Hermetic and Alchemical Writings (Coelum Philosophorum, Aurora of the Philosophers, Concerning the Nature of Things, ...)

So understand here that these steps follow one another in a just order ; otherwise the whole work of our mystery would be perverted, and all our toil and pains frustrated and rendered void. Putrefaction is of so great efficacy that it blots out the old nature and transmutes everything into another new nature, and bears another new fruit. All living things die in it, all dead things decay, and then all these dead things regain life. Putrefaction takes away the acridity from all corrosive spirits of salt, renders them soft and sweet, transmutes their colours, separates the pure from the impure, and places the pure higher, the impure lower, each by itself.

Distillation is the fifth step to the transmutation of all natural objects. Under it are understood Ascension, Lavation, Imbibition, Cohobation, and Fixation. By Distillation all waters, liquids, and oils are subtilised, the oil is extracted from all fat substances, the water from all liquids, and in all phlegmatic substances the oil and the water are separated. Moreover, many things in Distillation are fixed by Cohobation, especially if the substances to be fixed contain water within them, as vitriol does. When this is fixed it is called colcotar. Alum, if it is fixed with its own water, is * Putrefaction is the handmaid of separation. — Modus Pkarmacandj^ Tract I. Putrefaction is a new qualitative generation. — De Modo Fharmacandi, Tract III. The firmament produces colours, corruptions, and digestions of nutriment, of nature, etc. And putrefaction produces a succession of colours rapidly. — Ibid. All putrefaction is essentially and excessively cold. — De Tariaro^ Lib. II., Tract II., c. 7. Putrefaction is the separation of virtue, and at the same time is almost a conservation. — De Naturalibus Aquis^ Lib. IV., Tract 2. t Digestion is putrefaction.— i?^ Pestilitaie, Tract I. By the process of digestion, what is bad and unprofitable in a substance is separated so that the substance remains in its essence, as it was created. In so far as it has become vitiated, digestion causes it to purge itself, so that it labours to return into its essence.— i?^ TartarOy Lib.

II., Tract II., c. 2. Between digestion performed in the earth and the digestion which takes place in the body of man, there is this difference, that the earth separates nothing, in the sense that it does not cast out anything excrementitiously ; it digests, putrefies, generates, and augments by the power and ministry of the stars. There is no excremental separation, but there is a separation of seed into salt, sulphur, and mercury. Yet this is not precisely a deprivation of the earth, because the earth contains in itself salt, sulphur, and mercury. The earth, moreover, requires no nutrimental support after the manner of human beings, but the seed is sown in it just as the male seed is sown in the female womb. The earth generates, augments, and multiplies by means of its own indwelling Archeus. — De Pestiliiate, Tract II.

called Zuccari. This, too, is resolved into a liquid, and if it be putrefied for a month it produces a water as sweet as sugar, which, indeed, is of great power and an excellent arcanum in medicine for extinguishing the microcosmic fire in men of a metallic temperament, as we write more at length in our books on Metallic Diseases.* And just as you have heard of vitriol and alum, so also salt nitre and other watery minerals can be fixed by cohobation. The process of Cohobation is that a caput mortimm is frequently imbibed with its own water, and this is again drawn off' by means of Distillation. Moreover, in Distillation many bitter, sharp, and acrid things become very sweet, like honey, sugar, or manna ; and, on the other hand, many sweet things, such as honey, sugar, or manna, become sharp, as oil of vitriol or vinegar, or bitter, as gall or gentian, or sharp, as corrosive. Many excrementitious things lose their excessive stench in distillation, since it passes out into the water. Many aromatic things lose their pleasant odour. And just as Sublimation alters things in their quality and nature, so does Distillation. Coagulation is the sixth step. There is, however, a twofold process of Coagulation, one by cold, another by heat ; that is, one of the air, another of the fire. Each of these, again, is twofold, so that there are really four processes of Coagulation, two by cold, and two by fire.

The Coagulations by fire are fixed, the others by cold are not fixed. One, indeed, is produced only by common air, or without fire. Another is produced by the upper firmament of winter stars, which coagulate all waters into snows and ice. The Coagulation by fire is produced by the artificial and graduated fire of the alchemist, and is fixed and permanent. For whatever such a fire coagulates, that becomes permanent. Another Coagulation is produced by the ^tnean and mineral fire in mountains, which, indeed, the Archeus of the earth rules and graduates in much the same way as the alchemist ; and whatever is coagulated by such a fire is also fixed and constant, though originally its matter was mucilaginous, and it is coagulated by the Archeus of the earth and by the work of Nature into metals, stones, flints, and other bodies. But it should also be known that fire coagulates no water or moisture, but only the liquids and juices of all natural things. For this reason no phlegm can be coagulated, unless it was originally a corporeal matter, whereto, indeed, it can be again restored by the industry of an experienced alchemist. So every mucilaginous matter or spermatic lentor can, by the heat of fire, be coagulated into a body and corporal material, but cannot again be resolved

* Medicines are therefore chosen which are free from coagulation, such as alum, in which humidity and coagulation simultaneously exist. If these two be separated one from another, the quality withdraws into one place, and the element, in like manner, into another. Now, the element of alum is most akin to the element of water. For the element of water also consists in its Hyle, as alum after its excoction, and when it has been separated from its coagulates, it passes into its pure and proper element, despoiled, however, of its medicinal arcana. But alum does not suffer this privation. For water alone prevails against the microcosmic fire. Whence the matter stands thus, that the aquosity must be separated from the alum, and must be rectified therein till it is almost like sugar. The dose is one scruple. If the symptoms of the elementary disease again present themselves, they must be again extinguished as before. There are many such arcana, which I leave to the experience of the .school of Vulcan, as it is impossible to enumerate them in this place.— ZJ^ Morb:s Meiallicis, Lib. II., Tract IV., c. 6. into water. And as you have heard concerning Coagulation, so know also concerning Solution, namely, that no corporeal matter can be resolved into water unless it originally was water, and such is the case with all mineral substances.*

Tincture is the seventh and last step, which concludes the work of our mystery, with reference to transmutation, makes all imperfect things perfect, transmutes them into their noblest essence and highest state of health, and changes them to another colour. Tincture, therefore, is the noblest matter with •which todies, metallic and human, are tinged, translated into a better and far more noble essence, and into their stipreme health and purity. For a Tincture colours all things according to its own nature and its own colour. But there are many and various Tinctures, and not only for metallic and human bodies, since everything which penetrates another matter, or tinges it with another colour or essence, so that it is no longer like what it was before, may be called a Tincture. So then there are manifold tinctures, that is to say, of metals, minerals, human bodies, waters, liquids, oils, salts, all fat substances— in a word, of all things which, with or without fire, can be brought or reduced to a state of fluxion. For if the tincture is to tinge, it is necessary that the body or material which is to be tinged should be open, and in a state of flux ; for unless this were so, the tincture could not operate. For it would be just as though one were to cast saffron, or some other colour, into coagulated water or ice ; it would not tint the ice so quickly with its colour as if one were to put it into other water.

And, although it might tinge the ice, it would at the same time reduce it into water. Wherefore, metals also, which we wish to tinge, must be liquefied by fire, and freed from their coagulation. And here it should be known that the more hotly they are liquefied the more rapidly the tincture runs through them, just as fermentation penetrates the whole mass and imparts acidity to it, and the better it is covered up, and the warmer the mass is kept, the more perfectly it ferments, and the better bread it gives : for fermentation is a Tincture of the farinaceous mass and of the bread.f

* All created things proceed from a coagulate, and afterwards this coagulate must pass into a liquid. From a liquid, then, all procreated things proceed, whether these be liquids or solids possessing a defined shape. Further, the solid can never be so perfectly liquefied as not to strive to return to its solidity. For example : salt, when it is dissolved in water, seeks to revert into its original state. It is the same with all other substances. Moreover, no solid is so completely dissolved but that it will actually return into its original shape, by means of the nature it retains. Understand that any solid proceeds from one of the three principles— sulphur, mercui-y, and salt- whichsoever it may be. Sulphur is never liquefied so completely as not to leave some solidity adhering to it. This is also the case with salt and mercury. Great attention must be paid to this solidification and dissolution. The one frequently prevails over the other. . . . Understand, therefore, of things in general, that they proceed from three principles ; but that from which they proceed is a solid, as, for example, seed, earth, all fruits, and all growing things. Nothing exists which is not a solid. But this is not the solidification of which mention is made here, but is above it and was before it. For fruits were produced from that liquid, and were again solidified. The result is that here a certain kind of generation takes place, and, if it be not followed again by a second digestion, as in the digestion which ensued after the first dissolution into fruits, that which finally remains becomes the principle of tartar. —Aliud Fragmentuvt da Tartaro.

f The brutes themselves have an innate knowledge, good and bad. None the less has man, also, his tinctured knowledge, which is bad and good, being tinctured from the stars as regards his earthy nature and condition. In consequence of this nature a most supreme and exhaustive investigation of philosophy is permissible. The right and proper understanding of the animal condition of human nature is contained in an understanding of the tincture of the animal man. Man has two tinctures, one, as regards his inferior being, from the stars, and the other, supernatural, from God. — De FestlHtate, Tract I. It is also to be remarked that some dregs are of a more fixed substance than their liquid, of a sharper also and more penetrating nature, as you see in the case of vinum ardens, which is made from the dregs of wine, and in the case of cerevisia ardens, which is distilled from the dregs of cerevisia ; and just as vinum ardens burns, and as sulphur is kindled, so, if from the dregs of acetum another acetum should be distilled, as vinum ardens is commonly distilled, there will be produced thence an acetum of so fiery and acrid a nature, that it would consume all metals, stones, and other substances, like aquafortis.

Moreover, tincture must be of a fixed nature, fluxible, and incombustible, so that if a little of it be thrown on an ignited plate of metal it will presently float like wax, and that without any smoke, and will penetrate the metal as oil penetrates paper, or water a sponge, and tinge all metals to white and red, that is, in the case of Luna and Sol.* These are now the Tinctures of the metals, which must first of all be turned to alcohol by the step of Calcination. Afterwards, by the second step of Sublimation, their own easy and gentle flux must be produced ; lastly, by the step of Putrefaction and Distillation the Tincture is evolved, fixed, incombustible, and of changeless colour. But the Tinctures of human bodies — whereby those bodies may be tinged into their supreme state of health, and all diseases may be expelled, that their lost powers and colours may be restored, and they themselves invigorated and renewed — are these : Gold, pearls, antimony, sulphur, vitriol, and the like, the preparations whereof we give in many other books, so it does not seem necessary for us to repeat them here. But concerning Tinctures nothing more need be written, seeing that every extracted colour may be called a Tincture, which, indeed, tinges with a permanent colour things which do not enter the fire, or keep their colours fixed in the fire. All these things are in the hand and power of the dyer or the painter, who prepares them according to his own pleasure.!

It is especially necessary, too, in this book to know the degrees of fire, which can be graduated and intensified in many ways, and each degree has its own peculiar operation, while no one gives the same result as another, as every skilful alchemist finds from his daily experience and the practice of his art. One is the live flaming fire which reverberates and calcines all bodies. * I call the tincture of gold the colour of the body itself, which, if separated from the body, so that a white body remains, will be a perfect work. For colour and body arc two different things, and for this reason admit of separation, that is to say, the pure (the colour) is separated from the impure (the body). Unless this be done, all the labour will turn out useless. When, accordingly, this separation is accomplished, we must immediately hasten to the clarification of the colour, and to the highest grade of exaltation. But the grade to which the tincture can be exalted is five times double, that is, five times into five times twenty-four, for it cannot become more sublimated Chirurgiti Magna Part II., Tract III., c. 2. ' t Tinctures operate approximately as follows : Just as you see fire completely consume firewood and similar bodies, which, as gold, etc. , have no figure of man, so we must believe that tinctures operate. Thus, as antimony purges away all the dross of gold, perfects it, and raises it to the highest grade by cementation, in like manner it becomes manifest that the tinctures themselves have obtained a nature similar to cement, inasmuch as they perform operations completely similar to those of the latter and of fire. The ancient artists marvellously wearied themselves at conjoining tinctures with fire, for they anticipated a medicine in their almost sacred conjunction, but all in vain. —Ibid. c. 8

Another is the fire of the candle and lamp, which fixes all volatile bodies. Another is the coal fire, which cements, colours, and purges metals from their scoriae, graduates more highly Sol and Luna, takes the whiteness from Venus, and, in a word, renovates all the metals. Another is the fire of an ignited iron plate, on which the tinctures of metals are probed, which also is useful for other purposes. In another way, scobs {i.e., alkali) of iron produces heat, in another way, sand ; in another, ashes ; in another, the balneum maris, by which many distillations, sublimations, and coagulations are produced. In yet another way operates the balneum, roris, in which take place many solutions of corporeal things. Otherwise, again, acts the vettter equinus, in which the principal putrefactions and digestions take place, and in another way operates the invisible fire, by which we understand the rays of the sun, which also is shewn by a mirror, or steel plate, or crystal, and displays its operation and effect, concerning which fire the ancients wrote scarcely anything. By this fire, indeed, the three principles in any corporeal substance can be separated on a table. Of so wonderful a virtue is this fire, that by means of it metals are liquefied, and all fat and fluxible things — all combustible things, indeed — can be reduced to carbon and ashes on a table, and without fire.

