genus is composed of Salts, of more than one species, which are neither metals, nor gems, nor stones, which also are useful for purposes which are subserved neither by metals, gems, nor stones. Moreover, a special order has been assigned to springs, some of which do good to the internal organs of the body, others help it externally. Some are warm and others cold, some acid whilst others are sweet. There are so many different species that one could not exhaustively define them. There are also different kinds of marcasites, two, for example, coloured like gold and silver. But there are very many species in which God has held several things in reserve, which also are put in man*s hand that he may seek what he will, and extract from them whatever God has conferred upon them. There are also things that belong to a different genus ; talc, of which there are four sorts, red, white, black, and clay-coloured. This genus comprises neither metals, gems, stones, salts, springs, nor marcasites, but something special and by itself. It gives also sand, with a supply of silver. Of this more need not be said than that it is useful for buildings and for making cements. There is also another genus given to us, namely, sulphureous minerals, of which there are two, the clay-coloured and the black ; and there are also carabse.
There are more of this nature, and especially one genus which is allied to no other, in which the health of men is to be found, and it can also be applied to external uses. Besides this there is another genus not like the above-men- tioned, namely, corals. Of these the red and the white are well known. Other colours are also found, and forms such as are described in the paragraphs devoted to the subject Moreover, after these there remains another genus, beyond what is natural, which, by the will of Nature, becomes an instrument of various forms and properties, as the eagle-stone and the buccinae, cockles, patellae, etc. The origin of these from the element of the water, you can find in my succeeding paragraph. From the element of water, too, many kinds of fruits are produced ; and though I shall only describe those which are known to me, I have found out much more, because the lower globe and the higher sphere, in all their parts, above, below, and on every
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side» are crammed with such as have been mentioned. 1 should, therefore, be fully competent to write about these* But still it is true that many are hidden in the world about which I know nothing. Yet neither do others know them. It is» indeed^ true that many and various things are about to be revealed by God^ concerning which none of us has hitherto even dreamed. For it is true that nothing is so occult that it shall not at length be made manifest. Some one %vill come after me whose great gift does not yet exist, and he will manifest this.
You should know, however, that there are three parts in this Art* to which the perfections of minerals are compared. These three artifices in the nature of the element are congenital with the three primals. For as man has his gifts in the arts, by which he excels, so also Art affords to them in the matter of the three primals. And it should next be understood that no man can bring to perfection any thing or any work by himself, without some one to help him. No one is superior to another save that man alone who knows how to conjoin what should be conjoined. Iron ore, for example, is ready to hand. But what can it do of itself? Nothing, unless there be added one who will fuse and prepare it* Secondly, this is nothing without a smith to forge it. This, again, is of no practical use unless there be someone to buy it and to apply it to its purposes. Such is the condition of all things* The same thing likewise occurs in Nature, where it is not one thing only which makes a mineral. Others must be added, analogous to the fuser, buyer, seller, and user. If Nature does not supply this work, she deputes it to man, as the primal matter whose duty it is to supply what is lacking. Nature, nevertheless, has need of a dispenser, who will arrange and set in order what ought to be joined together, so that what should be done may find accomplishment. One is ordained by God for this conjunction, and that is the Archeus of Nature. He afterwards requires his operatives to co-operate with him, to fashion the thing, and bring it into that condition for which it is appointed* Hence it follows that three things must be taken which reduce every mineral to its appointed end* These are Sulphur, Salt, and Mercur}\ Those three perfect all things. First of all there is need of a body in which the fabrication shall be begun. This is Sulphur. Then there is necessary a property or- virtue. This i5 Mercury. Lastly, there is required compaction, congelation, unification. This is Salt. Thus at last the thing is brought about as it should be. But it is not every Sulphur which is a body for gold, nor every Mercury for its virtue, nor every Salt for its unification ; but just as there are many blacksmiths, one doing this thing, another that, so also here. God, therefore, has appointed that the Archeus should set in order those things which are to be conjoined, just as a baker, cooking bread, joins together what has to be joined, or a vine- dresser seeks out and joins what has to be joined for the purpose of cultivating his vineyard. Everything is appointed to its own purpose, and everything finds out what is necessarj' for its own special purpose. Now, if the Archeus has his lead ore, and it be necessary to form a tree in gold, iron, jacinth,
248 The Hermetic and Alchemual Writings of Paracelsus,
granate^ dueiech^ marble, sand, cachimla, or what not, then he takes and com- bines the three simples, Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, which are of this nature, and do serve his purpose. Afterwards he casts them into his Athanor, where they are decocted, as seed in the earth. They are decocted again in such a way that Sulphur may add its body» in which the operation consists. They prepare it according to their judgment for that which it ought to be or to become. Next, out of the other two Mercury is decocted for its properties, so that those may be present which ought so to be. When these decoctions have been made, there follows, lastly, conservation, which is brought about by means of Salt, In this way all is coagulated ; that is, the Salt first unifies, next congeals, and lastly, coagulates* Now it is strengthened, so that already the autumn is ready and he is at hand w^ho is to beat out the metal. Let this brief account suffice for every generation of metals, namely, in what way they are conjoined. Concerning each one separately, how it is to be dealt with, instruction shall be given in the particular chapter. And this teaching, indeed, concerning minerals is necessary in order that everything may be more rightly and plainly understood, and that you may not be led aw^ay by the deceits of the old writers and their followers. They are puffed up with vast self-esteem, and are only approved by those like them, who are as unskilful as themselves, but do not take their ease quite so much, hoping that they may search into and gather these things by more exact study.
il.
Concerning the generation of metals, you may be assured that there is a great number and vast variety of them. A metal is that which fire can subdue, and out of which the artisan can make some instrument. Of this class are gold, silver, iron, copper, lead, tin, These are called metals by every one. But there are also, besides these, certain metals which are not reckoned as metals, either in the writings and philosophy of the ancients nor by the common people, and yet they are metals. To these belong zinc and cobalt (which are subtlued and forged by force of fire), as also certain granates (accustomed to be so called) of which there are many kinds, themselves also metals. But many more are those which up to this time are not as yet known to me. as are many different sorts of marcasites, bismuths, and other cachimi^e, which produce metals, but of kinds not yet known. Only the principal ones are known, w^hich are more ready and con- venient for use, such as gold, silver^ iron, copper, tin, lead. The rest are pretty completely neglected, and nobody cares about their properties — neither the smith nor the ironworker, the tinman, brazier, or goldsmith. Neverthe- less, these metals are for other operators, not yet born. No one is competent Lo learn save in one way and by a single art. The assertion that quicksilver is a metal has no truth in it. It belongs to another class of minerals ; not being a metal, a stone, a marcasite, or a sapphire, etc. It is a peculiar growth of Nature, gifted with its ow^n body like the rest, and provided with its pro-
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perties. The custom is passing away, too, of arranging seven metals for the seven planets. From this it arose that, not having full knowledge of metils, people reckoned quicksilver as one of them* According to their comparison of things, gold is Sol, silver is Luna, copper is Venus, lead Saturn, and tin Jupiter. But come, arrange these things. If you join Venus and copper you will soon see how they square and agree with one another. Join and compare lead with Saturn, and notice what happens. Compare tin and Jupiter, and see what fruit will arise- Such philosophy is nothing but rubbish and con- fusion. Not the slightest vestige of any foundation or light appears in it. Such remarks are merely barbarous, and not philosophy at all. Of the same kind is the assertion that quicksilver is Mercury. Compare the complexion, nature » working, quality, properties, and various virtues and essences, and see how they square one with another and agree. They are quite incongruous. One has not the least likeness to the other. It is true that the Philosophy of Plants has arranged seven herbs according to the seven planets ; but these are the mere dreams of physicians, with no stability or power of proof in them. According to them, mercurialis is Mercury^ heliotrope Sol, and lunaria Luna. But do you think- you " Fathers **— that you can fly away to the sky and have the power of comparing earth with heaven without any astronomy or philosophy, when you cannot even get a glimpse of what lies hid in so common a growth as the heliotrope? This distribution, therefore, should be admitted by nobody, but ought to be relegated to those w^ho do not judge according to the light of Nature, but by their own long stoles. The chapter on metals teaches you that those metab are six in number, so far as they are known to me, and 1 have given them above. To these are added a few others —some three or four- which are known to me, and the number and species whereof shall be given in due course. I think it very likely that a large number stil! remain* For by provings of the metals, many proofs present them- selves which are metallic, that is, they are reckoned according to the nature of the six metals, though they do not altogether agree thereto , so that I should augur from this that a great number of metals still remain. Every mineral can be thoroughly known and discriminated if subjected to a sufficient examination.
With regard to the generation of Gold, the true opinion is that it is Sulphur sublimated to the highest degree by Nature, and purged from all dregs, blackness, and filth whatev^er, so transparent and lustrous (if one may say so) as no other of the metals can be, with a higher and more exalted body. Sulphur, one of the three primals, is the first matter of gold. If Alchemists could find and obtain this Sulphur, such as it is in the auriferous tree at its roots in the mountains, it would certainly be the cause of effusive joy on their part. This is the Sulphur of the Philosophers, from which gold is produced, not that other Sulphur from which come iron, copper, etc. This is a little bit of their universality. Moreover, Mercury, separated to the highest degree, according to metallic nature, and free from all earthly and accidental
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admixtureSi is changed into a mercurial body with consummate clearness* This is the Mercury of the Philosophers which generates gold, and is the second part of the primal matter. The third part of the primal matter of goldp or of the tree from which gold ought to grow, as a rose from a rose-seed, is salt, crystallized to the highest degree, and so highly separated and purified from all its acridity, bitterness, acelosity, aluminous, and vitriolic character, that it no longer has anything of the kind appertaining to it, but is carefully illuminated in itself to the very supreme point, and advanced to the highest transparency of the beryl. These three ingredients in con- junction are gold, which is decocted in the way of which we have already spoken.
Moreover, the genus of gold is not single, but manifold. Its grade is not one only, but Nature of herself gi%'es thirty-two degrees to the finest gold. In our Art, twenty-four degrees are found for establishing the best gold. The cause of this is that gold in its tree is like a cow in the pastures, or like Epicurus in the kitchen. As soon as he has gone out all vigour and animation become fallen and diminished. So is it with gold : because if it be reduced so as to be the first matter of man, then, as if gone out of its kitchen, it at once loses eight out of the thirty-tw*o degrees to which allusion has been made. But there are diversities in the kitchens, too, some being better and others worse. Accordingly as the gold falls into this %y\\^ or the other, so it is either increased or diminished in degrees from twenty-six degrees as a maxi- mum dow^n to ten degrees as a minimum. The grades below this are too pale and not recognisable. For it is the nature of gold to be either light or dense. This happens from some impediment w^hich occurs from the stars or other elements which aid in the decoction. As one man is more dense or more subtle than another, so neither does gold always attain its complete grade, principally for this reason that too much body, or Salt, or Mercury, has been added, from w^hich fault and error are sure to arise. Too much Salt causes too great paleness. Too much Mercury makes the gold too much the colour of corn. Too much Sulphur confers excessive redness. And it must be re- membered, too, that sometimes the weights are unequally divided. Nature sometimes errs as well as men. If this happens ^ the grade is unequal. It reaches a point from twelve to twenty-four. But if the superfluous weight be removed (as it can be by Art), say, by antimony, by quarta, as it is called, by regal cement, or by other means, the irrelevant weights are removed and the twenty-four degrees remain. Let not the Alchemist, then, attempt rashly to graduate gold, which is done in this way. For the weight in excess is unfit to assume its degree and to be reduced to a just standard. But what is not good of its kind cannot be exalted. Yet it may be that gold which is too pallid in its decoction may be graduated. But a principal item of knowledge w^ith regard to this is that it does not lose its body in regale, antimony, and quarta. Indeed, it persistently retains both its colour and its weight. This is a property of good gold.
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Gold becomes white by Sulphur in the manner already detailed. But the other twO| Mercury and Salt, are white, and. of a golden nature. These so tinge a suiphurous body that it loses its redness and grows white. Sulphur takes the tint of other colours. For though the whole be red, or white, or clay-coloured, its colour is changed by the tincture which is composed of Mercury and Salt. When, therefore, the body is Sulphur, the tincture of Alchemy can easily change its colour. It is necessary, how^ever, in this case, that the other tincture, the Alchemical to wit, should tinge the Mercury and Salt from whiteness to redness. In this way gold assumes the colour which it ought to have. And it should be realised that there are complexions in gold and in other metals, just as there are in man himself.
Another fact which should be accepted is that the white complexion also is changed by corporal transmutation. So also is redness. These two colours separately inhere in redness. Yellowness inheres in whiteness ; and these are subject to the primary colours. This transmutation can be effected by means of Alchemy, but under the condition that it shall be directed to the complexions, and that it shall first of all be tested in man, so that one shall be made of a melancholy or a sanguine temperament, just as cattle may be made black or white, and that by a tincture. Nature, indeed, in her mineral working, acts exactly as she does with man in his generation. In the same way man also ought to act in the generation of Nature, as being superior to Nature in this respect, if only Nature has gifted him with the astral mysteries of the arts* This method of treatment, however, I now relegate to astronomy.
Attention also must be paid to the ftict that at this juncture Nature takes the lead in matters of the kind described. In Sulphur there is nothing save a body, in Salt nothing, only in Mercury- Sulphur and Salt are so far avail- able that the one gives the body in which is gold, the other adds strength. In what relates to the nature, force, and virtue, all this is due to Mercurjv Whatever property there is in Sulphur belongs to all alike. There is nothing in it except body where Mercury^ is not present. So in Salt. But know that Salt is a balsam, and conserves Mercur}' so that its virtues and properties shall not putrefy or decay. Thus, this virtue is incorporated with gold, and if it be separated after coagulation in Salt it cannot be detected by Art, as neither can the properties of Sulphur be discovered. But all these are readily found in Mercury. So when Art separates, it deserts the body, nor takes any heed of its medicine. In like manner^ it deserts Salt, together with its medicine. And although the body has some influence as a body, and Salt as Salt, still, these medicines must not be sought therein, but only in Mercury, which contains all things. For this is the rafionaie of creation, that in all the outgrowths from the four elements of Nature, not only are those things present w-hich are of themselves seen and understood, but these also contain within them the magnet which, in decoction and preparation, attracts to itself the essences of the three primals, that is, the Quintessence, as the ancients term it, though they ought rather to call it the quart-essence. For the mineral
252 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus,
consists of three ; and besides these there is the magnet, which is a medicine. The magnet has attracted this and it is found in Mercury. But Mercury itself, too, in its ultimate separation, loses much of its weight.
When Nature is thus prepared and lead to such increase, at first the gold becomes a tree after its kind. This spreads itself, and afterwards are generated the branches. The flower follows ; then the fruit. The flower in the earth, like that in any other tree, is at the extremity. And as the flower is at the extremity, and the nucleus too, while yet immature, so there is the same method observable in the generation of gold and of all metals. When the flower falls the fruit is born in its place. This, it is true, does not always burst forth where the flower had stood, but this is the nature of the auriferous tree, that the fruit flourishes sometimes at the distance of several hundred ells in the interior of the tree itself, some straightway in the open air, and others midway between the two. There is thus some difference amongst auriferous trees, the natures of which vary one from the other. Hence they are found distributed in different ways, just as their own peculiar mode of growth is assigned by God to other trees.
Besides, with regard to gold, this fact also deserves to be well weighed, namely, that it is sometimes overloaded with impediments, so that occasionally nothing takes place except a generation of Mercury. If this takes place, it leads one astray. If corrosive salts fall on the flowers, they are eaten away, just as the actual flowers on trees are eaten by worms. The gold, too, is chilled by Mercury or burnt by Salts. There are many mishaps of this kind. The earth, and the firmament, and the air may destroy it. Unless these are fruitful they bring forth no good. As trees are burnt up by a blazing sun, so here also it takes place in the water. The light of philosophy teaches us all these matters, and they are abundantly established by experience. The minerals of gold, therefore, and others, are forced to submit to hindrances of this kind. There is nothing in existence .which is not occasionally shaken with its tempests. But there are other impediments which are wont to effect the degree. Of this class are cachimiae, resins, and other marcasites, which insinuate themselves into the workings, and send forth their tinctures. All these are rejected in the Art.
Concerning Silver.
Silver is generated from white Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, which, being most subtly prepared and rendered transparent, have been restored to a fixed nature, that is, they are fixed from their special nature nearest to gold in a fire of ashes, but not with antimony, regale, and quarta. Here is the differ- ence in fixation between gold and silver, in this respect, that gold is male and possesses masculine virtues, while silver is female and is possessed of feminine virtues. Herein lies the difference between the fixation of gold and of silver. Since gold is male it can bear more fixation, but silver less. Thus the matter of silver is comprised in its primals, as is the case with a woman. Gold
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and silver, indeed, are of one and the same primal matter j but the same distinction supervenes as exists between a man and a woman.
Concerning Jove. Of the generation of Jove it should be known that it is produced from fixed white Sulphyr, fixed Salt, and from Mercury that is not fixed ; and for this reason, because Jupiter is fixed according- to body, but not in the sub- stance of Mercury. It loses ad its fusion and malleability. Afterwards it ceases to be a metal ; for the metallic spirit is separated therefrom by Art* As soon as ever this has been done, it is nothing- else but white Sulphur, and Salt, and dried Mercury.
Concerning Saturn.
Saturn is born from a black, sulphurous, and dense body beyond all other metals. On account of its density it consists of the thickest Mercury and the most fluid Salt, so that there is received into Saturn the most fluid body of Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury. These same, moreover, are the three most dense natures of all the metals. If this metal be dissolved and ceases to be lead, it becomes ceruse, spirit of Saturn, lead ochre, and finally glass. It consists of three colours, the lemon colour it gets from Sulphur, and the white from Mercury, It gets its spirit from Salt, and from all together its vitreous nature, just as all the metals have.
Concerning Iron and Steel.
On the other hand, iron is generated from the least fluid Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, being the very opposite of tin and lead. It is coagulated into a hard metal, and copulated in itself. For two metals are joined together in one, iron and steel. Iron is feminine and steel m resembles that of gold and silver, that is to say, the male and female grow together. They can, therefore, be in their turn separated, the female to her sex, the male to his. The female can be applied to her uses, and the male to his in like manner*
Concerning Venus.
Copper is generated from purple Sulphur, red Salt, and yellow Mercury. If these three colours be mixed with one another, copper is produced. Now, copper contains within itself its own female element, that is, its scorise. If these are separated by Art, and the body reduced, it comes out male. The nature of each constituent is such that the male does not suffer itself to be again destroyed, and the female no longer emits scoriae. They differ from one another in fluxibility and malleability, as iron and steel differ. If that separa- tion be made, and each consigned to its own nature, two metals are produced, differing altogether in essence, species, and properties.
Note. Such and so many in number are the metals, as I have reckoned them up, namely, gold, silver, tin, lead, iron, steel, female copper, and male
254 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
copper. Thus they are eight in number. But if— as cannot be the case — iron and steel, and male and female copper respectively, are reckoned each as one metal, there would be only six, and the arrangement would be incon- venient. There are seven well-defined and publicly known metals : gold, silver, tin, lead, iron, steel, and copper, the last being reckoned as one metal, since the male and female are wrought together and not separated, as they ought to be.
Of Mixed Metals.
You perceive, from what has been already said, that the male is not always solitary without a consort, but often they co-exist, as in the cases of gold and silver, iron and steel, which grow together in one working, from which each retains its own special nature, but still they are mixed so that one does not impede the other, nor are they of their own accord separated one from the other. Such, too, is often the case with tin and lead. But where they are thus joined no good result ensues from them. They do not square into one body ; but it is better that each should be separated into its own body.
Concerning Spurious Metals.
Metals can be adulterated. Only gold and silver mix with the other metals, for the reason that they are the most subtle. Only, therefore, when such a primal matter is present, does each grow up together by itself. It may easily be that six or seven different fruits shall be grafted together on the same tree ; and there is the same marvellous kind of implantation here in Nature.
Concerning Zinc
Moreover, there is a certain metal, not commonly known, called zinc. It is of peculiar nature and origin. Many metals are adulterated in it. The metal of itself is fluid, because it is generated from three fluid primals. It does not admit of hammering, only of fusion. Its colours are different from other colours, so that it resembles no other metals in the condition of growth. Such, I say, is this metal that its ultimate matter, to me at least, is not yet fully known. It does not admit of admixture ; nor does it allow the fabrica- tions of other metals. It stands alone by itself.
Concerning Cobalt.
Moreover, another metal is produced from cobalt. It is fluid like zinc, with a peculiar black colour, beyond that of lead and iron, possessing no brightness or metallic sparkle. It is capable of being wrought, and is malleable, but not to such an extent as to fit it for practical use. The ultimate matter of this substance has not as yet been discovered, nor its method of preparation. There is little doubt that the male and female elements are joined in its constitution, as in the case of iron and steel. They are not capable of being wrought, but remain such as they are, until Art shall discover the process for separating them.
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Concerning Granates. Besideis these^ there is another peculiar metal which is found in streams and marsheSi in the form of a seed like a large or small bean. It is founded and wrought by itself, but not so as to fit it for making instruments. It is of no practical use, nor is it known what properties it comprises. Unless Alchemy shall disclose its nature, it is not likely to be made clear at all. It allows many mixtures of silver and gold, which penetrate it as they do copper or lead. It is produced from citron-coloured Sulphur.
Note. ^Concerning GEXfs. There are other transparent granates in the form of cr^'Stal, wherein are latent both silver and gold.
CoNiERNiNG Quicksilver.
There is, moreover, a certain genus which is neither hammered nor founded ; and it is a mineral water of metals. As water is to other sub- stances, so is this with reference to metals. So far it should be a metal as Alchemy reduces it to malleability and capacity of being wrought. Commonly it has no consistence, but sometimes it has. The right opinion about it is that it is the primal matter of the Alchemists, %vho know how to get from it silver, gold, copper, etc., as the event proves. Possibly also tin, lead, and iron can be made from it. Its nature is manifold and marvellous, and can only be studied with great toil and constant application. This, at all events, is clear, that it is the primal matter of the Alchemists in generating metals, and, moreover, a remarkable medicine. It is produced from Sulphur, Mercur>% and Salt, with this remarkable nature that it is a f!uid, but does not moisten, and runs about, though it has no feet. It is the heaviest of all the metals.