Since, then, I have placed before you and disclosed the steps of Alchemical Art, and the degrees of alchemical fire, I will, moreover, point out to you, and describe generically, the various transmutations of natural objects. Before all, one should speak of the metals ; secondly, of stones ; thirdly, of various objects after their kind. The transmutation of metals, then, is the great secret in Nature, and can only be produced with difficulty, on account of the many hindrances and difficulties. Yet it is not not contrary to Nature or the will of God, as many falsely say. But in order to transmute the five lower and baser metals, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Mercury, into the two perfect metals, Sol and Luna, you must have the Philosophers' Stone. But since we have already, in the seven steps, sufficiently unveiled and described the secrets of the Tinctures, it is not necessary to labour further about this, but rather rest satisfied with what we have written in other books on the Transmutations of Metals. But there are further transmutations of imperfect and impure metals, as, for instance, of Mars into Venus. This may be effected in different ways : Firstly, if iron filings are heated in water of vitriol ; or, secondly, if iron plates are cemented with calcined vitriol ; thirdly, if glowing iron plates are extinguished with oil of vitriol. In these three ways iron is transmuted into the best, natural, and heavy copper, which, indeed, flows very well, and has its own weight as well as any native copper.

Iron fiUng can also be reduced and transmuted as if into lead, so that it becomes entirely soft, like native lead, but it does not flow easily. Therefore proceed thus : Take some iron filing, and the same quantity of the best liquefying powder. Mix them ; place them on a tigillum in a blast furnace, make a strong fire, not so much as to melt the iron, but let it stand as if in a cement a whole hour. Afterwards increase the

fire vigorously, so that the iron may glow and melt. Lastly, let the tigillum cool of itself, and you will find a regulus of lead on the tigillum, as soft and ductile as native lead can be. But in order to transmute Venus into Saturn proceed thus : First of all, sublimate copper, and reduce it by fixed arsenic to a white substance, as white as Luna. Then granulate. Of this, and of good reduced powder, take the same quantity ; first cement, and, lastly pour into the regulus, when you will have the true leaden regulus. On the other hand, it is very easy to turn lead into copper, nor is any great skill required. This is the process : Calcine plates of lead in vitriol, or stratify with the crocus of Venus, cement, and, lastly, liquefy. Then you will see as much native lead as you please transmuted into good, heavy, and ductile copper. If, now, such copper, or any other copper, be made into plates and stratified with tutia and calamine, cemented, and if, lastly, it be cast, it is changed into a splendid amber or red colour, like gold. If you wish to change Saturn into Jupiter, take plates of Saturn, and stratify with sal ammoniac, cement, and, lastly, cast, as above. So all its blackness and darkness are taken away from the lead, and it becomes in whiteness like the best English tin.

As you have now heard in brief a summary of some transmutations of metals, so, moreover, know concerning the transmutations of gems, which, indeed, are various and by no means alike. For you see how great a transmutation of gems lies hid in oil of sulphur. Any crystal can be tinged and transmuted in it, and in course of time graduated with distinct colours so as to become like a grained jacinth or ruby. Understand in like manner concerning the magnet. It can be transmuted into ten times its power and virtue in the following way : Take a magnet, and heat it in the coals to such a degree that it may be at a high temperature, but still not red hot. Extinguish this immediately in the oil of the crocus of Mars, which is made of the best Carinthian steel, so that it may imbibe as much as it can take. Thus you will make a magnet so powerful that with it you can pull out the nails from a wall, and do other wonderful things which a common magnet could never accomplish. Moreover, in the transmutations of gems, it must be known that the world is situated in the two grades of tincture and coagulation. For as the white of an &gg can be tinged with saffron, and afterwards coagulated into a beautiful yellow amber, with the dye of a pine into black amber, with verdigris into green amber, like the cyanean or Turkish stone, with green juice into the likeness of an emerald, with lazuleum into a cerulean amber like sapphire, with Brazilian wood into a red amber like the grained jacinth or ruby, with a purple colour like amethyst, or with ceruse made to resemble alabaster— so all other liquids, and especially metals and minerals, can be tinged with fixed colours afterwards coagulated, and transmuted into gems.

Similarly pearls, too, can be made entirely like true ones in appearance so that by means of their brightness and beauty they can scarcely be distinguished from genuine ones. Proceed thus : Purify as much as possible the white of eggs with a sponge. Into this put and mix some fair white talc, or pearl shell, or Mercury coagulated with Jupiter and reduced to alcohol. At the same time pound it in marble very fine, so that it becomes a thick amalgam, which must be dried in the sun or behind a warm furnace until it becomes like cheese or hepar. Lastly, from this mass make as many pearls as you wish, and fix them on hog bristles. Having thus bored them, dry them as you did the amber, and you have prepared them. If they do not shine sufficiently anoint them externally with the white of an &%^, and again dry them. Thus they will become most beautiful pearls, like true ones in form though not in virtue. Almost in the same way corals are made by those who wish to deceive people as with the pearls just spoken of. Proceed thus : Pound cinnabar with white of eggs in a marble mortar for an hour. Afterwards dry it like potter's earth. Then form from thence pilules or small branches, as you will ; lastly, dry them thoroughly, and anoint them externally, as you did the pearls, with white of ^%%. Dry them again, and thus they will become like native coral in appearance, but not in virtue.

It should also be known that the white of eggs by itself can'be coagulated into a very fine varnish, into which coagulation Luna or Sol may be put. There are many other and various transmutations, whereof I will tell you briefly, and by the way, those which I know and have experimented on. First, learn that any wood, if at a particular time it be put in the water of the salt of a gem, is converted into stone in a manner calculated to cause wonder. So, too, stones are transmuted into coals by ^Etnean fire, and these are called stone coal. In the same way glue is made from hides, paper from linen rag, and silk is produced out of linen with a very sharp lixivium made from lime and the ashes of woad. If the downy parts are taken from feathers and dressed with this lixivium, they can be spun and woven like cotton. Any oil or spermatic mucilage can be coagulated into varnish ; any liquid into gum. All these are transmutations of natural objects ; whereof we have now said enough, and therefore write our finis.

Concerning the Separations of Natural Things. IN the creation of the world, the first separation began with the four elements, when the first matter of the world was one chaos. From that chaos God built the Greater World, separated into four distinct elements, Fire, Air, Water, Earth. Fire was the warm part, Air only the cold, Water the moist, and, lastly, Earth was but the dry part of the Greater World. Now, that you may learn our method in this Eighth Book as briefly as possible, you must know that we do not propose to treat herein concerning the Separation of the Elements in all natural things, since we have fully and perfectly taught concerning these arcana in our Archidoxa on the Separations of the Elements. But here we touch only on the separation of natural things,* where some one thing is singly, and by itself, materially and substantially separated and segregated, when two, three, four, or more have been mingled in one body, and yet only a single matter is touched and seen. And here it frequently happens that corporeal matter of this kind can be known by nobody, nor be designated by an express name, until the process of separation is instituted. Then sometimes from a single matter two, three, four, five, or more, proceed, as by daily experience in Alchemy is made evident. By way of example for you, there is electrum, which by itself is not a metal, but still conceals all the metals in one metal and body. If this, by alchemical art, be anatomised and separated, all the seven metals, and these pure and unmixed, proceed from it, namely, gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, iron, quicksilver, etc.

But in order to understand what separation is, you should know that it is nothing else but the segregation of one thing from another, whether two, three, four, or more have been mixed : I mean the segregation of three principles, as mercury, sulphur, salt, and the extraction of the pure from the impure, or of the pure and noble spirit and quintessence from the dense and * Separation is grounded in heat, as in a faculty of digestion, whence, sometimes in one way, and sometimes in another, the ultimate matter is formed. — Modus Pharmacattdi^ Tract III. The office of the Archeus is the sequestration of the pure from the impure.— De Morbis TartareU. c. 5. For unless there be separation in the greater world, there can be no metal, and unless there be separation in the smaller world, that is, in the microcosmos, which is man there can be neither health nor disease, but an equable and perpetual disposition of all things, — Chirurgict Magna^ Part III., Lib. 1. Concerning the Nature of Thmgs, i6i elemental body ; and the preparation of two, three, four, or more from one : or the dissolution and liberation of things linked and bound together, which are by nature adverse, and perpetually act contrariwise one to the other, and go on doing so until they mutually destroy each other.

There are many and various modes of separation, all of which are not known to us ; but those among the soluble natural elements which have been investigated by us shall here be set down and described according to their species. The first Separation of which we speak should begin from man, since he is the Microcosm, the lesser world, and for his sake the Macrocosm, the greater world, was founded, that he might be its Separator. But the separation of the Microcosm begins from death.* For in death the two bodies of man separate from each other, that is to say, the Celestial and the Terrestial, the Sacramental and the Elemental. One of these soars on high, like an eagle ; the other sinks down to the earth, like lead.f The elemental body decays and is consumed. It becomes a putrid corpse, which, being buried in the earth, never again comes forth or appears. But the Sacrame^ital body, that is, the sidereal and celestial body, does not decay, is not buried, occupies no place. This body appears to men, and is seen even after death. Hence we have spectres, visions, and supernatural apparitions. From these the Cabalistic Art was elaborated by the ancient Magi, which is treated of more at length in the books on the Cabala.|

After this separation has been made, then, by the death of the man, the three substances separate one from the other, that is to say, the body, the soul, and the spirit, each wending its way to its own place, as to the ark from * There are two kinds of death -one from the Yliadus, and one from the Ens. With that which comes from the Vliadus medicine may attempt to do battle ; with that which comes from the Ens it is useless to attempt to cope.— Z?^ Tartaro^ comment, in Lib. II. t It has, therefore, seemed good to me that man should first of all be described according to his nature and condition, so that it may become more clearly intelligible what is to be sought in the mortal body, that is to say, mere mortality, and what also is to be sought in the sidereal body, forsooth mere mortality. Afterwards we must become acquainted with the soul, which is by no means mortal, but is the eternal man. You must further know that the soul is flesh and blood, and that it consists of flesh and blood, but that there is a twofold flesh, namely, mortal and eternal. The mortal takes its essence from mortal flesh ; the eternal is perfect flesh and blood unto life eternal. Therefore if man considers within himself who and what he is, and what will be his future condition, he will thence readily understand that in this body, incarnate from the Holy Spirit, he shall see God, his Redeemer, and that whatsoever God our Redeemer operates in us, He does through the man of new generation, because that is not of a mortal but an eternal body.

Only this body is secure from the devil. The second is from Adam, and is like a seed in water. The other body is suitable for the performance of works Divine, for a mortal body can accomplish nothing of those things which are celestial. It cares only for things earthly and things of the firmament, and it produces men skilled only in natural light. Hence God ordains man to gain a wider experience from that which is naturally formed, to pass from one to the other, and to emulate Nature. For in a new body and a celestial philosophy is life eternal. Death is inherent in natural strength, but life, on the contrary, consists in eternal strength. The instruction of Nature is from the earth, and she knows not God, except that she admires the Creator in man. Nor yet does man recognise God according to Nature or in Nature. But he who is born from on high is acquainted with supernal things. The first of these is Christ. AH who are reborn in flesh and blood, conceived and incarnate from the Holy Ghost, do follow Him, and these same have the knowledge of things above. For they are from Him who cometh from on 'high. Hence there are two instructions, one of the earth earthy, the other from on high, which He imparts who also is from on high, from whom we derive, whose flesh and blood we are, etc. —Philosophia Sagax^ Lib. II., c. 2.