Note.
So far, then, all the metals have been thus described, up to the point that they are known to me, according to their substance and origin, following that guide, and based upon that foundation, which is supplied by the ultimate matter. By means of this the first three are found out, what is their species, and whence they are derived. Indeed, the generation of the others cannot be explained in any way save by experience, which is finally proved by the primal matter in Vulcan. In this way none can err.
Concerning CACHiMiiB, that is, the Three Imperfect Bodies. Attention should be paid to a certain genus of minerals which is, indeed, of a metallic nature, but is not a metal. The things which belong to this genus possess peculiar qualities, of which 1 shall give several instances. For example, all marchasites, which are multifold, red and white, as also pyrites, which are also multifold, white and red, and of another genus than marchasites. There are, moreover, the genera of antimony, which are many» perfect and imperfect ; next the varieties of arsenicalia. To these also pertain
256 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus,
talcs, auri pigments, and many cachimiae of this kind, which differ with the reg"ions in which they are found. Concerning these we must set down that they are to a certain extent metallic, in that they have a proximate metallic first matter, and descend from the first three metallic principles. Metals such as gold, silver, copper, lead, etc., are incorporated with them. But because they incorporate also a metallic foe, nothing can be extracted from them without alchemy ; but these same foes are of great capacity* These are generated in the following order : Marchasites, pyrites, antimonies, cobalts, talcs, auripigments. sulphurs, arsenical ta. I am acquainted with alf of these.
General Recapitulation concerning GeNERATroN.
This chapter and text is entitled Concerning the Three Imperfect Bodies for this reason, that it is concerned with a metallic growth which bears the same relation to metals as tumourous fleshly excrescences bear to natural flesh, as the fungus bears to the herb, or the ape to the man. Of these things some are in the body of sulphur, as marcasites, pyrites, cobalts ; others are in the body of mercurj% as antimony, arsenicalia, and auripigment ; yet others are in salt, as talc.
Of the Generation of Marcasites.
Marcasite is of two colours, citrine and white, metallic and brilliant. It is generated from imperfect metallic sulphur, which is destined to become marcasite by a natural necessity.
Ai the conclusion 0/ the BooK ABOUT Minerals there folkms in the Geneva foiw a briej frapnenf which is concerned ivith the three firime prin- ciples in their comuction with man. It is en tit led an
Autograph Schedule by Paracelsus. There are, then, in human beings only seven planets ; four of which are bodies per se^ not forming part of anything else. There are also other minerals, those of the three primals to wit, which come from Sulphur, Mer- cury, and Salt, and are specially called mineral, because they are either themselves minerals or form parts of minerals. There are two minerals, and several parts, which enter partially into their composition Gold, for instance, bears with it three parts, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury ; and all species com- prised under minerals are made up of these three parts. Every planet has a perfect Yliadus* The other parts have not the same, as, for instance, sal gemmae, forming a species, not a part ; a marcasite is a species, cachimia? # is a species. But spirits have species in them, as the salt of a gem has Arsenic, fixed Sulphur, and fiquid Mercury. The Yliadus, however, differs from the former Yliadus, because the former has his substance and mineral perfect. Minerals have such species; not a manifest body as planets have. Wherefore the Yliadus is to be understood in a twofold sense, one referring to the body, and one to the spirits, The corporal Yliadus is partaker with the spirits of the Yliadus ; but the spiritual is not partaker with the former.
APPENDIX II.
[The alchemical importance which attaches to a proper conception of the four so-called e!ementar>^ substances is explained in a note appended to the Philosophy of Paracelsus Concerning the Generation of Elements. The origin, nature, and operation of the three prime principles are, howe%'er, of no less moment. As these principles are evidently to be distinguished from salt, sulphur, and mercury of the vulgar kind, it is requisite to accentuate the distinction by contrasting at some length the references to the principles which are contained in the text of the present volume with the knowledge exhibited by Paracelsus on the subject of ordinary salt, sulphur, and mercury* The treatise concerning the first of these substances, which has been here selected for translation, is derived from a collection entitled De Nahiralibtis Rebus, which will be found in the second volume of the Geneva folio.]
CONCERNING SALT AND SUBSTANCES COMPREHENDED
UNDER SALT,
GOD has driven and reduced man to such a pitch of necessit}' and want that he is unable in any way to live without sa!t, but has most urgent ne^d thereof for his food and eatables. This is man's need and condition of compulsion. The causes of this compulsion I will briefly explain. Man consists of three things : sulphur, mercy r)% and salt. Of these consists also whatever anywhere exists, and of neither more nor fewer constituents. These are the body of every single thing, whether endowed with sense or deprived thereof. Now, since man is divided into species, he is therefore subject to decay, nor can he escape it except in so far as God has endowed him with a congenital balsam which also itself consists of three ingredients. This is salt, preserving man from decay ; where salt is deficient, there that part which is without salt decays. For as the flesh of cattle which is salted is made free from decay, so also salt naturally infused into us by God preserves our body from putrefaction. Let that theory stand, then, that man consists of three bodies, and that one of these is salt, as the conservative element which prevents the body born with it from decaying. As, therefore, all created things, all substances^ consist of these three, it is necessary that
S
258 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
they should be sustained and conserved by their nutriments each according to Its kind. Hence p also, it is necessary that all gfrowths of the earth should gather their nutriment from those three things of which they consist. Ff they do not, it is inevitable that these first creations perish and die in their three species. These nutriments are earth and rain, that is» liquid. Herein there are threefold nutriments. In sulphur is its own sulphur, in mercury' its own mercury, and in salt its own salt. Nature contains all these things in one. So from this liquid, which is the nutriment of natural things, natural salt is decocted.
Hence by parity of reasoning it is clear that man himself also must be nourished in the same way : that is to say, that his sulphur must receive nut ri mental sulphur, mercury its nutrimcntal mercury', and the congenital salt its nutrimental salt, whereby, from these three, man may be sustained and conserved in his species. Whatever burns is sulphur, whatever is humid is mercury, and that which is the balsam of these two is salt. Hereupon depends the diversity of human aliments. Man has need of ardent foods for the sustentation of his sulphur ; he wants moist foods for keeping up his supply of mercury, and eats salt to cherish his nature of salt. If this order be violated, that species in the body perishes, u^hichever species is neglected ; and when one part perishes the rest perish with it. This order must be kept in due series. The Academics know nothing of this philosophy, a fact not be wondered at, since in other matters they neither know nor can Ao anything.
Now, all the world over, there are ardent foods such as flesh-meat, fish, bread, etc. So there are humid foods, as springs, flowing streams, seas. In like manner, there is salt everywhere. These things are distributed over the whole world, so that everj^where the supply of them is ready to hand.
Now, with regard to the nature of man, the following should be accepted. The reason man desires food is on account of his sulphur. Why he needs drink, whether it be water or wine, is on account of the mercury ; and the reason of his desiring salt is on account of his salt in himself. These facts are little known, but nevertheless nature does crave for these things. And this is not the case with men only ; but animals, too, become fatter, stronger, more useful, and more healthy with salt than without it. If the due quantity of salt be not supplied, some defect arises in ovi^ of the two species, so that the animal decays and dies. Its nature is no longer supported by those necessary aliments which it requires. The condition of man is similar. Without nutri- ments of this kind he cannot live. The appetite of the nature with which he is born requires some satisfaction proportioned to his need. It is reported, indeed, that in certain newly-discovered islands men prepare no food cooked with salt, nor supply such food to their animals, but it is quite certain that their own nature and that of their cattle needs the salt water of the sea, and that they have cooked their food mixed with this. Nature never rests at ease, but constantly catches at and seeks for that which its necessity and use require, and thus compels cattle, not to mention man, to lick salted things.
Concerning Sali and Substances comprehended tinder Salt, 259
For ourselves » custom and necessity alike prescribe that we eat salt in our food. Such an ordinance is natural and prudent. In this Avay three nutriments meet j that is to say, salt and food in one, and with these a third, nameljt drink; By these nature is nourished and sustained.
I have said of salt that it is the natural balsam of the living body. That is, so long- as the body li%'es, so long the aforesaid salt is its balsam against putridity. By this balsam the whole body of man, as well as that of other creatures, is kept and conserved. Bui if there accrue to man any decay or — if I may so term it — any cadaverousness, as in the disease called Persian fire, the reaison is that. Now, if ever>*thing in creation is to be dissolved, it is clear that even the verj^ balsam itself contains the elements o^ dissolution, and when once this dissolution begins, its strength and power increase. If the balsam is dissolved or corrupted (and the various modes in which this may take place are given in my Theory of Medicine), then forthwith corruption and decay begin, according to the mode in which the salt has been corrupted. If the salt has not undergone corruption, then neither the external nor the internal body of man decays. Hence we must conclude that salt is like a balsam in man ; and that the natural salt which man eats is his food and aliment. I have discussed the subject of salt at some length, for the sake of securing fuller intelligence of the matter. Putting aside, therefore, the idea of a natural balsam, I would point out, moreover, concerning the salt in food, how it is an aliment, and with what gifts it is endowed by God, both for preserving the health of men and for warding off many diseases. But since nothing is so good as not to ha%'e some evil combined with it, it remains for us to recount the evil there is in salt» so that in this way the good and evil may be conjoined, and the one separated from the other. The nature and condition of salt are very remarkable. If salt can preserve the dead body or corpse, much more will it preserve the live flesh. If by its power and efficacy salt preserves the dead body from worms, much more the living body, and for this reason, that it is not only an aliment, but a necessary food and a medicine useful for old and young alike. Salt must be supplied to all.
But there are three kinds of salt. There is sea salt, which is salt of itself, not salted by others. As %vine differs from water, so the sea in its nature differs from other waters. Other waters are sweet ; this is salt. Secondly, there are some springs which are sweet yet salt at the same time. These have a special nature, insomuch as they have that nature not in common with the sea, but of themselves contain a different kind of salt. Thirdly, there are also mineral salts, with the appearance of a stone, of a different kind from other metals or minerals. The best salt is from springs. Next comes that from minerals. The harder it is the better. Then there is sea salt. And as salt is divided into many kinds, so also is it sundered into many and various proper* ties distinct from one another. As to the way in w^hich salt Is prepared, there is no need to discuss that subject here, since it is clear enough. Neither is this the place to describe how it grows. That topic belongs rather to the Book on
S2
26o The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus,
the Generation of Minerals. My intention is to enlarge upon the virtues and vices of salt. In this case there is no need to speak of sea-salt. Whatever is written about white salt applies also to sea salt. Of rock salt not decocted again it is not treated here so much as of salt which has been so decocted. All salt, which is prepared either from water, or out of a saline and mineral » preserves the common order and virtue of salt ; for the strongest foundation is in liquid. Sea-salt and rock-salt do not become liquid. But salt which is decocted passes into a liquid before it is separated from the water into coagulated salt. The description of salt, then, is twofold. 0\\^ is that of salt from liquid ; the other of salt which is entire and definite.