% The sole work on the cabala which has been preserved in the name of Paracelsus, is a short treatise, which forms a detached portion of the book entitled De PesHiitate. It is not cabalistical in the sense which properly attaches to that term, nor does it exhibit any special acquaintance with that section of Jewish traditional literature to which it is referred in name. In its general outline it seems to be fairly in harmony with the great body of cabalistical cosmogony, which it first of all came forth : the body to the earth, as the first matter of the elements ; the soul to the first matter of the sacraments ; and, lastly, the spirit to the first matter of the aerial chaos. What has now been said concerning- the separation of the Microcosm should also be understood of the greater world, which the mighty ocean has separated into three parts, so that the universal world is thus divided into three portions, Europe, Asia, and Africa. This separation is a sort of prefiguration of the three principles, because they, too, can be separated from every terrestrial and elemental thing. These principles are Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt. Of these three the world is built up and composed.

From this should be known the separation of the metals from their mountains, that is to say, the separation of metals and minerals. By the separation which is instituted in these, many come forth from one matter. You see that from minerals come forth metal, scoriae, glass, sand, pyrites, marchasite, granite, cobalt, talc, cachimia, zinctum, bismuth, antimony, litharge, sulphur, vitriol, verdigris, chrysocolla, coeruleum or lazulum, auripigment, arsenic, realgar, cinnabar, fireclay, spathus, gyphus, tripolis, red earth, and other like things ; and then of each one of these the water, the oils, the resins, the calx or ash, the Mercury, Sulphur, Salt, etc. Vegetables in their separation give waters, oils, juices, resins, gums, electuaries, powders, ashes. Mercury, Sulphur, Salt, etc. Animals in their separation give water, blood, flesh, fat, bones, skin, body, hair, Mercury, Sulphur, Salt, etc. Whoever, therefore, boasts to be a separator of such natural things, needs long experience, and perfect knowledge of all natural objects. Besides this, he must be a skilled and practised alchemist, to know what is or is not and it is briefly as follows. Earth, water, air, and fire have their origin from three things, which, however, are not to be regai-ded as of prior creation, for they are and have been fire, air, water, earth. The three have all proceeded from one mother. This mother was water. When the whole world was formed the Spirit of God was borne over the waters, for by the word Fiat water was first created, and thence all other creatures, animate and inanimate.

These three are called, truly, sulphur, mercury, salt. These, therefore, are the true principle, these the true matter, out of which all animals and man himself are formed. Thus for perfect generation in all things there are three things required — spring, summer, and autumn. This is especially the case in man himself. Now, sulphur, mercury, and salt recognize two rulers. Salt has the Moon, and is thereby governed. It is also a subject of water, in which it is dissolved and liquefied. 'It is of autumn and winter. But the Sun is king and lord of sulphur, which is fervid, igneous, and dissolved in fire. Now, the Sun is the ruler of spring and autumn. But all things are nothing else save sulphur, mercury, and salt, which, further, are the most certain mark of every true physician. Salt is the body of autumn and winter, and sulphur of spring and summer. Salt gives form and colour to all creatures ; sulphur gives body, increase, and digestion. These two are father and mother, from which mediating stars all creatures are produced. But mercury needs daily nourishment, and also continual augmentation from sulphur and salt. Know also that God has put much sulphur and salt into earth and water, and every creature, animate and inanimate, in water and earth, have their proper sulphur and salt, whence they receive nourishment and savour. Salt gives savour and form, sulphur odour and the power of putrefaction.

The Sun and Moon assiduously labour to generate these three things copiously, and also to mature the same. The Sun and Moon are the parents of all creatures, while sulphur and salt are the seed. The seed is brought by the parents, and the foetus, which is mercury is born. The manner of the nativity of everything has its analogies in the great world. When the death of winter has passed, all things that are capable of receiving life are set in motion by the amenity of May, and all creatures are transported with singular delight, even as a pregnant woman who desires to bring forth. Now, every individual being has assigned to it its own May for its conception and birth, its respective autumn, and its peculiar harvest. So are there various springs, summers, and autumns, according to the infinite varieties of creatures. The doctrine of the three prime principles recurs continually in the writings of Paracelsus, and is elsewhere treated at considerable length in the text of this translation. At the same time, the obscurity which involves the subject seems to warrant the citation of passages such as the above, not exactly to cast light upon the question, but to exhibit the primeval mystei-y of Paracelsican philosophy with all its available variations.

combustible, what is fixed and what volatile, what does or does not pass into flux, and what thing is heavier than another. He must also have investigated in every object its natural colour, odour, acidity, austerity, acridity, bitterness, sweetness, its grade, complexion, and quality. Moreover, it is necessary to know the grades of separation, that they consist of distillation, resolution, putrefaction, extraction, calcination, reverberation, sublimation, reduction, coagulation, pulverisation, lavation. By distillation, water and oil are separated from all corporeal substances. By resolution, metals are separated from minerals, and one metal from another, salt and fatness from others, and the light is separated from the heavier. By putrefaction, the fat is separated from the lean, the pure from the impure, the decayed from the undecayed. By extraction, the pure is separated from the impure, the spirit and the quintessence from their body, and the pearl from its dense body. By calcination are separated watery moisture, fatness, natural colour, odour, and whatever is otherwise combustible. By reverberation are separated colour, odour, inflammability, all moisture and wateriness, fat, whatever, in a word, there is in the substance which is fluxible or inconstant, and so on. By sublimation are separated from each other the fixed and the volatile, the spiritual and the corporeal, the pure from the impure, the Sulphur from the Salt, the Mercury from the Salt ; and the rest. By reduction, the fluxible is separated from the solid, the metal from its mineral ore, one metal from another, metal from ash, the fat from that which is not fat.

By coagulation is separated moisture from mere humidity, water from earth. By pulverisation are separated one from the other dust and sand, ashes and lime, the mineral from the animal and vegetable substance. All powders which are of unequal weight are separated by the process of jaculation, just as the chaff' from the corn. By washing or ablution, ashes and sand are separated, the mineral from its metal, the heavy from the lighter substance, the vegetable and animal portion from the mineral. Sulphur from Mercury and Salt, Salt from Mercury.

But now, discarding mere theory, let us approach the practical work of separation, and come down to special details. It must be remarked that the separation of metals is rightly the first of all. For this reason, therefore, we will treat of that first. Concerning the Separation of Metals from their Minerals. The separation of metals from their mineral ores can be eff'ected in many ways, for instance, by ebullition or excoction, or by liquefaction with certain liquefying powders, as salt of alkali, litharge, sal fliixum, fel vitri, ash, sal gemmae, saltpetre, etc. Put them into a vessel or dish, and let them liquefy in a furnace. Then the metal as a regulus will subside to the bottom of the vessel, but the matter of the mineral will float on the surface and will become ash. You must then work this metallic regulus in a furnace by means of a reverberatory, until all the pure metal is liberated without any dirt or ash. In this way, the metal is thoroughly digested and (so to say) refined or purged from all its dirt and scoria. Mineral ores of this kind will sometimes contain more than one metal, as is very often the case : for example, copper and silver, copper and gold, lead and silver, tin and silver, etc., may be found in one mineral ore ; and the sign of this circumstance will be apparent if the metallic regulus, after being dealt with in the reverberatory, be resolved in a small vat after the proper fashion and mode.

All the imperfect metals in it are separated, such as copper, iron, tin, lead, and so they pass away in smoke together with the lead (of which there should be added twice as much as of the regulus), and then only fine silver and gold remain in the vat. A similar result is attained, too, if the metallic rex is liquefied and poured upon the lumps. By that method of fusion the intermixed metals are separated. That which is best and weightiest always sinks to the bottom, while the lighter mounts above.

Two or three metals in admixture can also be separated in acrid and strong water, and one can be extracted from the other, and extended and resolved. But if both metals are resolved together, one of them in that resolution, as sand or calx, can be diverberated and depressed with salt according to the usual method, and so separated. Besides this, metals can also be separated by fluxion according to the following process. Reduce the metals to a state of flux. When this has been done, throw in for every pound of the metal one ounce of the most perfectly sublimated and refined sulphur. It will there be burnt, and in the course of that operation it will attract to itself, on the surface, one metal, the lightest, whilst it will leave the heavier at the bottom. Let them stand in this way until cool. So in the one regulus two metals will be found, not, as before, mixed together, but opposed to each other, and separated by the sulphur as if by a wall, even as oil cuts off two bodies of water, so that that they cannot join and be commingled. In the same way sulphur acts with these metals. Sulphur, therefore, is an arcanum, worthy of the highest esteem.

Volatile and fugitive metals, such as gold and silver, if they are to be separated from their minerals, since they can neither be treated in the fire nor with strong waters, should be amalgamated, separated, and extracted by means of Mercurius vivus. Afterwards the Mercurius vivus must be abstracted and separated from the calx of the gold or silver by the grade of distillation. In this way, other metals, too, as gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, and substances prepared from these, as red electrum, white magnesia, aurichalcum, lead ashes, laton, casting brass, part with part, etc., and whatever transmuted metals of this kind there are, must be abstracted and separated from their extraneous substances by means of Mercurius vivus. For this is the nature and quality of Mercuritis vivus, that it is amalgamated with metals and wholly united with them, but more quickly or more slowly with one than with another, according as the metal is more or less akin to its nature. In this scale the principal is fine gold, then fine silver, the third lead, the fourth tin, the fifth copper, and the last iron. So among transmuted metals the first is part with part, then lead ashes, next laton, afterwards casting brass, then red metal, and lastly white. Mercury, for its part, does not take more than one metal with which it is amalgamated. Afterwards, that amalgam must always be vigorously pressed out by means of goat's skin or a cotton rag, of which a strip is to be inserted, by which means nothing but Mercurius vivus alone will pass over.

The metal which was attracted will remain on the skin or the rag like lime, and you can afterwards reduce it to a metallic body, by liquefying it with salt of alkali, or some other substance. By this device Mercurius vivus is separated from all the metals more quickly and conveniently than by the method of distillation. By this process with Mercurius vivus, in the hands of a skilled and active alchemist, all metals can be extracted and separated one from another in turn, after their calcination and pulverisation. In the same manner, with very small outlay of labour, tin, too, and lead can be separated from copper, or from copper vessels, from iron and steel covered with tin, and this without any fire or water, solely by the amalgam of Mercurius vivus, as we have said. Again, gold and silver leaf, as also every metal after being ground or pounded, and written with pen or pencil on cloth, parchment, paper, leather, wood, stone, or other material, can be resolved with Mercurivs vivus, but so that afterwards the Mercurius vivus can again be separated and segregated from these metals.

The separation of metals in aqua fortis, aqua regis, and similar strong corrosives, is effected in the following manner : Let the metal which is mixed and joined to another be taken and reduced into very thin plates, or most mmute portions. Let it be put into a separating vessel, and a sufficient quantity of common aquafortis be poured upon it. Let these stand, and both be macerated until all the metal is resolved into a transparent water. If it be silver, and contains gold in it, all the silver will be resolved into water, while the gold will be calcined and sink down to the bottom in the form of black sand. By this method the two metals, gold and silver, will be separated. But if you wish to separate the silver alone without distillation, and to drive that to the bottom like black sand, and to bring it back to calcination from its state of resolution, then put into that resolution a small copper plate, and thereupon the silver will sink in the water, and occupy the bottom of the glass vessel like snow, while it will begin gradually to consume the copper plate. The separation of silver and copper by means of common aquafortis is accomplished in the following way : Reduce the copper which contains silver, or the silver which contains copper within itself, into very thin plates, or into grains ; put it into a glass vessel, and add as much common aquafortis as necessary. In this way the silver will be calcined, and will go to the bottom -in the form of white lime, while the copper will be resolved and converted into transparent water. If this water, together with the resolved copper, be abstracted through a glass funnel from the silver calx into a separate glass vessel, then the resolved copper can be reverberated with common rain or

river water, or with hot salt water, so that it will occupy the bottom of the glass vessel like sand. The separation of hidden gold from any metal is effected by the degree of extraction through aqua regis ; for this water does not approach for the purpose of resolving any metal but fine gold alone. This same aqua regis also separates fine gold from gilded clenodia. If it be smeared over these, it wipes away and sunders the gold. Moreover, also, two metals mixed together can be separated one from the other with a cement by the degree of reverberation, especially if they are not in a similar degree of fixation, as iron and copper. A metal which has very little fixation, such as tin and lead, is altogether consumed in the cement by the degree of reverberation. The more fixed any metal is the less is it affected or consumed by the cement. It should be known, too, that fine gold is the most fixed and perfect of all metals, and can be consumed by no cement. Next to this is fine silver. But if gold and silver be mixed together in one body, which is generally called " part with part," or if silver contains gold, or gold silver, in itself — if these mixtures, I say, be cemented and reverberated together, then the gold always remains entire and inviolate, while the silver is consumed by the cement, and is extracted from the fine gold ; and so is copper from silver or iron, or tin from copper and iron, or lead from tin ; and so on in order with the others.