It should be known at the outset that this is the nature of every salt in its kind ; it is a corrective of foods. When salt is defective food is not corrected. For example * if the stomach takes food which has no salt, its decoction is languid, and its assimilation imperfect. From salt proceeds an expulsive force in the excrement and the urine. If these two functions do not proceed regularly, and the expulsions are not genuine, everj'thing is wasted. Moreover, if the food is not properly salted, it is certain that those liquids in man which take nothing unsalted cannot be fed. The blood becomes dis- organised. Where salt is not incorporated or united with the food it is not attracted by the blood. Whatever is sluggishly and faintly attracted occasions decay in the blood. Now, in order to avoid this, and for the sake of those particular members, foods should be salted, so that they may not be deprived of their due nutriment. Moreover, there is a solvent power in salt. If any obstructions of the pores or other accidents arise, salt takes away or removes these, so that they pass away in the urine. Urine is the salt of the blood ; that is, it is the salt of natural salt. Natural salt is united with nutrimental salt, and that conjunction causes the excrements to be expelled. If, however, salt is not supplied in due mode and sufficient quantity, a natural conjunction cannot be effected. Now, let every physician know that, since natural salt is wont to issue forth or be expelled by means of salt, the use of salt should be so much the more frequent. It is a great advantage if the salt called sal gemma* is used, as being much more available than all other salts for expelling the natural salt. It is peculiarly the duty of physicians, there* fore, not to neglect the three species of salt and the operations of each, but diligently to use them.
I have said above that the description of salt is twofold, one as a liquid the other as a solid or dry substance. Concerning the liquid, note this fact, that all salt dries up every description of humour that proceeds from the body. Nevertheless, the liquid itself in one hour has more effect than the dried salt would have in a whole month ; so much more of a drj-^ing nature is there against superfluous humours than in dry salt, E\'en if dry salt be reduced it is not of equal excellence, as you will learn in its addition and correction. It is accordingly of great importance that the liquid of salt should be correctly described. If the liquid be prepared of such a consistency that it will bear up
Concerning Salt and Sidstances comprehended under Salt. 261
and sustain a vessel or an ii^gg when thrown into it, its virtue is as follows : whatever diseases are produced from humours, infesting the natural humours, these are purged when the liquid is exhibited. Of this class are moist gout, dropsy, humid tumours, and legs swollen by the influx of humours. To speak summarily, whatever leprous humour not existing naturally it touches, it consumes. It produces such effect in this way : the liquid itself is like a warm bath or hot springs* If it be so re- frigerated that the patient can sit in it, he should wash in it as is cus- tomary in hot springs, and the like. This, however, should be done on the advice of a prudent physician, as to how long and to what extent the treat- ment should be continued. Thus those humours are absorbed, the feet cease to swell and are reduced to their natural condition. A sound and firm nature consists in a dry body, not a fat, adipose, and humid one. A dry and muscular body is the best and healthiest. Whatever bodies are not so constituted, but are fat, humid, and flaccid, should all be washed in that bath ; thus they will be dried and become healthy. But if it happens that after a bath of such kind in progress of time the superfluous humours again invade the body after an interval, care should be taken that the patient spend his life and dwell near salt springs. A long life is better than a short one, and the pleasures of this world must not be considered. What diseases are of a kind to need this treatment 3'ou must learn from physicians.
But now, turning to dry salt, it should be known at the beginning that there are several different kinds, as common table salt, clear salt, sal gemmae, rock salt, earth salt, and sal stiriatus. Whatever be the case with these, it should be known that any kind of salt put into water and used for washing wounds, preserves them from putrefaction and from w^orms, and so effect- ually removes any worms which may have been produced, that none are ever generated again. If wounds are kept pure and clean, they are healed by the operation of Nature herself, even if they are very severe, provided only they have not assumed a poisonous aspect, in which case, for the most part, not even a balsam does any good. So also in virulent ulcers salt is a singular remedy. Besides this, if salt be put into a bath, and a patient washes therein, he is freed from all sorts of scab. In this respect the liquid is more powerful, for it is a potent cure of scab and itch. And here, too, should be noticed the possibility of correction by which dry salt may be to a certain extent reduced to this form.
Salt is useful in many other cases than we have so far recapitulated in external diseases of the body. So many virtues be hid in the use of salt. In conclusion, it should be remarked that in process of time the liquid removes and cures baldness and mange.
Correction and Addition on the subject of a Second Time Correcting
AND Reducing Dry Salt. The following is a recipe for correcting and reducing back again dry salt : Take common salt and the salt of urine in equal quantities. Let them
262 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
be calcined according to the rules of Alchemy for two hours. Afterwards let them be resolved in a cell in the usual manner. Thus you will have the reduced liquid. This is of such powerful virtue that in surgical cases it differs little from the true liquid of salt. For internal disarrangements of the body it is much slower in operation. In applying- and administering it you will observe the method first mentioned* It should be known, also, that no addition is ad- visablej since the virtues peculiar to salt are found in no other substance. The less salt there is in other things the fewer similar virtues can be found ; and therefore every accessory preparation is useless. If alkalis be decocted these are not a genus of salt, that is, they are not salt, but alkali. There is a difference between salt and alkali in that alkali is natural salt in bodies derived from the three species. But salt is nutrimentah feeding and nourishing even alkali. Therefore^ no addition can be made» or any other correction, save only that the salt should be kept by itself without any addition, as was said on the subject of calcination. The same is true concerning the water of salt, which is distilled into a spirit from the calcined substance. This spirit resolves gold into an oil. But if it be again extracted and carefully prepared, potable gold of the most excellent character will be the result. But if without such ex- traction the gold be resolved, then it is a most subtle object of art for gold- smiths in gilding, and a constant and priceless treasure to other artificers for the same purpose. But, nevertheless, they must be skilled in Alchemy for the work of preparation.
Concerning clear salt, sal stiriatus, and the salt of gems, the fact is that these are most of all adapted to Alchemy, so that silver can be cemented in them after the common mode. In these salts, any Luna, that is, silver, becomes very malleable, and without the aid of fire is wrought almost as easily as lead is. It is also the best purifier of copper if it be reduced to a cement.
Besides the conditions of salt already mentioned, one other property remains. It is this. In whatever place the urine of men or animals is deposited, there salt nitre is afterward produced. The urine being collected and prepared so as to form another salt, is called salt nitre. Now, salt nitre is salt formed from the natural corporeal salt and the salt of food. If these two are joined in man they expel from him what is superfluous by means of the urine, which is nothing else than natural, corporal, and nutrimental salt meeting with other humours. Now, if the urine be excreted into nitre, and stand for some time, then the spirit of salt meeting together in its^ operation, prepares one salt out of two, and that, indeed, of a peculiar kind. This the Alchemists afterwards extract from the nitre, clarify by alchemical art, and separate that which is not salt from the salt which has been produced. That they clarify again, and then the salt nitre manifests its conditions. In I he preparation, however, a separ- ation of the salt may be brought about, so that the true and genuine salt may again be extracted from a certain part^ and the rest mixed with the salt of the nitre* Now, the reason w^hy the genuine salt can be again extracted by decoc- tion is, that this salt is not digested in man or in the animal, but is passed out
Concerning Sali and Substapices comprehended under Salt. 263
in a crude state, so that it can be detected as such. But that which has been digested is mixed, and, as one may say, incorporated with the corporeal salt so that afterwards it cannot be separated, but passes into the form of salt nitre. No salt in the universe is like this one. Alchemy found it lying hid in nitre, reduced it to the form of a coag-ulated salt, and then evolved the latent virtue from it, only for purposes of Alchemy and the manual art. They tried to distil sulphur and salt nitre together, but this could not be accomplished on account of the violent chemical action produced. Having accomplished this afterwards by the addition of carbon, the Alchemists discovered gunpowder, and gradually so augmented this by new inventions that now it breaks through walls like a thunder-bolt. Hence it is with good reason called ter- restrial lightning. By means of this salt many of the arcana in Alchemy are brought about which need not be described here. We have not yet got at the true foundation or any good end. It is best, therefore, not to write on this subject at all, so that no one may be led astray.
Butt so far as relates to the art of Vulcan, it cannot be denied that great secrets be hid there. This subject relates in no w^ay to the health of men, but purely to igneous preparations, which demand a chapter to themselves. The nature of man is indeed wonderful, since, from the body of man or brute, simply from its excrements, and by an internal motion, such a generation is contrived that when it proceeds from living beings it is so violent against life that nothing more destructive can be imagined. It destroys man's life with such swiftness that no defence is sufficiently strong against it. But these matters must be referred to metaphysical science in the Paramirum,
In the beginning of this chapter I said that Nature had incorporated salt in the liquid of the earth. From this salt all growing things have proceeded, and it is the balsam of salt which I have mentioned. It should be known, too, that from this salt another salt is found also in the earth, and like salt nitre. For Nature having pores, cavities, and cataracts in the earth, deposits in them stalactites and long dependent grow^ths with the form and appearance of salt. If these are taken and prepared by the art of salt, they put forth two kinds of salt, table salt and salt nitre. It is called saltpetre, because it adheres to rocks, from which circumstance the name originates. Salt nitre and saltpetre, how- ever, are distinguished by a certain diflercnce. In the probation of salt the nature of each can be easily discriminated. A certain difference, too, can be observed in the species and powers of salt, so far as they relate to health and other matters. At the same time, I do not think It advisable that the salt which is formed from the salt nitre and saltpetre for food should be given man to eat, unless you wish to make him lean and dried up. Otherwise, it is very useful for gunpowder. It acquires another spirit, a different nature and condition.
Now, one must speak of the losses and injuries of salt, for it is well to write of the evil as w ell as the good. Let this be understood concerning salt, that if it be not digested it is driven from the stomach through the intestines,
264 The Hermetic and Alchemical Wriiings of Paracelsus.
iLnd m ]t« transit causes so serere a colic and bowel coa:p!a:r.t that it can scarcely be cured even by the most cskrtfiil trcatssccr. It acquires such a strong corrosive force that it seems as thou^ it wished to ear away all the intestines. It has been often discovered b}' anaromy that a separated salt of this kind has produced perforation of the bowels.
Besides this, if it remains in the stomach it causes cra\-ing, heat of stomach, and other ailments, all of which arise from crude salt adhering to the orifice of the stomach. In the case of these patients the physician must take great care to obser\'e whether that salt has proceeded from salted, ftmoked, or dried foods. Salt is not added in equal portions to every kind of food ; and this circumstance should be diligently considered b}- the physician.
It also happens sometimes that this salt enters the mesenteric veins, and is there granulated and constipated, whence arise many unusual diseases, not only local but extending over the whole body. The same may also occur in those parts to which the urine penetrates on its passage to the emunctories. AH this we leave to be weighed by the prudent physician.
Now, therefore, we will conclude as to the matter of salt in its kind. We thought it should be specially described, as it is a German growth. Many more things could be s^d of it here, but they are not all relevant, and many of them would be injurious, so that I have been unwilling to discuss them. What seemed to me useful I have done my best to impart as the result of my experience.
APPENDIX III
[The treatise which follows constitutes the seventh chapter De Natural ibus Rebus^ and may be compared with The Economy of Minerals^ c. 17. It is an addition of considerable importance to the Hermetic Chemistry of Paracelsus.]
CONCERNING SULPHUR.
GOD created the resin of the earth and endowed it with many unspeakable qualities, not only for remedying- diseases, but also for alchemical operations* Other virtues also are conspicuous in sulphur, which is a resin of the earth. It will be suitable, thenj not only to discuss the medical %*irtues of sulphur, but also to treat of its alche mistical and other uses. Much has been written and published on the subject of sulphur, but no one has ever yet reached the source of its true power. Many authors have undertaken to describe everj'thing, but they understood nothing. They piled up heaps of matter, but deduced nothing^ from the source as a good writer should do* They did not understand the subject themselves ; and thoug^h ambition led them to keep on compiling books, those books were without spirit or life, in fact, a mere dead letter.
I, as an experienced man, will lay before you what 1 have learnt about sulphur, and what is comprised in it as regards medicine, alchemy, and in other respects. Unless God Himself interposes and hinders, the operations of sulphur are stupendous, so that ihe natural light in man cannot sufficiently admire them. If God does not hinder, any defect is in the artificers, who handle their sulphur so that the result does not correspond to its innate virtue. When every simpleton is made a doctor and everj' trifler poses as an alchemist, this fact accounts for science not being brought out into open light. And the foundation is that so many arcana and powers of both faculties are contained in sulphur, that they cannot be thoroughly in%'estigated by any — because, I repeat, such excellent virtues are latent therein, they are deservedly the subject of universal wonder. After long experience gained in both faculties, these powers of sulphur were discovered and understood by me, and I realised that scarcely any exist which are superior to them, or which can even be compared to them in medicine and in Alchemy, Sulphur confutes Aristotle when he says that the species of things cannot be transmuted.
266 The Hermetic and Alckeniical Writings of Paracelsus,
Sulphur transmutes them ; and if Aristotle were alive at the present day, he would be completely put to the blush and made ashamed of himself.
One who practises as a physician or an alchemist does not use Sulphur as it exists per se^ but rather as it is separated into its arcanum, and so cleansed from its imparity that it becomes to its virtue whiter than snow. This is accomplished by Vsopus, that is» the art of separating^, which was anciently called the Ysopaic art in Alchemy and in all kinds of sequestration. Even when crude, it is remarkable for common use and for all external purposes. But, in order to be quite accurate in explaining Sulphur, I will differentiate it first according to its nature- It is not produced from one matrix^ but from many. Hence it has diverse modes of operation, and comprises many natures^ differing one from the other. These I will detail separately, so that no physician may make any mistake, and so that it may be clearly known what is its use in medicine, and also how far it is serviceable for Alchemy. When these points are established 1 will go on to specify its daily uses. So, then, when we shall have explained accurately and in due order its use in medicine, in Alchemy, and in other respects, all its operations will be understood by everybody, so that they will be able to handle it without danger of error.
Concerning the Kinds of Sulphur.
As often as you get new metal, so often you get sulphur ; because no metal is without sulphur. Every metallic body consists of three things, sulphur, salt, and mercury. In the perfection or generation of metals, how- ever, the superfluous sulphur is removed. Vou see a nut generated, not simply per se, but with a skin and a shell, and you know that these are super- fluous save for the embryonic conservation of the kernel, as is explained in the treatise concerning generation, 1 adduce this illustration to shew that there are as many kinds of sulphur as of metals, each bearing relation to the nature of its own metal. And this is true not only of metals, but of stones. There are as many kinds of sulphur as of stones. All bodies having their own sub- stance are made up of the three constituents just mentioned. On this account they have an embrjonated nature. Hence arise different names of sulphur, for example, the embrj^onlc sulphur of gold, silver, sapphire, marble, etc. The sulphur is distinguished by the name of the embr)*o, which arises from the generation of a single product, be it metal or stone. Nor do I speak of metals and stones only, but also of all the different corporalities, such as vitriol, alum* marcasite, bismuth, antimony, etc. Each of these comprises an embr>^o, which takes its name according to the speciality of its own genera- tion. For instance, the embrj'onate sulphur of Mars is different from the embryonate sulphur of vitriol or of jaspis. The same holds good concerning growing bodies of the earth, as woods, herbs, and the like, each of which contains in itself a sulphur of this kind.
One thing should here be mentioned. It sometimes happens that embry- onal sulphur of this kind produces metals of fair quality, gems pure and
Concerning Sulphur,
bright, and other matters of like nature, because in that generation whereby they are produced, something is united therewith which is, as it were, a certain spirit of that body. And not only the spirit^ but with that same also a corporality, but a subtle and ephemeral one, which cannot sustain any fire. Apart from the Vulcanic operation it is produced in those metals whence it arises, in gold from gold, in lead from lead. Similar preparations arc also sometimes made in the sulphureous embryos of gems, by which are separated mutually from one another dead sulphur, of a weak character, and a precious stone, latent in it» all which things have been discovered and investigated by art* But this stone was like that from which it was produced, granate from granate, hyaciothus from hyacinthus. Relegating these things, however, to the alchemical process, we will here point out only what experience has taught and confirmed in the science of finding out secrets of this kind. Let the alchemist, therefore, in investigations of this nature, give his attention to finding out the embryo, lest by chance he light upon something else. Let so much be said, then, concerning one kind of sulphur, as to its origin. Besides this there is another generation of sulphur, per se. This I will now describe, and will set forth its virtues in medicine, Alchemy, and other arts.
Sulphur, then, has still another generation, and one peculiar to itself, without any embrj^onic nature and condition, so that it is a thing growing by itself, like a beech or an oak, separated from other substances by its own special genus. This is called mineral sulphur. This sulphur is a mineral /^r 5^. And as the Vulcanic art teaches how to separate minerals so that the taie body may be taken away from the false, — as silver or Iron from its ore,— so also in mineral sulphur there is a body which is extracted, as tin from its zwitter.
That body is mineral sulphur. Of this sulphur there are many different kinds, no one exactly like another. Thus you see in all those things in which Nature abounds for us, that the genus is distributed not into one but many species. There is not only one lead, one copper, one gold. So, there is not only one sulphur; since one sort is of a higher, another of a lower grade, or they have more or less of transparency and clearness. For this reason medical properties also should be sought therein. And this difference should be especially kept in view by alchemists, so that the particular species which is sought may forthwith be found. From this, it is sufficiently clear what are the different kinds and conditions of sulphur, and how they are to be recognised. But beyond these, I should wish you to know of another kind which is a special secret, as follows : — In alchemical separation, gold is dissolved from its corporality, as also silver, every metal, and gems, from all which the sulphur withdraws, is prepared, and extracted. Of this kind are the sulphur of gold, the sulphur of jaspis, the sulphur of vitriol, etc. And in truth, various secrets are here used ; but this sulphur is so excellent an arcanum that nothing like it can be put forward, nor, indeed, ought to be in this place since this matter relates to Vulcan. So, thus far, we have put forward a triple
268 Tlu Hermetic and Aichemical Writings of Paracelsus,
sulphur. Of these three, I will point out how they are useful to the physician, the alchemisti and the soap maker respectively*
Concerning Embryonated Sulphur.
Concerningf embryonated sulphur it should be known that it has different virtues according to that from which it is derived, that is, from its generators. Let us use an illustration to explain our meaning, A nwl^per se^ is simply the kernel. But the kernel contains in itself an integument which corresponds to the nut. As in foods, the kernel differs from its integument ; so do their virtues differ. Over against this, again, a dry shell is produced, which is of a nature altogether different from the nut. As the bodies differ, so do their properties. Over this, finally, grows a green rind or bark, where the same diversity is once more observed. The chestnut, for example, has these two eoatingSr And as the chestnut differs from the bark when masticated in the mouth, so do the properties differ. I say this in order that you may understand how embr}^on- ated sulphur is also a similar impurity from its embryo and differs from its true products by as wide an interval as its form, essence, substance, and corporality differ. The virtue of the nut is not to be looked for in the shell; so neither is it in embryonated sulphur that one must seek the virtue of gold, silver, tin, copper, emerald^ or jacinth ; but another virtue must be selected for medicine. Many virtues are hidden in these sulphurs, each differing from the other. This, also, which now we are going to say should be noted before all else, namely, that with all these sulphurs the spirit of arsenic blends, more subtly in one than in another. As is that which is generated, so also is that arsenic sometimes like realgar, sometimes like auripigment, sometimes like crystalline, etc. I ad- duce these facts in order that you physicians may understand that you ought to be naturalists— not sophists — ^so that you may know natural substances, and discover what is this arsenic in embryonated sulphur, so that you may not treat men as though you were robbers. They only know the sulphur of the hucksters' shops. They would not even know that if they had not heard it talked about. Yet, all these things ought to be known thoroughly from Nature herself^ if we would not lend ourselves to robbery, but would have a good conscience towards God, You Academicians think nothing of this, content with one thing — ^if money flows into your pockets. Yon care nothing for God, the Creator of yourselves and of all Nature.
Moreover, note this with reference to the embrj^onated sulphur of the metals* It can be clearly seen how it firmly conserv^es and restores its own particular member. For all the seven members require minerals only, and no other remedies for their ailments. Thus the sulphur of gold is beneficial to the heart, the sulphur of silver to the brain, the sulphur of copper to the kidneys, the sulphur of lead to the spleen, the sulphur of iron to the gall, the sulphur of tin to the liver, the sulphur of quicksilver to the lungs. But all these avail in one disease only, as in the suffocation of these members, if there be a flux of humours in them which threatens such suffocation. Although
Concerning Sulphur.
269
among the ancient and rival physicians no recipes are found against suffoc- ations of this kind, still they one and all decline learning how to prepare these embryonate sulphurs, and to administer them to their patients when necessity requires. I wTite here, therefore, concerning this one sole virtue, because no medicine has been found for suffocations, which is able to do what these metallic embryonated sulphurs do. As to their other virtues, these will be dealt with under the head of mineral sulphur. They suit all operations ; but the metallic are stronger than the mineral sulphurs, and must be used with greater caution.
Moreover, there are also the sulphurs of gems in which precious stones lie as a chestnut within its thorny bark- The constitution of eagle-stones is well known. In the same way, also, all gems are by Nature enclosed in some thing which is their embryonate. In that embryonate, sulphur lies hid. When this is extracted you have no less virtue than in the stone itself, not, indeed, for wearing, but for using in place of medicine. So it is well known that in the sapphire is concealed the virtue of removing anthrax, and reducing it to an eschara above all other corrosives, and yet without any corrosion. Of the same nature is its sulphur, if, indeed, it be extracted from the body and be used as a plaster. Laid on thus, it produces the same effects. And this is the case not only w^th anthrax, but also with cancer and Persian hre, especially at the beginning, if it breaks forth with an abscess. Care must be taken, therefore, that from those gems which we Germans have we extract the virtues which are applicable to these special uses* If you have these virtues in gems you will have them also in sulphur, with the same mode of operation. They are not, it is true, equally strong in the sulphur, but still they are there. The application, separation, and gradation cause it to accomplish the same result. The correction and gradation alone tend thereto, otherwise none of these results could be brought about As in the beginning, I took an illustration from the difference of the shell and the kernel in a nut, so is it to be under- stood here. But if the kernel of the nut be corrupted or dissolved, so that it is no longer useful for food, the nut still has the same properties as its shell. Let us take a further illustration. Suppose the kernel is burst, and an alkali formed from it, then, in like manner, the shell becomes an alkali too, and both tinge with a black colour those substances which were not previously black. When, therefore, I say that the virtue of the embryonate is like that of the generated, I would be understood thus, if the generated be dissolved and reduced to a Vulcanian preparation. The same must be understood of all the embrj^onates of gems and the rest.