Concerning the Separation of Minerals. So far we have explained the separation of metals from their earth and matter, and of one metal from another ; and have shewn how it was to be done, using the greatest brevity consistent with accuracy, and following the alchemical art and practical experience. Now, next in order, it will be necessary also that we treat of those things out of which metals grow and are generated, such as are the three principles, Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, and other minerals, among which is found the first essence of metals, that is, the spirit of metals, as is evident in marchasites, granites, cachimiae, red talc, lazurium, and the like. In these the first essence of gold is found by the degree of sublimation. So, too, in white marcasite, white talc, auripigment, arsenic, litharge, etc., the first essence of silver is found. In cobalt, zinctum, etc., the first essence of iron. In zinctum, vitriol, atramentum, verdigris, etc., the first essence of copper. In zinctum, bismuth, etc., the first essence of tin. In antimony, minium, etc., the first essence of lead. In cinnabar is found the first essence of silver. Concerning this first essence, it should be known that it is a fugitive spirit, still existing in a volatile state, as a child lies hidden in the womb of its mother. It is sometimes assimilated to a liquid, sometimes to alcohol. Whoever, therefore, is anxious to have the prime essence of any body, and to separate it, needs great experience and knowledge of the Spagyric Art.

If he has not diligently laboured in alchemy it will avail him nothing, and his labour will be in vain. How the first essence is to be separated from all mineral bodies has been sufficiently explained in the books of the Archidoxis, and need not be repeated here. But as to the separation of minerals, it should be remarked that many things of this kind are separated by means of sublimation, as the fixed from the non-fixed, spiritual and volatile bodies from the fixed, and so throughout all the divisions, as is detailed in the case of metals. With all minerals the process is one and the same, through all the degrees, as the Spagyric Art teaches. Concerning the Separation of Vegetables. The separation of those things which grow out of the earth and are combustible, such as fruits, herbs, flowers, leaves, grasses, roots, woods, etc., is also arranged in many ways. By distillation is separated from them first the phlegma, afterwards the Mercury, after this the oil, fourthly their sulphur, lastly their salt. When all these separations are made according to Spagyric Art, remarkable and excellent medicaments are the result, both for internal and external use. But when laziness has grown to such an extent among physicians, and all work and every pursuit are turned only to insolence, I do not wonder, indeed, that preparations of this kind are everywhere neglected, and that coals stand at so low a price.

If smiths could do without coals for forging and fashioning metals as easily as these physicians do without them in preparing their medicines, there is no doubt that all the coal merchants would have been before now reduced to extreme beggary. In the meantime, I extol and adorn, with the eulogium rightly due to them, the Spagyric physicians. These do not give themselves up to ease and idleness, strutting about with a haughty gait, dressed in silk, with rings ostentatiously displayed on their fingers, or silvered poignards fixed on their loins, and sleek gloves on their hands. But they devote themselves diligently to their labours, sweating whole nights and days over fiery furnaces. These do not kill the time with empty talk, but find their delight in their laboratory. They are clad in leathern garments, and wear a girdle to wipe their hands upon. They put their fingers among the coals, the lute, and the dung, not into gold rings. Like blacksmiths and coal merchants, they are sooty and dirty, and do not look proudly with sleek countenance. In presence of the sick they do not chatter and vaunt their own medicines. They perceive that the work should glorify the workman, not the workman the work, and that fine words go a very little way towards curing sick folks. Passing by all these vanities, therefore, they rejoice to be occupied at the fire and to learn the steps of alchemical knowledge. Of this class are : Distillation, Resolution, Putrefaction, Extraction, Calcination, Reverberation, Sublimation, Fixation, Separation, Reduction, Coagulation, Tincture, and the like.

But how all these separations are made according to Spagyric and 1 68 The Hermeiic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus. Alchemical Art by the help of distinct degrees has before been said generally, and to repeat the same thing here anew is vain. To go on to specialities and briefly explain the practical method, let it be known that all cannot be separated by one and the same process ; that is to say, the water, spirit, liquid, oil, etc., from herbs, flowers, seeds, leaves, roots, trees, fruits, woods, according to the grade of distillation. Herbs require one process, flowers another, seeds another, leaves another, roots another, trees, stalks, and stems another, fruits another, woods another, etc. And in this grade of distillation the four degrees of fire have to be considered. The first degree of fire is the Balneum MaricBThis is the distillation made in water. The second degree of fire is distillation made in ashes. The third is in sand, the fourth in free fire, as also distillation is generally made by aqua fortis and other violent waters. Herbs, flowers, seeds, and the like, require the first degree of fire. Leaves, fruits, etc., need the second. Roots, branches, and trunks of trees, etc., require the third. Timber and the like require the fourth. Each of these substances must be minutely cut up or pounded before being brought into the still. So much has been said as to the distillation of waters and vegetable substances.

As regards the separation and distillation of oils the same process must be followed as we have spoken of in the separation of waters, except that, for the most part, they have to be distilled by descent. They cannot, like waters, ascend in the still ; therefore, in this case the process has to be changed. Liquids, however, are not separated like waters and oils, by distillation, but are squeezed out from their corporeal substances under a press. And here it should be known that some oils, in like manner, just as liquids, are squeezed out from their corporeal substances and separated by means of the press for this reason, that they can bear scarcely any combustion or heat of the fire, but acquire therefrom an unpleasant odour. Of this kind are the oils of almonds, nuts, hard eggs, and the like. This also is to be noted, that all oils, if they are prepared or coagulated according to Spagyric and Alchemical Art, pour forth varnish, electuary, gum, or a kind of resin, which, might also be called a sulphur ; and if the species left in the still were calcined and reduced to ashes, alkali could be extracted and separated from them with simple warm water alone. The ash which is left is called dead earth, nor can anything more be produced or separated from it.

Concerning the Separation of Animals. It is necessary to preface the separation or anatomy of animals by shewing how the blood, flesh, bones, skin, intestines, etc., stand each by itself, and then how each is separated by Spagyric Art. In this part the separations are principally four. The first draws forth from the blood a watery and phlegmatic moisture. For when the blood has been separated in this manner, according to the process handed down in the book on Conservations,* an • That is, i\k Preservations o/ Natural Things, ~De Nalura Keruni, Book HI. Concerning the Nature of Things. 1 69 excellent Mumia* comes forth, and a specific so potent that any fresh wound can be healed and consolidated in twenty-four hours by a single ligature. The second separation is that of fat from flesh. This fatness being separated from human flesh, a most excellent balsam is produced, allaying the pains of gout, of contraction, and others of a like nature, if the members affected be anointed with it while warm. It is also useful for convulsed tendons of the hands or feet, if they are daily anointed with it. It further cures the itch, and all kinds of leprosy. This, therefore, is the chief surgical specific, and of the very first efficacy in all accidents and wounds.

The third separation is that of the watery and phlegmatic moisture with fatness extracted from the bones. For if these two are separated from human bones by Spagyric Art, and according to the degree of distillation, and if, moreover, by the method of calcination they are reduced or burnt to a white ash, and if, lastly, these three be again united in the proper way, so that they are like to butyrus, there will be formed a wonderful arcanum and specific, with which j'ou will be able, without pain, to entirely cure any fracture of the bones after binding them up only thrice, provided only that you treat the fracture by setting it according to the rules of surgical science, and then put on the specific in the form of a plaster. The same also thoroughly cures wounds of the skull, or any contusion of the bones, in the shortest possible time. The fourth and last separation is that of resins and gums from the skin, intestines, and tendons. For the resin is extracted and separated from these by the degree of extraction according to Spagyric Art, and when coagulated in the rays of the sun it comes out as a clear and transparent paste. When this paste has been prepared, extracted, and separated from the human body according to the prescribed method, a most excellent styptic arcanum and specific issues forth, with which a wound or ulcer can be quickly healed and the lips brought together, just as two sheets of paper are stuck together with paste, if only you apply to the wound two or three drops of that resolved substance. This arcanum, too, is of singular efficacy for burns, and falling off' or roughness of the nails, if it be spread over them with a feather. In this way the bare flesh will be covered over with a cuticle.

Many other separations also of one thing or another might be recounted here ; but since we have made mention of them in other places, it would be in vain idly to repeat them now. • Mumia is that which cures all wounds, that is, sweet mercury. For mercury is extracted both in a sweet and bitter form. The former is adapted to wounds and the latter to ulcers. Mumia is the liquor diffused through the Avhole body, the limbs, etc., with the strength that is required. It is divided as follows : in flesh, according to the nature of the flesh ; in bone, according to the nature of the bone ; in the arteries and ligaments, according to their nature ; and so also in the marrow, the veins, and the skin. Hence it follows that the mumia of the flesh cin-es wounds of the flesh, the mumia of the ligaments cures wounds of the ligaments, etc. Thus the body which has sustained an injuiy carries its own cure with it ; the mumia of the aged, however, is deficient in virtue and strength. The corruption of the mumia, which is often occasioned by the mistakes of ignorant physicians, impedes the cure of wounds. . . . The nobler the animal organism is, by so much is the mumia of the organism enhanced in power and efiacacy. The medi*. caments which benefit wounds perform this operation by attracting the mumia to the place where its office is required, — Chirurgia Minor^ Lib. I., c. i.

Here it is only necessary to write down that which we have not mentioned elsewhere. But at last, at the end of all earthly things, will be brought about the final separation, in the third generation, on that great day whereon the Son of God shall come in His majesty and glory, and before Him shall be borne,, not swords, chains, diadems, sceptres, and treasures, or other royal jewels, with which princes, kings, and Caesars bear themselves pompously, but His Cross, and crown of thorns, and nails piercing His hands and feet, and the spear with which His side was wounded, and the reed and sponge on which they stretched out that which they gave Him to drink, and the rods with which He was scourged and beaten. No crowd of horsemen with far sounding drums shall accompany Him ; but the four trumpets shall be blown by the angels towards the four parts of the earth, and at their tremendous sound all who are among the living shall be slain, and these together with the buried dead shall immediately rise again. For a voice shall be heard, "Rise, ye dead, and come to judgment!" Hereupon the Twelve Apostles shall sit down on thrones prepared from the clouds, and shall judge the twelve families of Israel. In that place the Holy Angels shall separate the bad from the good, the cursed from the blessed, the goats from the sheep. Then the cursed shall be thrown down like stones and like lead ;

but the blessed shall fly like eagles. Then from the tribunal of God shall issue forth a voice to those standing on the left hand, " Go away, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared from eternity for Satan and the devils. For I was hungry and you did not feed Me ; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink ; I was sick, and a prisoner, and naked, but you did not visit Me, did not set Me free, did not clothe Me. In a word, you were not touched with pity for Me. Therefore, here you shall meet with no pity ! " Contrariwise to those standing on the right side it shall say thus : " Come, ye blessed and elect, into the Kingdom of My Father, which has from the beginning been prepared for you and for all the angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me food ; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink ; I was a stranger and you received Me ; I was naked and you clothed Me ; I was sick and you visited Me ; I was in prison and you came to Me. So will I receive you also into My Father's house, in which are the many mansions of the saints. You pitied Me ; and so I will pity you ! "

When all these things are finished and done, all the elementary subjects shall return to the first matter of the elements, and shall be turned about for eternity, yet never consumed. On the contrary, all sacramental creatures shall return to the primal matter of the sacraments, that is, they shall be glorified, and in eternal joy they shall, worship God their Creator, from universe to universe, from eternity to eternity. Amen. COiNCERNING THE NATURE OF THINGS. Concerning the Signature of Natural Things. IN this book, our first business, as being about to philosophise, is with the signature of things, as, for instance, to set forth how they are signed, what signator exists, and how many signs are reckoned. Be it known, first of all, then, that signs are threefold. The first things signed man signs ; the second Archeus signs ; the third the Stars of the Supernaturals. In this way, then, only three signators exist, Man, Archeus, and the Stars. Moreover, it should be remarked that the signs signed by man carry with them perfect knowledge and judgment of occult things, as well as acquaintance with their powers and hidden faculties. The signs of the stars give prophecies and presages. They point out the force of supernatural things, and put forth true judgments and disclosures in geomancy, chiromancy, hydromancy, pyromancy, necromancy, astronomy, the Berillistic art,t and other astral sciences.

Now, in order that we may explain all the signs as correctly and as briefly as possible, it is above all else necessary that we put forward those whereof man is the signator. When these are understood you will more rightly attain to the others, whether natural or supernatural. For instance, it is known that * Note with reference to the books De Nati/ra Rerun?. In most editions, seven books only are included under this heading, but the Geneva folio, from which the translation has been made, gives nine as above. In the other cases the treatises on Separations and Signatures are regai'ded as independent works. There can be no doubt that the classification adopted by the Geneva folio is correct, for in method and design these treatises are integrally connected with the rest of the Nature of Things. t Among the branches of astronomy there is one which is called Nigromancy. It has gained this name because it is exercised by night rather than by day. This science is everywhere and by all rejected and cursed as diabolical, yet only by those who are ignorant of it. For this science is a natural one, born of the stains. But above all notice the property of beryls. In these are beheld the past, present, and future. Let no one be surprised at this, because the constellation impresses the image and similitude of its influence upon the crystal in the likeness of that concerning which inquiry is made.

This must take place by a compulsion of the constellation, as is recorded in magic. As the splendour of the sun flows in upon the crystal, so the constellation pours it from above upon the object. Moreover, all things which exist in Nature are known to the constellations, and when the stars are subject to man, he can bring them to such obedience that they favour his will. It is universally boasted concerning faith that it can accomplish many things. This is, indeed, not far from the truth, for Christ Himself bears witness to it. And since faith is an operative principle it is evidently nothing else but a virtue and an efficacy. For virtue works in a word, and words make the dead alive. In a similiar fashion, what else is there in the stars than that by faith in Nature they are conquered ? And as by the word of faith the mountain is cast into the sea, know that it is owing to natural faith that by a word the stars are brought down, so that they may perform their operation according to our imagination, for he is wise who rules the stars — he is wise, I say, who can bring their virtues under his rule, for in this manner are constituted visions in glasses, mirrors, waters, and the rest, according to the quality of the power, and of the union made in conception. — Explicatio Totlus Asirononila'.

Jews wear a yellow sign on their cloak or on their coat. What is this but a sign by which anybody who meets him may understand that he is a Jew ? So, too, the lictor is known by his parti-coloured tunic or armlet. So, too, every magistracy decks its ministers with its own proper colours and adornments. The mechanic marks his work with its peculiar sign, so that everyone may understand who has produced it. For what purpose does the courier carry the insignia of his master or his city on his garment, except that it may be clear he is a messenger, that he serves one or another, that he comes from one place or another, and so thus procures for himself a safe passage ? So, too, the soldier carries a sign or symbol, black, white, green, blue, or red, that he may be distinguished from the enemy. Hence it is known that one is on the side of Ceesar, or of the kings ; that one is an Italian, another a Gaul, etc. These are signs which relate to rank and office ; and many more of them might be enumerated. But, nevertheless, since we have proposed to ourselves to describe other signs of natural and supernatural things, we will not overload our book with those signs that are foreign to our purpose.

It is necessary more clearly to explain those signs which man affixes, and which lead to a knowledge, not only of rank, office, or name, but also of discrimination, intelligence, age, dignity, degree. Next in order, with regard to money, it should be remembered that every coin carries its proof and sign by which it may be known how much that coin is worth, to what power it belongs, where it circulates and is passed. Here comes in the German proverb : " Nowhere is money more acceptable than where it is struck." The same is to be understood of the customary signs which are affixed by jurors and those appointed for the purpose, after due inspection has been previously made. An instance of this is found in the cloths marked with distinguishing signs by which it may be known that on examination they have been found good and genuine. Why is a seal appended to letters except that there may be a certain force which none will dare to violate ? The seal is the confirmation of the letter which gives it authority among men and in trials. A receipt without a seal is dead, useless, empty. In the same manner, by a few letters, names, or words, many things are designated, just as books which, though lettered outside with only one word, in that way signify their contents.

Such, too, is the condition of the vessels and boxes in drug-shops, which are all distinguished by peculiar names or labels affixed to them. If that were not done, who could distinguish one from the other among so many different waters, liquors, syrups, oils, powders, seeds, ointments, and the like ? In the same way, too, the alchemist in his laboratory marks with their own proper names and labels, all the waters, liquors, spirits, oils, phleo-mata crocuses, alkalis, powders, and then all the different kinds of these, one by one, so that he can select from among them whatever he wants. Without this safeguard it is impossible to remember each separately. Thus also rooms and buildings constructed by men can be signed with a number, so that the age of any of them can be at once known by the first glance at the number affixed. I determined to lay these signs before you in order that when you had mastered these, I might be more readily understood by you in the rest, and that the meaning of each might be plainer and more evident. Concerning Monstrous Signs in Men. Many men come to the light deformed with monstrous signs. One man has a finger too many, another a finger too few ; and the same may be the case with the toes. Another brings with him from the womb a distorted foot, arm, back, or other member ; another has a weak or a hunched back.

So also there are born hermaphrodites, androgyni, men, that is to say, possessing both pudenda, male as well as female, and sometimes lacking both. Of monstrous signs like this I have noted many, both in males and females, all of which are to be regarded as monstrous signs of secret sins in the parents. Hence has grown up the old proverb : "The more distorted, the more wicked"; and again : "lame limbs, lame works." These are signs of vices, and rarely denote anything good.

Just as the hangman brands his sons with degrading signs, so also bad parents mark their offspring with mischievous supernatural signs that people may be more cautious when they see the example of wicked men who carry tho stigmata in their forehead or cheeks, or in defective ears, fingers, hands, eyes, or tongues. Each of these signs of infamy designates some particular vice. If there is a stigma burnt into the face of a woman, or if there be a lopping ofi^ of the ears, it, for the most part, indicates theft. Loss of fingers tells of cheating gamblers. The loss of a hand indicates violators of peace. That of two fingers points out perjury. The loss of an eye indicates that people engage in sharp and subtle crimes. The cutting off of the tongue designates blasphemers and calumniators. So you can recognise those who are called mamelukes, or deniers of the Christian religion, by a cross burnt into the heel of their feet, because they denied Christ their Redeemer. But let us dismiss these matters and return to the monstrous signs brought about by wicked parents. It should be known that all monstrous signs are not produced only by the progenitor, but frequently also from the stars of the human mind, which perpetually at all moments, with the Phantasy, Estimation, or Imagination, rise and set just as in the firmament above. Hence, through fear or fright on the part of those who are pregnant, many monsters are born, or children signed with marks of monstrosity in the womb of their mother. The primary cause of these things is alarm, terror, or appetite, by which the imagination is aroused. If the pregnant woman begins to imagine, then her bosom is borne round in its motion just as the superior firmament, each movement rising or setting. For, as in the case of the greater firmament, the stars of the microcosm also move by imagination.

until there comes a sort of bounding, in which the stars of the imagination produce an influence and an impression on the pregnant woman, just as though one should impress a seal or stamp a piece of money. Whence those signs and birthmarks derived from the lower stars are called "impressions." About these matters many men have philosophised and tried to form from them a solid judgment, without being able to do so. For these things adhere to, and are impressed on, the foetus in proportion as the stars of the mother press frequently or with violence on the foetus, or the desire of the mother is not satisfied. If the mother, for instance, longs for this or that kind of food, and is unable to get it, the stars are, as it were, suffocated in themselves, and perish. That desire abides with the unborn child throughout all its life, so that it is impossible ever to satisfy it. The same reason explains other matters, too, which we must not discuss here at too great length. Concerning the Astral Signs in the Physiognomy of Man. The signs of physiognomy derive their origin from the higher stars. This science of physiognomy was held in the highest esteem by our ancestors, and among the first by the heathens, Tartars, Turks, and the rest, whose custom it is to sell men and slaves ; nor was it altogether lost among Christians. Many errors, however, which had not yet been perceived by anyone, crept in with it when every fool and every clown took upon himself to judge offhand about everything. It is marvellous that these mistakes were not found out from the evil deeds and limited powers of the men themselves.

Now if anyone at this point argues against us, saying, "The signs of physiognomy are from the stars, but no one has the power of compelling or urging on the stars," he does not speak amiss. Yet, this difference must be noted at the outset, that the stars compel one and do not compel another. This ought to be known, who it is that can rule and coerce the stars, and also who is governed by the stars. The wise man can dominate the stars, and is not subject to them. Nay, the stars are subject to the wise man, and are forced to obey him, not he the stars. The stars compel and coerce the animal man, so that where they lead he must follow, just as a thief does the gallows, a robber the wheel, a fisher the fishes, a fowler the birds, and a hunter the wild beasts. What other reason is there for this, save that man does not know or estimate himself or his own powers, or reflect that he is a lesser universe, and has the whole firmament with its powers hidden within himself? Thus man is called animal and unwise and the slave of all earthly things, when, nevertheless, he received from God in Paradise the privilege of ruling over and dominating all other creatures, and not of obeying them. So it was that God created man last, when all other things had been made before him. This right was afterwards lost by the Fall. Yet, the wisdom of man was not made servile, nor did he lose his freedom. It is right, then, that the stars should follow him and obey him, not he the stars. And although he is the son of Saturn, and Saturn is his parent, still he can withdraw himself from him and

so conquer him that he becomes the offspring of the Sun, and can thus subject himself to another planet, and make himself its son. It happens much in the same way to him as to the miner, who for a long time has hired out his labour to the master of the mines, and managed his department righteously at peril of his life. At length he holds this discourse with himself : " Are you going to spend all your life underground and endanger your body, nay, your very existence, by continuous labours ? I will seek release from my master, and follow another where my life shall flow pleasantly on, where- I shall have plenty of food and drink, where my garments may shine, where no work and much reward shall be given to me, and where I shall not be oppressed by the mountain overhanging me." In this way he can constitute himself lord where otherwise he would remain all his life a slave and mercenary, wasting away with hard labour and scanty food. Moreover, as you have now perceived that man rules the stars, and can free himself from a malignant planet and subject himself to another better one, from slavery pass by virtue to freedom, and rescue himself from the prison of an evil planet, so also the animal man who is the son of Sol, Jupiter, Venus, or Mercury, can withdraw himself from that benignant planet and subject himself to Saturn or to Mars.

This man is like one who, fleeing from a college of religions, and being tired of their soft life, becomes a soldier, or in other respects a man of no esteem, who must afterwards spend all his life in pain and care. Such, too, is the rich man, who, out of mere levity, wastes all his goods unjustly, gambling, feasting, keeping evil company, until at last, when all is gone, he comes to want, and in miserable conflict with discreditable poverty he deservedly rouses laughter and contempt in all, so that you hear even from the boys in the streets : " Look at yonder worthless man, who, when he could have been master, scorned dominion and preferred to be a slave, a beggar, a servant of servants, so that he cannot now even aspire to his dominion." It is to this that a bad star or a bad parent has led him. Had he not been foolish and wicked, he would not have left to the stars so unquestioned a dominion over himself, but he would have struggled against them. And, although of himself he had not known how to fight against his stars, yet he could have turned his mind to the examples of other men, thinking thus within himself: " See how rich this man was ; but by foolish and shameful enterprises he involved himself in mere poverty ! " Again, "This or that man lived splendidly, and without any great bodily labour ;

but, though having got good food and ample pay, he was not able to bear his fair fortune. Now he has to live frugally and sordidly. In place of wine he has to drink water, and whilst his daily labour increases his income is diminished." How often must such a man thus address himself : " What have I done ? How have I thrown myself headlong down by wasting prodigally the substance I had collected and acquired ? Who will restore it to me ? If I could only recover what I have lost, quite another mode of life should be begun, and so I would learn wisdom from my own loss, and compensate for my evil deeds

by wiser counsel for the future." But it is well to know that nobody grows wise from his own loss. He who is wise has learnt wisdom from another's loss, not from his own. He who has wasted his substance once will waste it again. He who perishes once, perishes again. He who once throws the dice will throw them again. The man who has once thieved and cheated the gallows tries to steal a second time. So he thus thinks within himself : " My undertaking has succeeded once and again, why should it not succeed a third and a fourth time ? If God has once restored what had perished. He will restore it a second and a third time. If in my first misery I have not been deserted, I shall not be in my second or my third." All this does the animal man who is the servant and slave of the stars ; who is swayed backwards and forwards by the stars like a reed in the waters. This is the reason why he has to spend his life in misery and so to die in dishonour. Who, then, would bear so disgraceful a slavery and not extricate himself from so squalid a prison ? For by bringing to bear his own wisdom, and with the help of his star, anyone can free himself. Look at the matter thus : A fowler, relying on his own prudence, and by the assistance of his star conquering another star, has no need to pursue birds, for the birds will follow him, and though their nature rebel they will fly together to unaccustomed places.