But with regard to embryonated sulphurs in cachimiie, such as marchasites, antimony, talc, etc., it should be known that if they are extracted from their bodies and from the matters adhering to them, they produce a similar clear and bright sulphur. In proportion as the degrees hereof are graduated in the operation, the operation ilself and the virtue answer to that degree. As this is extracted, so are all other embryonates, of which there is more to be said in
2 70 The Hermetic and Akhankal Writings of Paracelsus.
their alchemical operation, which cannot properly be recounted here. But the virtue is this, that it rivals those which are generated if it be corrupted tn the preparation. Secondly, they are specially useful in all phlegmatic cases, especially in phthisis, peripneumonia, empyemata^ and ever}- kind of cough. Whatever can be naturally supplied in any way, that this sulphur brings to its condition. I have no greater desire or longing than that the state of the world to-day, among its princes, kings, and magnates, may be the same as it was \n the time and age of the Magi. Then the virtues in all things would so shine forth that all men would admire God, being such a profound artificer as He is, since He has hidden so many miracles in Nature, in order that man may trace them out* The Magi passed away, and the drunkards rushed into their place, and now nothing remains but whoremongers, mockers, robbers, and thieves. One ought to grieve from the heart that there is to-day no Magus flourishing among princes, but all things on every side have degenerated into mere trifling and ineptitude, while wolves sit at our councils, and have the mastery, who by their exactions and their usuries make more than enough gain for themselves and their lords. This fate awaited the Science of the Secrets of Nature, that after the passing away of the Magi, or of Magic, all the sciences also perished together by the same fate ; ajid in their place arose scribes with long garments, and rapacious wolves, who, swaying all rights by their mere nod, threw all things into a state of terrorism. What shall 1 say ? The arts have perished, and in their place a den of robbers has been substituted*
Next in order, concerning the embr\'onated sulphur in vitriol and its cog- nates, which are species of vitriol. Know this, that they all produce a wonder- ful sulphur when animated bodies are separated from their embrj^onates, as from salt, from the sal gemmae, from different species of alum, from vitriols, etc. Here I will lay down a general rule for you, namely, that all sulphurs formed from vitriol a ted salts are stupef active, narcotic, anodyne, and sleep- producing, with this special property, however, that here the somniferous condition is so placid and gentle that it is free from all harm, and does not act as an opiate, as is the case with henbane, pepper, mandragora, etc., but safely, quietly, effectually, yet without evil consequences. Such a sleep-producing stupefactive, therefore, decocted, prepared, and corrected by Nature herself, is worthy of the highest praise. Physicians are agreed that soporifics of this kind produce many wonderful eff'ects. In opiates, on the contrarj% there is so much poison that, except in the form of a quintessence, they cannot be used ; and the more confidence should be placed in this present soporific, since we know that there are many diseases which are not curable without anodynes, and of which the whole remedy has been placed by God in these anodynes. This is the reason why 1 write the more carefully about this sulphur. How it is found and prepared is described in the alchemical process. Here, however, concerning this same sulphur, it may be mentioned that of all the productions of vitriol it is the best known extract, because it is fixed of itself. Then, too,
Concerning Sulphur.
271
it has a certain amount of sweetness in it, so that poultr)' will eat it* It sends them to sleep for some timei but they wake up by-and-bye without feeling any evil effects from it. Concernin|^ this sulphur there cannot be two opinions ; in all diseases curable by anodynes, without any illetTect, it lulls all passions, soothes all painsi reduces all fevers, and prevents the severe symptoms of ever>" disease. This ought to be the first remedy and preventive in all ailments, being' followed up by the quintessence as a tonic. What other means can raise physicians to a higher position, beyond all Apolles^ Machaons, Hippocrates, and Polydorcs? And this is called the philosophers* sulphur, because all philosophers aioi at these results — to prolong life for many centuries, to make men live in health and resist disease, and they have found this faculty in its highest degree in this sulphur. That is why they have given it this name. Give your utmost attention that you may learn how to graduate, separate, and purify it.
Besides this there is another kind of embr^^onated sulphur in wood. This sulphur is only fire, which none can kindle save in w^ood, which also perishes with the wood. This sulphur exists in all substances which are wooden, or which in burning can be reduced to ashes. It is vegetable, not fixed, and available only for those substances which have to be prepared by fire* Everyone knows that this sulphur indicates the virtue of other sulphurs in that way. As it is itself fire, consuming all things, so every sulphur is an invisible fire consuming diseases. As fire consumes wood visibly, so does the other invisibly. For this reason the element of fire is a great arcanum in all diseases. Whatever physician has not this element of fire in its arcanity— if I may coin that word — ^cannoE boast that he is a true and tried physician. He is a mere tyro, and pilferer of people's purses* One may now say, then, that sulphur is the element of fire. But if you contend that sulphur is fire in its medicinal effect, you must take care that it be reduced to its proper volatility, so that it may vanish like flame, that is, it shall be so sub- tilised that it will leave its own body, and its own body is separated from it, because it is not an element of fire. The sulphur being reduced to subtlety and volatility, then at length the consuming body must be consumed, that, namely, which is not fixed by Nature. So diseases are not fixed ; but the body is fixed against the element ; and the element of fire, at least, is opposed to that which is not fixed against it, that is, it is opposed to diseases. Now, if sham physicians had acted thus, if this our philosophy had found a place and acquired development in the schools of medicine, while the trif^ers and mountebanks, with their blind eyes, were banished, there is no knowing what position might have been reached, while these people would have avoided any number of homicides of which they have been guilty by their rashness. In the meantime, since they have no consciences, what can one do but let them pose as sham physicians ? But whoever wishes to be a true physician must hunt out the virtues of the elements in natural things. There he will find, not only truth, but how^ to cure his patients. There are, then, two kinds of embr} onated sulphur, one fixed, but made volatile, the other pure fire. That is
272 The Hermetic and Alc/iankal Writings of Paracelsus,
to say, one is living fire, the other insensible fire, Each^ however, the sensible as well as the insensible, has a like consummation, the one in wood, the other in diseases.
Concerning Mineral Sulphur.
The following is a brief dissertation on mineral sulphur. Of the mode of separation from its scoria it ts not necessary here to speak. This is treated of in the book on ''The Generation of Minerals." It is well, however, to know something of its virtues. It must not be used in its crude form for medicinal purposes, but has to be separated from its fseces. In this way it is a remarkable medicine, if it be raised in the second or third degree from aloes and myrrh. It ts an excellent preservative in the plague, in pleurisy, in all abscesses and putridities of the body. Taken in the morning it prevents the pestilence for that day, or pleurisy, or abscesses, especially if it be prepared according to the following prescription* Rec. Of purified sulphur as above described, 5^. j of Roman myrrh, %u and a half; best aloes [aloe epaticus)^ 5i- 1 oriental safTron, Jss, (half). Mix and make into a powder. Moreover, if it be elevated several times from vitriol (the oftener the better), it then takes into itself the essence and virtues of vitriol. In this way it is a preservative in all fevers, and a curative in every kind of cough, whether recent or of long standing. It is also a preservative against the falling sickness, and a curative in childhood. If it be taken daily it preserves the health, and prevents any- thing untoward from happening. In business and commerce it is a corrective of wine, so that it remains sound and uncorrupted, and is wholesome for those who drink it. It must not^ however, be used in a crude state. It is so powerful a preservative for wine that it leaves nothing impure in the wine, but drives it all out. If wine is treated herewith it does not produce gravel or calculus, apoplexy » abscesses of any kind, fluxions, coughs, fevers, etc. Nothing can be found like it, or of equal efficacy with it, when it is pre- pared. It is not without reason, therefore, that I here sound its praises. If one had time, a very few pages of this our writing would suffice to establish this point in discussion with the academic doctors. Pearls are not to be cast before swine ; and these would rather see people sicken and die than yield a jot of their opinion, although they are not able to be of the slightest use to the sick. But to return to mineral sulphur : observe once more that it must not be used in a crude state, but prepared. The more carefully it is prepared, the better it turns out ; at length it throws off all its dregs and poisonous character, and everything in it that is useless retires from it ; what remains is a pearl of price and the most desirable of medicines.
Crude sulphur has the property of bleaching red colours with its fumes* It turns red roses into white ones. If it be used medicinally in an elevated state it produces whiteness, but only externally. Moreover, it should be observed that there are several kinds of sulphur, differing in colour. There is, for instance, the yellow, the yellowish, that which is red in a greater or
Concerning Sulphur.
273
less degree^ purple, black, white, ash-coloured ; but of these colours none is any use except the yellow.
The more yellow sulphur is, and the more it inclines to gold colour, the better and more wholesome it is. The others contain a good deal of arsenic, realgar, etc*, and so are avoided in medicine. But so far as concerns alchemy, these others are better on account of the ingress w^hich they have through such spirits of realgar.
Moreover, it is worth mentioning that this sulphur removes skin diseases and other external affections of the body. In these cases the coloured sulphurs are better than the yelIow» on account of their subtle arsenical spirits. If these sulphurs are sublimated with vitriol, alum, sal gemma?, sal plumosum, etc., several times, they become so subtilised that they completely eradicate skin disease and ring- worm. This treasure is so precious because it removes externally those blemishes which have an internal origin. As the magnet attracts iron to itself, so that it moves from its position and does not remain where it w^as, so here are magnetic powers which cannot be aJtogether explained. A single experiment in the Vulcanic art opens up these marvels of Nature,
God has supplied medicine in sufRcient quantity. The blindness lies in the fact that no one attempts their preparation, so that the useless may be separated from what is useful. They think it suffices if, like apothecaries, they jumble a lot of things together and say *' Fiat unguentum.'* This has been so far esteemed learning : and the world has returned to such a condition that medicine is mere trifling, and not, as it once w^as, an art or a science. It is not the artists in medicine, but the mere sophists, who have the pre- eminence. Yet, if medicine were handled by artists, a far more healthy system would be set on foot. Note, then, with regard to sulphur, that when it is granulated it is a most useful medicine for man, not, indeed, taken internally, but exhibited externally, even in the form of fumes. In this way, as w*e have said, it preserves and conserves, with the addition of some grains of juniper, rosemary, etc.
Concerning Metallic Sulphur : that is. Sulphurs prepared from the
Entire Metals,
Alchemy has devised certain arts and modes whereby metals are drawn out of their bodies, so that they are no longer metals but a certain destroyed matter which has lost its former condition. On this subject it should be remembered that every metal is made up of three constituents, salt, sulphur, and mercury. Since these three, then, are the primal material of the metals, it follows from hence that these three can be destroyed and dissolved and so subjected to art, that they can be reduced to another essence and transmuted. This destruction having been made, the three primals can be still further separated by art, so that the sulphur remains solitar>' and by itself, as does the salt, and the mercury respectively. We will speak here of the sulphur,
T
274 ^^ Hemutic and Akiiemical Writings of Paracelsus.
leaving the other two on one side. Sulphur is separated from other metals in this very way. Whatever forces ! have assigned to sulphur generally, these also exist in the metallic sulphurs ; and the more so because the metal has acquired a special nature from that which makes it a metal. Of these virtues some are conferred on sulphur, so that the metallic is more excellent and more noble than other sulphurs. And the physician ought to know that all the virtues of sulphur are present in this kind of sulphur, graduated to their very highest degree (if I may so say), and endowed with the condition of the metal. Hence, sulphur acquires from gold the virtues of gold, from silver the virtues of stiver, from iron the virtues of iron. Whatever iron does, what- ever the crocus of Mars does, whatever the topaz of iron does, all these same things the sulphur of iron does. In like manner is it with the sulphur of castrum, of lead, and of other metals. Everv* physician, therefore, should get possession of these sulphurs. The dose of them is small, but the effect is marked. These should convince the physician that God has set a remedy over against every disease. It this be true, the physician should be produced by magic, whereby he may understand all the secrets of Nature. Thus it will be made clear that Nature has such resources as to heal even the lepers. The physician who is unacquainted with magic is a mere tyro, and will remain such so long as he lives. It is a difficult matter to have understood medicine^ and to have visited its innermost shrines, at all events for those who are un- acquainted with the Cabbala and i^nth magic.