In like manner, to the fisherman at his ease and relying on his wisdom, the fishes will swim of their own accord, so that he can catch them with his hands. The hunter exerting his wisdom by means of his star so collects the wild beasts that he has no need to pursue them ; they pursue him, contrary to the guidance and impulse of Nature. And so also with other living creatures.

In order to grasp these things it must be remembered that stars are of two kinds, terrestrial and celestial. The former belong to folly, the latter to wisdom. And as there are two worlds, the lesser and the larger, and the lesser rules the larger, so also the Star of the Microcosm governs and subdues the celestial star. God did not create the planets and stars with the intention that they should dominate man, but that they, like other creatures, should obey him and serve him. And although the higher stars do give the inclination, and, as it were, sign man and other earthly bodies for the manner of their birth, yet that power and that dominion are nothing, save only a predestined mandate and office, in which there is nothing occult or abstruse remaining, but the inner force and power is put forth through the external signs. But to return to our proposition concerning the physical signs of men : know that these are twofold, like indeed in outward form, but dissimilar in power and effect. Some are from the upper stars of heaven ; others from the lower stars of the microcosm. Every superior star signs according to birth up to mid-age. That signature is predestined, and is not without its own peculiar force. It is attested by a man's nature and condition of life. But whatever the lower star of the microcosm signs from birth has its origin from the father and the mother, as often as the mother affects by her imagination or

appetite, her fear or dread, the unborn child in her body with supernatural signs by means of their own close contact. These are called mothers' marks, or uterine marks. We have spoken of these before, so spare ourselves the labour of repetition, since it is our purpose to treat of physiognomical signs alone, among which we understand those signs of men the like whereof neither the father nor the mother have borne in their body. Of this class are black or grey eyes, too small or too large ; a long, crooked, or sharp-pointed nose ; hollows in the jaws, high cheekbones, a flat or broad nose, small or large ears, a long neck, an oblong face, a mouth large and drawn dovv'n ; hair thick or fine, abundant or scanty, black, yellow, of red, etc. Of these signs, if one or more appear in a man, be svire that he will not lack the qualities signified thereby. Only you must judge them according to the rules of physiognomy, and have had experience in the art of signature, according to which you can judge a man by outward signs. Descending, then, to the practical portion of our subject, let us repeat a few of these signs and their signification.

Black eyes not only denote a healthy constitution, but also, for the most part, a constant mind free from doubt and fear, healthy and hearty, truthful and loving virtue. Grey eyes are the sign of a crafty man, ambiguous and inconsistent. Weak eyes denote good counsels, clever and profound deliberations, and so on. Bright eyes, which turn up, down, and to both sides, denote a false, clever man, who cannot be deceived, faithless, shirking work, desirous of ease, seeking to gain his livelihood in laziness, by gambling, usury, impurity, theft, and the like. Small eyes, somewhat deeply sunk, indicate weak sight, and often impending blindness in old age. At the same time, they denote brave men, bellicose, crafty, and adroit, factious, capable of enduring misfortune, and whose departure from life is, for the most part, of a tragic character. Large eyes denote a greedy, voracious man, especially if they project far out of the head. Eyes which are constantly winking indicate weak sight, a timid and careful man. Eyes which move quickly hither and thither, under the glance of men, indicate an amorous heart, provident, and of quick invention. Eyes continually cast down show a reverential and modest man. Red eyes show a bold, brave man.

Glittering eyes, which do not move readily, point out a hero, a highminded, brave, quick man, formidable to his foes. Large ears indicate good hearing, retentive memory,, attention, diligence, a healthy brain and head. Depressed ears are a bad sign. For the most part they point out a man who is malicious, fraudulent, and unjust. They indicate bad hearing, treacherous memory, and a man who readily exposes himself to danger. A long nose curved downwards is a good sign. It denotes a strenuous, provident man, occult and cruel, but still just. A flat nose indicates a malignant man, false, lustful, untruthful, inconstant. A pointed nose indicates a changeable person, given to mockery. A long nose shews a man slow in business, yet of good odour. Hollow cheeks denote a talkative, contemptuous, contentious person. An oblong chin, with a long face, shews an irritable man, one who is slow at his work. A cleft chin shews a faithful man, officious, of abstruse and diversified speech ; a man who says one thing and means another ; quick at anger, yet repenting of his passion ; ingenious and inventive. A large, wide mouth shews a gluttonous man, insipid, fatuous, shameless, and fearless. A small mouth indicates the contrary.

Lips drawn together, when the upper is larger than the lower, shew an irritable man, pugnacious, courageous ; yet for th« most part of heavy, unchaste character, like a pig. Lips larger below shew a dense, stupid, slow person. Concerning the hair of the head or beard, the signs are not very plain, since experience teaches us that this can be marvellously varied according as it is black, yellow, red, or white, and hoary, or curled. So, too, hair is rendered soft or hard according to people's wish. Hence it is that many persons, who are in other respects well-skilled in physiognomical science, are woefully deceived when they rashly pass judgment from the hair, imputing to the stars what should rather be ascribed to men. Still it cannot be denied that hair firmly fixed on the head shews good health, both of the head and of the whole body. This is why people who buy horses pluck their tails so as to judge of their soundness. So swine are judged by their bristles, fish from their fins and scales, a bird by its feathers, and so on. If the neck is unusually long, transcending the limits of Nature, it denotes a careful man, prudent and attentive.

Broad shoulders and back shew a man who is strong for carrying and moving things. Muscular arms also shew a man who is strong and robust in beating, thrusting, throwing, and the like. Hard hands bespeak a laborious, mercenary man ; soft hands, the contrary. A short body and long legs denote a good runner, one who is easily satisfied with food and drink, but generally a man of somewhat short life. Large and conspicuous veins in a man below mid age signify that he is full of blood and bodily juices ; but above middle age they denote a sickly man who is still, however, vivacious. With reference to manners and gesture, a man cannot be so easily known or judged from these. Experience teaches us that these can be changed every moment, so as to deceive the signator, and lead him to an erroneous judgment. This is what astronomers hitherto have not observed with sufficient accuracy. The signator's business is not always to lool< at the manners and actions, but rather at other bodily signs which are fixed, and cannot by any artifice be counterfeited or changed. For if red hair, motion of the forehead and eyebrows, frequent agitation of the mouth, strong and deliberate step, and light spirits, indicate of necessity a generous, active man, or soldier, such as any one could easily shew himself by his own activity, and so stand better when put to the proof, and command higher pay, so, likewise, must judgment be passed on other manners which betoken wisdom, folly, truth, falsehood, fortune, victory, and the rest.

Concerning the Astral Signs or Chiromancy.* Concerning the signs of chiromancy it should be held that they arise from the higher stars of the seven planets, and all of them ought to be learnt and judged from the seven planets. Now, Chiromancy is a science which not only inspects the hands o£ men, and from their lines and wrinkles makes its judgment, but, moreover, it also considers all herbs, woods, flints, earths, and rivers— in a word, whatever has lines, veins, and wrinkles. But neither is this science free from its errors, which astronomers have alleged against it. For they have assigned the fingers of both hands to the planets and the principal stars, when, notwithstanding, there are on one hand only five fingers but on both hands ten, while the planets are only seven in number. How can these things be made to agree ? Now, if there were seven fingers on each hand, then it might be possible to assign a finger to each of the planets. It happens, indeed, very often that a man only has seven fingers on his two hands, the others being lost by some accident. But still the stumps exist, and, moreover, the persons were not born in this way, so this matter has no relevance here. Besides, if it did so happen that a man was born with seven fingers either on one hand or on both, that would be a monstrous birth, not according to Nature, and therefore not to be assigned to the stars. So here, again, no comparison can be instituted. It would have been better, then, that the planets should cast lots and see which two ought to retire. This, however, could not be done, because the planets had neither dice nor lots up in the firmament ; so one wonders who took it upon him to allot the planets by name, giving the thumb to Venus, the index finger to Jupiter, the middle

« It is a great error to suppose that chiromancy is concerned only with the hands, for it includes the significance of the lines upon the entire body. Nor is it confined to the body of man, for it deals also with the trunks of trees, and with the tracery upon the leaves of trees. Every peculiarity of line, whether in leaves or in human hands, has its special meaning. No man deserves to be called a doctor who is ignorant of chiromancy, because, for example, the presence upon the hand of those lines which are called linca architectcp^ indicate that the person will be likely to die of the colic ; but then there are certain leaves which possess corresponding lines, and these leaves are the cure of colic. So also the linta ancorn is the line of apoplexy, and this line is found in the acorus (Z.*"., the sweet flag), which is a medicine of apoplexy. . . . Thus by the same sign Nature indicates the existence of the disease and its remedy. But the physician who is ignorant of the sign is ignorant of everything. But as physiognomy is both outward and inward, so there is an internal and external chiromancy, and that which is without is an evidence of that which is within.— Z>wf7 Alii Libri de Fodiigricis Morbis, Lib, I. I have frequently indicated that chiromancy is the inventress of arts, if it be cabalistically treated.— Z*,? f esic. Lib. II., rrr/.

finger to Saturn, the ring finger or medicus to the Sun, and the little finger to Mercury. Meanwhile, Mars and the Moon were, so to say, banished. Would one be surprised, then, if in righteous indignation Mars bade his sons kill that allotter, or keep up continual strife with him : or who would wonder if the Moon weakened his brain, or took his wits away altogether ? And this is the first error which we say has been committed in chiromancy. The second mistake is this. It often happens that the original natural lines of the hands are changed by injuries or chance accidents, or become larger or smaller, or appear in other places. It is just as if a road were blocked with some obstacle, or covered by a mountain falling on it, or destroyed by an inundation. Men would make another road near it. So with the old lines of the hand. Sometimes when wounds or ulcers have healed, along with the new flesh new lines come into existence, and the old ones are altogether blotted out. In the same way, by hard work lines are obliterated, or those which were there originally enlarged. Then the same thing happens as with trees. If the growing tree puts forth many leaves, a number of them are cut off and the tree is enlarged in size.

And now let us pass on to the practical part of this science of chiromancy, and in a few words disclose our opinion. I would have you know that, so far as relates to hands, I make no change therein, but I acquiesce with the observations and descriptions of the ancients. But in this practical chiromancy I have undertaken to write only of those matters which the ancients have not mentioned, as concerning the chiromancy of herbs, woods, stones, and the like. And first it should be remarked that all herbs, of whatever kind they are, belong to one and the same chiromancy. If their lines are unlike, and appear greater or less in some than in others, this is through their age. We expressly avow that the chiromancy of herbs confers no other advantage beyond enabling us to know the age of any herb or root. Someone in arguing may urge and assert that no herb as long as it adheres to its root can be more than four or at the most five months old, that is, reckoning from May to autumn, after which time every herb perishes and drops away from its root. To this I answer that a unique virtue exists in the root, which is the first essence and spirit of the herb, from which the herb is born and sustained to its predestined time, and so is exalted right up to the production of the seed.

And this is the sign or indication that the virtue goes back again into the root, and thus the herb withers. But as long as that spirit, which is the supreme force of the herb, remains in the root, every year that herb is renewed, unless it happens that the spirit is taken away, and withers along with the herb. Then for that herb there is no renovation. The root is dead, and no longer has life in it. But how that spirit is taken away with the herb from the root, or with the root from the earth, so that its virtue goes back either into the root, or from the root into the earth, must not be discussed in this place. It is Nature's sublime mystery, not to be put forth for the benefit of sophistical physicians, for whom such secrets are not only a

Concerning the Nature of Things. i8i mockery but a cause of contempt. What we here omit we will give in the Herbary.* The younger and less full of years herbs are the more do they excel in their force and their faculties. For just as man is enervated by old age, and fails in his natural powers, so also is it with herbs. But in order to know what is the chiromancy, and what the age, of herbs and similar bodies, long experience is required, since the number of years is not written upon them but has to be divined solely by chiromancy, as we have said. Now chiromancy supplies, not numbers, not letters, not characters, only lines and veins and wrinkles, as a means of reckoning the age. The older anything is the larger and more visible are the lines exhibited, and the virtue and operation of the thing are less active. For as a disease of one month or one year is more easily cured than one of two, three, four, five months or years, so a herb of one year more quickly cures its disease than one of two or three years. And on this account for old ills young herbs and those which have fewer years should be given, but for recent ailments old herbs and medicines should be administered. For if old be joined to old, the blind leads the blind and both fall into the ditch. This is the reason why many medicines are inoperative. They are in the body and they fill the limbs, but only as mud sticks to the shoes. Hence the diseases are often doubled.

Now here is a matter which, up to this time, has never been thought out by unskilled sophists, while by their ignorance they have lost more patients than they cured. The very first thing you physicians ought to know is that the medicine must always be younger than the disease, in order that it may get the better of it, and be stronger in expelling it. If the medicine be more powerful than the disease, the disease will be expelled, as fire will be extinguished by water. If the disease be more powerful than the medicine, that medicine turns into a poison, and afterwards diseases are redoubled and made more severe. Thus, if the disease be of iron, the medicine must be steel. Steel cannot be conquered by iron. The more powerful conquers, the weaker is subdued. Although, therefore, it was no part of my original plan to write in this place anything about medicine, still, for the s&ke of true and genuine physicians, I could not pass by these matters in silence. Concerning Mineral Signs. Minerals and metals, apart from fire and dry material, show their indications and signs which they have received at once from the Archeus and from the higher stars, each one telUng its genus by differences of colour and of earth. The mineral of gold differs from the mineral of silver. So the mineral of silver differs from the mineral of copper. The mineral of copper differs

* The Herharius Theopkrasli^ concerning the virtues of herbs, roots, and seeds, etc., will be found in the second volume of the Geneva folio. It is an incomplete treatise which discusses the virtues of black hellebore, persicaria, common salt, carduus angelicus, corals, and the magnet. The portions of this treatise to which reference is made above, and again upon p. i8g, are apparently in the missing fragments. from the mineral of iron. So also that of iron from that of tin and of lead. And so with the rest. None can deny, then, that by means of chiromancy all minerals and metallic bodies of mines, which lie hid in secret places of the earth, may be known from their external signs. That is the chiromancy of mines, veins, and lodes, by which not only those things which are hidden within are brought forth, but also the exact depth and richness of the mine and yield of metal are made manifest. Now, in this chiromancy three things are necessary to be known, the age, depth, and breadth of the veins, as was said just now in the case of herbs. For the older its veins, the richer and more abundant in metals is the mine. On this subject one would reason that all metals, so long as they remain in their matrix, so long do they continually increase. Whence this, too, is clear, that any growing thing, even when placed outside its matrix, cannot grow less, but is thereupon increased, that is, multiplied, and goes on growing in substance, measure, and weight up to its predestined time.

This predestined time is a third part of the destined age of all minerals, vegetables, and animals, which are the three chief genera of all terrestrial things. That which is still in its matrix grows until the matrix itself dies. For there is a predestined period of living and dying, even for the matrix, provided only it be subjected to the external elements. That which is not so subjected has no period, no terminus, other than the elements themselves have, together with which, at the last day, which is the end of those elements, it will perish. Hence it follows that all things which are below the earth are in the least possible degree subjected to the elements. For they feel neither heat nor cold, moisture nor drought, wind nor air, by which they may be destroyed. Bodies so situated, therefore, cannot decay, 'nor do they gather rust and corruption, nor perish, so long as they remain below the earth in their own chaos. This relates so far to metals and stones, but it applies also to men, many of whom have supported themselves for a hundred years in mountain-caves, as did the giants and the pigmieS) concerning each of which I have written a book.*

* Men of abnormal height, who, however, are naturally begotten, are distinguished by Paracelsus from another genus of giants who belong to a wholly different order of existence. Concerning the generation of giants and dwarfs, it is to be understood that giants are born of sylphs and dwarfs of pigmies. These beget various monsters, and it should be noted that both giants and dwarfs are possessed of remarkable strength. They are not a lusus uaiurte, but are the product of a singular counsel and admonition of God. They deserve consideration on account of the great achievements they accomplish. Moreover, being monsters, produced in a singular manner by God, they finish without offspring as to body and blood. Their parents have not the same kind of soul as themselves. They are the offspring of animal men, and hence it follows that they have derived no souls from their parents, although they have performed many great deeds, have studied the truth, and have accomplished many other things, from which the possession of a soul might be argued. God, had he so willed, could have endowed these creatures with souls, as is shewn by the union of man with God, and of the nymphs with man. Whatsoever good deeds they may perform they are not on that account partakers of salvation. While it is impossible to give a clear account of the way in which such monsters originate, it may be compared to the generation of erratic stars and comets in the firmament, and it is actually the

result of a bizarre conjunction in the firmament of the Microcosm Pygmies, like other creatures of this kind, that is, like nymphs, sylphs, and salamanders, are not of the generation of Adam, though they bear the likeness of men, but are equally diverse from humanity and from all animals Pygmies and ^tnjei are regarded as spirits, and not such creatures as they appear. But it should be understood that they are what they seem to be namely, beings of flesh and blood. At the same time, they are as agile and swift as a spirit. They know all future present, and past things, which are not present to the eyes themselves, but are hidden. Herein they serve man by revelations, premonitions, etc. They have reason in common with man, save only the soul. They have the knowledge and the reason of spirits, if we except those things which pertain to the nature of God. Endowed with such great In pursuit of our present purpose, then, I pass on to a very brief practical exposition concerning the chiromancy of mines. The deeper and broader the veins are, the older they may be known to be. When the tracts of the veins are stretched to a very long distance, and then gape, it is a bad sign. For as the courses of the veins gape, so the mines themselves gape, which fact they indicate by their depth. Although sometimes good mines are found with a very deep descent, they for the most part vanish more and more, so that they cannot be worked without great expenditure of toil. But where those veins are increased by other accessory ones, or in any other way are frequently cut off, that is a fortunate sign, indicating that the mines are good not only on the surface, but that they increase in depth and are multiplied, so that they are rendered rich mines, and yield most ample treasure.

It is not altogether beside the subject that many metallurgists praise those mines whose course is straight down, and which verge from east to west. But then reasoning and experience in the piines themselves also teach us that very often veins which stretch from west to east, or from south to north, or, contrariwise, from north to south, abound in metal no less than others. No one vein, then, is to be preferred before another, nor is there any need of further discussion on this point. Then with regard to those signs which concern the colours of minerals and inner earth, one may dispose of them briefly. When miners come upon clayey soil, from which issues a vein of pure and fresh metal, that is a very good sign, indicating that the metal of which this is a vein is now not far off. In like manner, if the earth which is dug out lacks metal, indeed, but is fat, and of a white, black, clayey, red, green, or blue colour, then that, too, is a favourable sign of good metal lying hid there. Then the work which has been begun should be briskly carried on, and no pause be made in the digging. Metallurgists especially regard brilliant, glittering, and primary colours, as are green earth or chrysocolla, copper green, lazurium, cinnabar, sandarach, auri-

powers, they lead and attract man to make experiments and to believe about Him. Wherefore God hath produced them that man may learn from his acquaintance with them what great things God works in those creatures. Gnomes (J.e.t pigmies) are like unto men, but of stunted stature. They are about half the size of man, or a little taller. . . . The devil at times enters into gnomes and ministers unto them If the gnomes have once bound themselves to our service, they abide by their bargain, but they require to be served in turn, and those things ought to be given to them which they request. If the pacts into which we enter with them are fulfilled on our part, they remain sure, constant, and faithful in their office, especially in obtaining money. For the gnomes abound in money, which they coin themselves. You must understand this as follows ; The spirit has whatsoever it wishes, for if a gnome desires a certain sum of money, he obtains it and has it. In this manner they give money to many men inhabiting the mountains to persuade them to' go away again. The lot of man is very hard. To hope or to wish will profit him nothing, and he must work for all he wants ; but the gnomes have whatever they seek without any labour in getting or preparing

it Concerning their day and night, their sleeping and waking hours, the case is exactly the same with them as with men. Moreover, they have a sun and a firmament no less than we have, that is, the gnomes have the earth which is their chaos. This is to them only as our atmosphere ; it is not as earth to them in our sense. Hence it follows that they see through the earth just as do we through the air, and the sun shines for them through the earth as it does for us through the air. For they have the sun, the moon, and the whole firmament before their eyes, even as have we men. . . . The gnomes dwell in the mountain chaos in which they construct their dwellings. Hence it is that very often arches, caves, and other similar constructions are found in the earth, about a cubit in height, the work of these men, and their habitation The gnomes pass through .solid rocks or walls like spirits, for all these things are to them chaos, that is, nothing. .... The more crass the chaos, the more subtle is the creature, and iiicc versn. The gnomes have a crass chaos arid are therefore subtle, —[h Pygiiin'is ci Satamandrls^

pigment, litharge of gold and silver, etc. Nearly every one of these points out some special metal and mineral. Copper green, chrysocolla, and green earth indicate generally copper. So, too, lazurium, or white arsenic, or litharge of silver, mark copper metal. So cinnabar and sandaracha point out sometimes gold, sometimes silver, or the tviro together in combination. In the same way, auripigment, red sulphur, or litharge of gold, for the most part portend gold. So, too, when chrysocolla with lazurium, or lazurium v/ith chrysocolla and auripigment, are found mixed and combined, excellent and rich minerals are generally indicated. When stones and earths of a ferruginous colour are seen they certainly designate iron mineral. It should be remarked that it sometimes happens the Archeus of the earth occasionally thrusts forth, and, as it were, eructates from the lower earth some metal or other through a hidden burrow. That is a good sign when it appears. Diggers, therefore, should not relax their labours in face of such a sure and remarkable hope of hidden metal. If, moreover, slight metallic foliage, like talc, adheres to the stones or rocks, it is a sure and a good sign. Then as to coruscations. These should be carefully and closely watched. They are most certain signs that lodes of some particuliar metal exist, also of their extent, and of that special kind of metal. Here, too, it should be remarked, that metals of this kind have not yet come to perfect maturity, but are still in their first essence. In whichever direction the coruscation extends, in that direction also extends the metallic lode.

Then, too, it must be known that the coruscation is threefold in colour, as, for instance, white, yellow, and red, for example, like white Luna. In this way' all the metals which they indicate to us are recognised. A white coruscation points out white metals, such as tin, lead, silver. A red coruscation denotes red metals, like copper and iron. A yellow coruscation reveals golden metals. Add to this that a slight and subtle coruscation constitutes the best sign. It is just as you see in the case of trees ; where there are fewer flowers you get better fruit. So, too, small and subtle coruscations indicate subtle and excellent metals, and vice versa. In addition to this, it should be known that so long as these effulgences appear, be they great or small, of this colour or of that, the metal is not yet perfect and matured in its ore, but still exists in its first essence, like the man's sperm in the matrix of the woman. Now let us explain what this coruscation is. It appears sometimes during the night in mines like scintillating fire, just as gunpowder, scattered in a long train and when lighted at one end, exhibits a protracted fire. In the same way, this coruscation, or scintillation, is borne along its own track, sometimes from east to west, or, contrariwise, from west to east, from south to north, or vice versa. And so, a straight line drawn from any hour or part of the mountain map towards the nearest hour opposite, divides into two parts the map which is marked off' into twenty-four hours or parts.

All these coruscations, whenever they appear, afford most reliable indications of metallic lodes, so that from them may be recognised the metals too as certain gifts of God coming out of the earth. For whatever God has created for the use of men that He has put in man's hands as a property, so that it should not remain hidden. And although He has created it hidden, yet He has added these particular outward signs leading to investigation. Here His marvellous predestination ought to be recognised. Just in the same way, men themselves, if they bury treasure, mark the place by the addition of some sure signs. They bury them at landmarks, or statues, or fountains, or some other object, so that, if need be, they themselves can find them again and dig them up. The old Chaldeans and Greeks, if in time of war they feared siege and exile, buried their treasures, and only marked the place by proposing to themselves a certain fixed day, hour, and minute of the year. They waited until the sun or the moon cast a shadow there, and in that spot they hid or buried their treasures. This art they called Sciomancy or the Art of Shadows. From these studies of shadows many arts arose, and many occult matters were revealed, as, for example, the methods by which all spirits and sidereal bodies might be distinguished. These are the infallible cabalistical signs ; and should be carefully watched.