Concerning the Alchemicai. VmruEs of Sulphur : and First Concerning
Embryonated Sulphur.
The extraction of embryonated sulphur is brought about by sublimation, and sometimes by descent, if the sulphur be properly ripened and there be a plentiful supply, without the admixture of other bodies. Sometimes, if it be too subtle, it will not admit of sublimation or descension, but must be ex* traded with strong waters, so that by means of other bodies it may be reduced to water and then coagulated again from the water. There are many kinds of these strong waters, which we will not recount here, but they should be of such a kind as not to take away or change the power of the sulphur. For if they be extracted by art, according to their own concordance, they will not, indeed, be golden, but in alchemy they will be very convenient sulphurs for other preparations. They admit of fixation, and so produce in cements a volatile subtle gold In metals, in such a way that they bear separation in strong waters and put forth their gold. Othenvise, from this sulphur nothing can be hoped for in alchemy, unless it be extracted, according to its con- cordance, from those things in which it is latent, and afterwards be fixed. If, as is often the case, it contains gold, that is discovered by fulmination. It is likewise so fixed for retaining all volatile gold that it cannot otherwise be re- strained, nor is it taken in separation on account of its tenuity of subtle corpor- al! ty. Many processes have, indeed, been tried for making a tincture out of
Concerning Sulphur.
275
sulphur. These have not succeeded, because there is no tincture in it. It is, therefore, labour in vain. Unless gold were contained therein, nothing can be sought there, nor ought it to be attempted that gold should be produced in other bodies. There is none of a silver character, only golden, and one kind more so than another. As far as concerns antimony, red talc, gold, marcasite, etc., they are rarely deficient in gold. Whoever wishes to treat this, let him take care to separate the sulphur so subtly that nothing shall depart from the gold. And unless God opposes (for He does not wish all to be rich, and Himself knows the reason why goats have not longer tails), much could be here imparted in few words. But since riches lead the poor man astray, and take away his modesty and humility, adding haughtiness and pride in their place, therefore it is better to be silent and let these people remain poor.
Concerning Mineral Sulphur.
Next in order I will impart to you some marvels, though I am aware that this discourse concerning the wonderful use of sulphur in alchemy will be unacceptable to many* It is known to all that the spirit of the sciences does not take holiday, but works constantly and unremittingly, that it may hunt out and discover those facts in the secret things of Nature which God has hidden. With this spirit there goes together for the most part another bad and false spirit, not only in this art, but in others too, even those which regard the soul. But concerning this false spirit I keep silence. The devil, indeed, mixes himself up in all matters, but I make no remark on his deceits. For the sake of this mineral sulphur the alchemical art has made many attempts to form something from it which shall be more than sulphur. Now this itself is a miracle— to make something more out of a thing than the thing of itself is. This, how^ever, God has allowed to be done by art. Now, since this would be the very potency of art, the great Master of the art Himself has, by superintending the art, made experiment as to what can be formed from sulphur, and how^ ; something which is not in the sulphur itself, but, however, can be obtained from it. The woman by herself cannot beget children, but she begets them with the man. If this begetting is to be accomplished it must be by means of two. Here art is the man and the father who brings all things to perfection. But now that stage of the operation has been reached when the spirit of transmutation has given its prescription for making the liver or lung from the oil of flax and sulphur. The distillation of this liver or lung is manifold. But it is found out by operating that this liver is given by milk, which differs in no respect from common milk, but is thick and fat. It also gives a red oil, like blood. This milk and that blood have not con- founded their colour and essence in the process of distillation, but these have remained distinct and separate, the white subsiding to the bottom and the red ascending to the top. Art, it is true, has urgently sought to form silver out of the wiiite or the milk and gold out of the red. But I am certain that this has never been able to be done, either by the ancients or by those of more
T3
276 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paraalsus.
recent times. I say, therefore* that the milk is dead, and nothing is con- tained in it.
But concerning this red oil, which gives the !iver-mark. Any crj^stal or beryl which has been previously %vell polished, if it be placed in this oil for some time, namely, for three years, becomes a jacinth. If there be placed in it a ruby which is not highly graduated, In a space of nine years it becomes so clear and bright that it shines in the darkness like a burning coal, and can be seen everyw'here. This has been proved experi- mentally. Alchemists* indeed, have tried to make a carbuncle of it by placing a jacinth of good quality for some time in the oil. But my experience says that this cannot be done. And this colouring does not take place only in the ways that have been mentioned; but the same oil tinges a sapphire also a blue colour, mixed with green. In the same way it colours other gems. Over glass and similar substances it has no powder. But it so exalts gems that they attain their highest degree of excellence, a higher one, indeed, than that to which they could he exalted by Nature* Concerning other gradations and colourings of gems nothing more has been heard or written than that the red blood of sulphur colours and tints them. And here observe that all silver, if it be placed therein and left for a due time, by-and-bye grows black, and deposits a calx of gold, which until the proper season is not fixed, but is a volatile and immature substance. If, however, it reaches its proper limit, by its own despatch it hastens on other things, about which I must not say more here. So, then, remark concerning sulphur, that if it be duly graduated, the more subtle, beautiful, high, and quick in operation it is, the higher and greater will be the result. In this way metals and stones are formed. Let him who is about to make the attempt not think, but be sure, that he can do it. For this is the most perilous work of all in alchemy, needing for its accomplishment great experience and continual practice. It should not depend on mere hearsay^ but on manifold practice. Of the virtues themselves and how they are graduated, I cannot say anything, I speak of the colourings only, that they should be exalted to the highest degree. But that this should take place in colours I do not think possible. This is a tincture not of virtue, but of mere colour.
Concerning the Usb of Sulphur of the Metals in Alchemy,
I have several times in this chapter mentioned sulphur prepared from the decomposed metals, and added something as to their use in medicine. So far as relates to alchemy, I would have you know that many have tried to extract from it a tincture with which they should change things from one tint to another. This has not been successful, for a reason not to be mentioned here. But whoever has the sulphur of gold can by means thereof graduate other gold from 24 to 36 grains or more, so that gold cannot mount any higher, whilst it abides and remains in antimony and quartarium. But the sulphur of silver, too, so exalts silver in its whiteness, that if copper and silver are mixed in
Concerning Sulphur. 277
equal proportions, they cannot be discriminated by the needle or the Lydian stone, but both seem to be equally pure and choice silver. In the same way, by the sulphur of copper, the metal copper can be brought to such a state that it is proof against lightning, even though it be not graduated, and retains its own colour. From the sulphur of Mars is made the best and most excellent steel. From the sulphur of Jove, the best tin, which will bear the lightning. From the sulphur of Saturn is made fixed Saturn, which gives neither white lead, nor minium, nor any other spirit. The sulphur of quicksilver reduces quicksilver to such a point that it can be wrought with the hammer, and bears the fire as well as copper does. The ashen fire, however, it does not bear. This is the power exercised by the sulphur of the metals over its own special metals. This is per se. If the sulphur of gold is applied to silver it colours it, but has no power of fixation ; and this is always the case with the transmut- ation of sulphur into some other metal.
So far, then, you have learnt how many kinds there are, and what are the nature, properties, and essence of sulphur. Whoever wanted to say all that can be said about sulphur would consume a great deal of paper. The subject demands a careful workman, a ready and skilled artist, one who does not shout or traffic in trifles, who does not deal with his art by mouth and tongue only, but puts it to the test of work itself. Miracles will abound for such an one. He who knows nothing about sulphur is a man of no worth, unskilled both in philosophy and medicine, and conscious of none of Nature's secrets.
APPENDIX IV.
THE MERCURIES OF THE METALS.
IN the year 1582 an octavo edition of the Archidoxorum Libri Decern was published in Latin at Basle, and included several other treatises of great importance, some of which are absent from the Geneva folio. Among these there is one upon the Mercuries of the Metals, which fills a somewhat curious lacuna in the writings of Paracelsus, as there is no other extant work attributed to him which treats individually of Mercury, while concerning Salt and Sulphur there is an abundance of material which not a little embarrasses selection. It is entirely devoted to experiments, and it will be consequently of the more value to practical students of early chemistry.
A Little Book concerning the Mercuries of the Metals, by the Great
Theophrastus Paracelsus, most Excellent Philosopher
AND Doctor of both Faculties.
Extract aquafortis out of 4 lbs. of salt nitre, with 3 lbs. of green vitriol, 5ii. of alum, and Ji. of sal ammoniac. After it has subsided with a little copper, dissolve in this water §i. of crude sal ammoniac, which has pre- viously been slightly pounded. Let there be hence produced aqua regis through V. In this water dissolve Jii. of gold, which has previously been well and most exactly purged by antimony. After the dissolution has taken place let the calx subside ; effect separation by drawing off the aqua- fortis ; and then reduce the calx by washing to a sweet condition. For this purpose wash six or seven times with sweet water until no sharpness of the aquafortis any longer remains. Subsequently dry the calx over a slow fire, weigh it, and you will find that a third part of the weight has been extracted. Thereunto add an equal proportion of very finely pounded sulphur, a double quantity of vitriol, and white calcined tartar to the weight of all the aforesaid things. Pound all of them very finely, place in a glass vessel, and pour upon the top exceedingly strong vinegar, together with salt water, so that aqueous matter may swim upon the top to the height of two fingers, more or less. Seal the vessel effectually, and place it in a cupel, or alchemistic furnace, for thirty days. The furnace must not be of sufficient heat to burn the finger when placed therein. At the expiration of the time specified break the glass, when the matter will be in the form of washed silver, or calx of silver which
The Mercuries of the Metals.
279
is friable into smal! grains. Mercury^ meanwhile, is not visible. Therefore place the said matter in a mortar, and pound with a wooden pestle, for Mer- cury is compelled by pounding-. Let this process continue until Mercury shall become complected, and a live matter, or body, shall have been produced. Nevertheless, it is not so quickly produced or composed as Mercury' of Saturn. Next cleanse the remaining matter with fresh and clear water ; dry it perfectly ; and you will have Mercury of the Sun, when the gold will be no longer fixed but voluble, and can be sent through the corium, whereby any impurity which may chance to remain is separated.
Mercury of the Moon.
Let silver be reduced to thin plates, in such a way that it may be easily
removed, and at the same time well purified* Sprinkle one of such plates with strong vinegar, and set aside in a humid place for a short space of time, until it becomes completely blue. Then dissolve with aquafortis separated by the separation of solution, and after it subsides, and the aquafortis has been affused but not sweetened by w^ashing, and dried gradually, pour vinegar again upon the calx, and then separate until the whole becomes completely blue.
Then take 5ii. of mountain or mineral cinnabar ground to a very fine powder, and afterwards 5i- respectively of calx of silver, cinnabar, alum en, sulphur, and vitriol. When ground subtly place all these in ajar, including the calx of silver, which ought to sink to the bottom. Furthermore, cover the surface of the matter, or compound, at the top of the jar, with welding sand, such as the workers in iron are accustomed to use. Afterwards place this jar, mouth dow^nward, on the top of another jar, which must be filled with pure water, and hidden in the earth by descent. About the upper jar kindle a slow fire, and increase it more and more until the whole of the said upper jar shall become white with heat. Let it cool a little, and the Mercur)- of the Moon will be found in the lower jar. Let the jar remain for two hours, more or less, at a white heat, and thus out of Sii. of the Moon is produced 51. and a half of Mercury, which is altogether like crude Mercury. This is again pressed through the corium, so that the pure may be separated from the impure.
Mercury out of Venus.
Take copper reduced to thin plates and purged to the utmost of all dross. Divide it into small particles, and confect with salt on a tigillum, layer upon layer. Seal the upper orifice of the tigillum, so that nothing may evaporale. Place the said tigillum on the hottest part of a brick furnace for nine days. Then take out the copper, when it will be of red colour approaching black- ness* Pound it with salt in a mortar as soon as it has been removed from the tigillum. Macerate the powder in strong wine, and let there be added to each 5 v. of subtly ground arsenic, 51. and a half of copper. Leave each of these together for the space of fifteen days. Let the measure of wine
28o Th€ Hirmetic and Alckemkal Writings of Paracelsus,
be sufBcient to swim over the powder to the height of two straws. When removed there will remain an excellent, brilliant^ whitish calx. Wash this tn fresh spring water.
Take of the Calx, Jti.
of Sulphur, iii.
of Gluten of Sulphur, Jii.
of Vitriol ^
of Arsenic \ each Iss.
of Alum J Mix each of these, when very finely pounded, with half a measure of the best vinegar. Let them all be distilled through the alembic until no further water can be extracted. Then add fire, remove the water, and there will collect on the side of the top of the alembic a white powder. This is the Mercury' of Venus. Sprinkle this upon hot water, and it will flow together. It is sufficient if the cucurbite be at a white heat. From one pound of Venus 111. and a half of Mercury are obtained ; such Mercury is altogether thin and subtle, and is so soluble that it escapes in boiling water. Wherefore the said water is only tepid.
Mercury out of Mars.
Reduce Mars into coarse filiogs^ but avoid chalybs, wherefore Glings de calcaribus are the best. Take thereof ten pounds, and sprinkle well with salt water ; leave for ten days or longer — the longer the better. .4ften*'ards wash Mars in such a fashion as to avoid separatmg the turbidity. At length the water becomes clear, for the turbidity sinks to the bottom in the form of a red viscosity. Separate the water gradually by straining ; keep the matter ; dry it so that no excremental or gross part may remain. Take of this viscid matter J v., of pounded sulphur Sxxx., compound delicately to the form of fine flour. Place it in the tigillum. Seal up securely, so that nothing may escape, and let the tigillum glow for an hour. Then let it cool, break it, and a grey powder will be found. Add thereto Ji. of spume of glass, Jss. of sal ammoniac » and ^v. of vitriol. Place on a smooth stone in a humid spot* and the water will flow out. But leave it for ten days ; crush it iii the hands» and you will have live Rfercury, which is Mercury of Mars. Out of ten pounds of Mars one drachm and a half will be obtained. It is black and dull in colour.
Mercury of Jupiter.
Jupiter is calcined in the following fashion : Take filings corresponding ill grossness to the back of a knife. Place in good distilled vinegar for twelve hours. Dry, and there will adhere a whitish cuticle. Remove this carefully with the hare's foot and set it apart. Again moisten, and again dry the filings ; separate a similar cuticle a second time, and repeat this process till there is enough of the white calx. This take, and subject to all the processes to which the Calx of Lead is subjected, but avoiding the addition of Succinum,
The Mercuries of the Metals.
281
or white vitriol* Put green copper rust in place thereof» and the work will be accomplished. Jupiter does not yield so much Mercury as Saturn, for one pound of the metal produces less than Jvi.
Mercury of Saturn.
Take Villarensian Lead, or any other in w^hich there is no silver, otherwise it must be purged in the following manner : If it has been calcined, let the calx boil for two whole hours in a lixivium composed of willow ashes, in which have been first dissolved one ounce of alumen and eight ounces of salt In coction it is purged of all sulphur and other viscous matter. Calcine this lead in the following manner with salt : Melt the !ead, pour it into a wooden receptacle, mix it well with common salt, and it will be reduced to a powder like sand. Cleanse the salt away ten or twelve times, till no saltness remains in the lead. Dry the calx gradually by continual agitation. When it has been dried, produce water as follows : Take of white vitriol, otherwise called succinum, five ounces, and one measure of vinegar, to six pounds of calx of lead. Dissolve the vitriol in vinegar. Sprinkle the calx of lead with this water, or perfectly saturate, or so place the calx in water that it protrudes abo%^e it. Leave it for thirty-six hours, so that it becomes an ashen-coloured powder. Then take a light marble vessel, the larger the better. Put it obliquely in a humid place, or in a wine cellar, and in front of it so p!ace a wooden receptacle that it will receive whatever shall flow out. Calx of lead may be dissolved with three measures thereof. Again take this water and add to it a small quantity of fresh matter, which will concrete in the form of flour at the bottom. Place it in a similar marble, put a copper operculum over it, and make a small charcoal fire at the top of the operculum. When the said matter receives the heat Mercury comes forth ; the fire is preserv^ed in good order and grade until no more of the calx of lead remains. Therefore, Mercury of Saturn which flows into that wooden receptacle should be well washed and purified, so that if perchance crude Saturn flows down at the same time, as often happens, the same may be separated. From ten pounds of Saturn are made eight pounds, and often eight pounds and a half, of Mercury. Note. — Let not the fire in the operculum be too great or fierce, for othenvise much crude matter of Mercury will flow down at the same time. To the said marble apply a copper operculum corresponding to the size of the marble, which operculum should be at its sides and ends of the height of a spithmia, and should be shaped like a frying-pan. Let the front part be open for the passage of the Mercury. Then take greyish powder made from lead, together with succinous matter, and add to it the following water ;
Take of Alum, 5i'
of Salt Nitre, \\\. and ss.
of Mountain Verdigris, 5^5.
of Rock Salt, Jii.
282 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
Pound these substances minutely, saturate with stale wine, then distil, and there will proceed water of yellowish colour (golden, or crocus). To this water add semi-vitrified calx of lead, and the calx will sink at the bottom. Afterwards gradually pour off the water. Set the same apart, because it never turns putrid, and a centenarius of fire should therefore be maintained in an equal and moderate grade. If the crude Mercury flow forth at the same time, it remains after passing through the corium, and must be cooked out from the rest, for another confection, and thus thou hast Mercury of Saturn by the most simple way.
APPENDIX V.
DE TRANSMUTATIONIBUS METALLORUM,
IN the year 1581 a Congeries Paracehicce Chemim de Transmutaltonibus Metallorum appeared in octavo at Frankfort. In the notes to the Aurora of the Philosophers^ Co^werm'ng Ike Spirits of the Planets^ and elsewhere, some references have been already made to this work, which ante- dates by nearly a century the Geneva edition of the writings of Paracelsus. As its title indicates, it attempted to collect and digest into a single method- ical treatise the whole substance of alchemy, as taught and practised by Paracelsus. While in many respects the digest was passably well done, and affords a tolerably representative notion of the opinions and experiments of Theophrastus, it is perhaps needless to say that, as it was included in the compass of a small volume, it is really very meagre. There is, however, one point in which it may be of value to the student. The Congeries is, in all probability, an adaptation of autograph manuscripts, and where its readings, which is by no means invariably the case, can be distinguished from editorial interpolations and extensions, they may be useful in so far as they vary from the readings of the Geneva folio and some other less carefully supervised editions. Perhaps, after all, the value, such as it is, of this point, is likely to be appreciated only by that ver>^ small circle of readers who believe that in ancient practical alchemy there are chemical secrets hidden which are unknown to the chemistry of to-day. For these the importance of a perfect text of the old alchemical processes, whether in the case of Paracelsus or in that of any other recognized master, is no doubt very high. In the present instance, the difficulty of distinguishing between the text and its editor, in so far as there are substantial variations, makes it needless to tabulate the readings, and the purpose of this appendix is of a far less pretentious character. There are a few paragraphs in the Congeries which it has not been found possible to identify in the collected editions of Paracelsus, or at least they offer very conspicuous differences, and these it is desirable to cite. The first has regard to the erection of the philosophical furnace, which The Aurora of the Philosophers ailirms it is difficult to describe, at least as regards its form, white the specific direction contained in the third treatise, Coticerning the Spirits of the Planets^ only partially corresponds to what is stated in the following excerpt, w^hich constitutes the fourth chapter of the Congeries Paracelsias Chemiw. The
284 The Herfneiic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus,
editorial argfument which follows is also worth inclosion, as it is concerned with a matter which, in more than one instance, must have struck the reader of the present translation, namely, that it is not altogether easy, in every case, to harmonize Paracelsus with himself.
Concerning the Visible and Local Instruments : and first of
ALL CONCERNING THE SPAGYRiC UtERUS,
Before we come to the matter, we must describe in order all the instru- ments, both actual and local, which are required in this art. We have said that the first actual instrument is the fire. The first local instrument is the furnace, designated by the ancients under the alchemical name of athanor. This takes the place of the uterus in spagyric generation*
Hermes Trismegistus, though he was not the inventor of this art, no less than Paracelsus in spagyric medicine, deserves to be called its restorer*
He asserts that this spagyric work, in which human philosophy reaches its extreme point, originated in the meditative contemplation of the greater world, intimating that the spagy-ric athanor ought to be constructed in exact imitation of the heaven and earth. In order to exercise the ingenious it will not be amiss to examine this comparison, and I think I shall be able thereby to profit my readers.
No philosopher will deny that the sun generates a sun like itself ; but it is not every one who will acknowledge that this fcetus exists in the centre : least of all will those disciples of the philosophers who have no other knowledge of the Actn^an fire than that which comes from the fleshly eye, just like rustics in this respect. This terrene sun of the lower, or elementar\% machinery is kindled by the fire of the higher sun. Just in the same way the centre of our matter is kindled by the centre of our world, or athanor, which is a fire, discharging after a manner the function of the natural sun.
Who does not see — ^I ask you, my brethren^that the form of the whole created universe has the similitude of a furnace, or, to speak more respect- fully ^ the form of that which contains the matrix of a woml>*-the elements, that is to say, in which the seeds of the sun and the moon, cast d^own by the stars in their different influxes, are decayed, concocted ^ and finally digested for the generation of all things? These things are transparently clear, I will not say to philosophers, but even to boys, w^herefore we will not insist upon them further.
Let us come, then, to the construction of our athanor.
First let a furnace be built seven spans in height, and let the rounded interior be the height of one span, the lower part a little broader than the upper