You must take particular care, however, not to let yourselves be beguiled by divinations obtained through uncertain arts. These are vain and misleading ; and among the first of them are the divining rods, which have deceived many miners.* If they once point out rightly, they deceive ten or twenty times. In like manner, no confidence should be placed in other deceitful signs of the devil, which appear by night or at unseasonable times, out of the way of Nature, such as are spectres, visions, and the like. Be sure that the devil gives these signs merely from fraud, and with intent to trick you. No temple is ever built where the devil does not have his chapel ; no chapel where he has not his altar. Good seed is never sown, but he sows tares along with it. That is the meaning of visions and supernatural apparitions, the same in all, be it in crystals, mirrors, waters, or the like. The ceremonial necromancers have foully abused the commandment of God and the light of Nature itself in this way. Visions, however, are not altogether to be rejected. They have their place, but only when produced by a different method. We are now no longer living in the first but in the second generation. By us Christians then, in our regenerate state, ceremonies and conjurations are no longer to be used, as the ancients used them in the Old Testament, for these people were living in the first generation. These men were foreshadowings for us who were to live under the New Testament. Whatever, therefore, the ancients, under the Old Testament, or the first generation, accomplished by means of ceremonies and conjurations, all these things, we Christians, who belong to the second generation, and live under the New Testament, ought to obtain by prayer, that is, we should seek it in faith by praying, knocking, and asking. In these three primary points consists the whole foundation of magical and cabalistical

* Elsewhere Paracelsus says that it is faith which turns and directs the divinatory rod in the hand. - ^*? Origine Morhoruitt Jttvisihitiuni, Lib- I. science, by which we can gain all we desire, so that to us as Christians nothing shall be impossible. Having written, however, much about this in the book on Visions,* and other cabalistical institutions, I forbear to repeat it here. See how wonderfully, in His love for us, Christ, the Son of God, works in us, faithful Christians, by means of His angels, and how fraternally He associates with us. We are very angels, and members of Christ, since He is our head, that is, He lives in us, that so we may live in Him, as is handed down in the books on The Lord's Supper. f But to return to our subject of mineral signs, and especially to the coruscations from metallic veins. Know that as all metals which are still in their first essence exhibit their coruscations, that is, their signs, so also the Tincture of the Philosophers, which transmutes all imperfect metals into good silver or gold (white metals into silver, red into gold), removes all these particular signs, such as coruscations, if it be astrally perfected and prepared. For as soon as ever a little morsel of it is thrown into the fused metal, so that the two meet in the fire, a natural coruscation or brightness arises, just as fine gold or silver flashes in the vat or vessel, which is a sign that this gold or silver is free and purified from all admixture of other metals. But how our Philosophic Tincture is rendered astral is a thing that ought to be learnt. Every metal, so long as it lies hid in its first essence, has its own peculiar stars. Gold has the stars of the sun ; silver the stars of the moon ; copper

* Natural sleep is the rest of the body, which recuperates its wasted energies. Now the day pertains to bodies, night to spirits ; bodies work in the day, spirits at night. The sleep of the body is the waking time of the spirit, for the two cannot operate together, being contraries, and mutually incompatible things. Whatsoever is done by the body during sleep is really performed by the spirit. For some speak and give answers in their sleep ; some arise and walk therein, but all this is done by the spirit governing the body. Hence it happens that if such a man be called by his name, he wakes up because the spirit in him is terrified by being called by the name of the man, for spirits are no less terrified by the voice of a man than are men by the voice of a spirit. The man in baptism receives a name, but not so the spirit. Therefore the spirit is terrified when the man is called. Hence sleep-walkers should by no means be left alone in their rooms, and this is especially the case with those who are afflicted by the Sagse, i.e.^ divinatory spirits, because it is of great importance that such persons should be addres.sed by name, for thus all nocturnal divining spirits, and all formidable spectres, and all waking visions, are driven away and dispelled. But it should be noted, that all men, promiscuously, who talk in their sleep, are not thus to be invoked or shouted at, because they may be in communion with a spirit whose voice is not heard.

For, although the spirit voice may be much clearer than that of humanity, it is not audible commonly by humanity, for the material ear can be, and is, closed by the power of such an intelligence, as is well known to those who divine by nigromancy by means of the spirits of the air, who are intermediate spirits, neither precisely good nor evil. No man holding such a conversation should be disturbed, so long as his accents are cheerful, but if he answers with trembling, fear, and consternation, this i,s a sign of a bad apparition, and such a person ought to be awakened by shouting. Such conversations are not, however, always conducted with the bodily organs of voice on the part of the sleeper, but also with those of the spirit, in which case there is no audible sound, and this last kind of speech is not only more frequent but of greater importance. It was profoundly investigated by the ancient Magi, who by this means could extract from the spirits of the departed a knowledge of those secrets which they had concealed from the whole world while they yet lived in the body. In this way they became acquainted with the mysteries of Alchemy, Astronomy, Astrology, Medicine, Theology, etc. , namely, by direct communication of their spirits with the spirits of those who had professed these sciences on earth. In order to acquire the arcane method of communication with such intelligences, the first requisite is to implore by faith the mercy of God in the matter ;

then we must, also with faith, make an image of that man with whom we desire to communicate. On the body of such image the name of the man must be written, and also the question to be asked. Put this image at night under your head and sleep upon it. That .Tian himself will then appear to you spiritually, and will answer your questions, teaching you whatever he can. There is, however, a more certain and better manner. This dispenses with the image, and has recourse only to faith and imagination. No danger attaches to this e.\periment, but it requires great confidence in the validity of the operation. I have several times had practical evidence of its truth. - De Pkilosopkiay Tract V.

t A work of Paracelsus, entitled De Ccma Domiin, exists in the Harleian collection among the MSS. of the British Museum. It is numbered 508, and is a large volume, very legibly written. No printed copy is known to the present editor. the stars of Venus ; iron the stars of Mars ; tin the stars of Jupiter ; lead the stars of Saturn ; quicksilver the stars of Mercury. As soon, however, as they have come to their perfection, and are coagulated into a fixed metallic body, their stars withdraw from every one of these, and leave their body dead. Hence it follows that all the bodies alike are dead and inefficacious, and that the unconquered star of the metals subdues all of them, converts them into its own nature, and so makes them all astral. For this reason, our gold and silver, which are tinged and prepared with our tincture, are much more noble and more excellent for the composition of medicinal arcana, than that gold itself which Nature generates in mines, and afterwards segregates from other metals. So also corporal Mercurius, made astrally from another metal, is much nobler and more fixed than common mercury. In the same way you may judge of other metals. I assert, therefore, that every alchemist who has the star of gold, turns all red metals into gold by tingeing them. So by the star of silver, all white metals are turned into silver ; by the star of copper, into copper ; by the star of quicksilver, into corporal Mercury ; and so with the others. How all these stars are prepared by Spagyric art, it is no part of our present purpose to declare. The explanation belongs to the book on the Transmutation of Metals.

So far as relates to the true signs of these, I would have you know that our red tincture, which contains within itself the stars of gold, is of a substance fixed above all consistency, of most rapid penetration, and deepest redness, its powder recalling the colour of the saffron, and its entire body that of the ruby. Its tincture is fusible as resin, clear as crystal, brittle as glass, but very heavy in weight. The white tincture, which contains the stars of Luna, is, in the same way, of fixed substance, of changeless increment, of consummate whiteness, fluid as resin, clear as crystal, brittle as glass, in weight like the adamant. The star of copper is of supreme citrine colour, like emerald, fusible as resin, and much heavier than its own metal. The star of tin is whiteflowing as resin, somewhat dark, and suffused with a claylike colour. The star of iron is of remarkable redness, clear as granatum, fusible as resin, brittle as glass, of fixed substance, and much heavier than its own metal. The star of lead is like cobalt, black, but transparent, fluid as resin, brittle as glass, equal to gold in weight, heavier than other lead. The star of quicksilver is of a white, glittering colour, like snow in a deep frost, very subtle, penetrating, and of corrosive sharpness, clear, like crystal, easily melted as resin, very cold to the touch, but extremely warm within the fire, volatile, moreover, and of a substance which easily flies before fire.

From this description you will know the stars of the metals, and you will understand that for the preparation of either tincture, the red or the white, you must take at first, not the body of gold or of Luna, but the first essence of gold or of Luna. If a mistake is made at the outset, all the subsequent work and labour will be thrown away. Moreover, this fact applies to metals, that each of them in the fire puts forth some peculiar sign by which it can be recognised. Among these are, sparks, flames, brightness, colours of the fire, smell, taste, etc. For instance, in the reverberation of gold or silver, the genuine sign is a brightness above the vessel or vat. When this appears, it is certain that the lead, and other accessory metals, have disappeared in the fumes, and so the gold and silver are thoroughly purified. Iron, which is completely fused in the furnace, sends forth limpid, clear sparks, which rise to a height. As soon as these appear, unless the iron be at once removed from the fire, it will be burnt up like straw. In the same way, every earthly body exhibits its own peculiar and distinct signs in the fire, whether it has any Mercury, sulphur, or salt, and of which of these three principles it has most. If it smokes before it bursts into flame it is a sign that it contains more Mercury than sulphur.

If, on the other hand, it burns with a flame and blazes forth without any smoke, it is a sign that a good deal of sulphur, and no Mercury, or very little, lies hidden within it. This you see take place with fatty substances, as with fat itself, oil, resin, and the like. But if without any flame nothing goes forth through the fumes, it is a sign that much Mercury and very little sulphur exists therein. This you see take place with herbs, flowers, and the like ; and also with other vegetable substances and volatile bodies, such as minerals and metals, as yet in their first essence, and not yet mixed with corporeal sulphur. These send forth only smoke, and no flame.

Minerals and metals which in the fire emit neither fume nor flame— that is, neither smoke nor blaze — shew an equal mixture of Mercury and sulphur, and a fixity and perfection beyond all consistency. Concerning Certain Particular Signs of Natural and Supernatural We must now, in due course, speak of some peculiar signs, concerning which nothing up to this time has been handed down. In this treatise it will be very necessary that you who boast your skill in the science of signatures, who also wish to be yourselves called signators, should rightly understand what we say. In this place we are not going to speak theoretically, but practically, and we will put forth our opinion comprised in the fewest possible words for your comprehension. First of all, know that the signatory art teaches how to give true and genuine names to all things. All of these Adam the Protoplast truly and entirely understood. So it was that after the Creation he gave its own proper name to everything, to animals, trees, roots, stones, minerals, metals, waters, and the like, as well as to other fruits of the earth, of the water, of the air, and of the fire. Whatever names he imposed upon these were ratified and confirmed by God. Now these names were based upon a true and intimate foundation, not on mere opinion, and were derived from a predestinated knowledge, that is to say, the signatorial art. Adam is the first signator.

Indeed, it cannot be denied that genuine names flow fortli from the Hebrew language, too, and are bestowed upon each thing according to its nature and condition. The names which are given in the Hebrew tongue indicate by their mere bestowal the virtue, power, and property of the very thing to which they belong. So when we say, "This is a pig, a horse, a cow, a bear, a dog, a fox, a sheep, etc.," the name of a pig indicates a foul and impure animal. A horse indicates a strong and" patient animal ; a cow, a voracious and insatiable one ; a bear, a strong, victorious, and untamed animal ; a fox, a crafty and cunning animal ; a dog, one faithless in its nature ; a sheep, one that is placid and useful, hurting no one. Hence it happens that sometimes a man is called a pig on account of his sordid and piggish life ; a horse, on account of his endurance, for which he is remarkable beyond all else ; a cow, because he is never tired of eating and drinking, and his stomach knqws no moderation ; a bear, because he is bigger and stronger than other people ; a fox, because he is versatile and cunning, accommodating himself to all, and not easily offending anybody ; a dog, because he is not faithful to anything beyond his ov/n mouth, and shews himself unaccommodating and faithless to all ; or a sheep, because he hurts nobody but himself, and is of more use to anyone else than to himself.

In the same way many herbs and roots have obtained their names. So the euphrasia or herba ocularis is thus called because it cures ailing eyes. The sanguinary herb is thus named because it is better than all others to stop bleeding. The scrofulary (chelidoiiiuin minus) is so called because it cures the piles better than any other herb. And so v/ith many other herbs, of which I could cite a vast number, all of which were named on account of their virtue and faculty, as I have shewn more at length in my Herbary. Then, again, many herbs and roots got their names, not from any one inborn virtue and faculty, but also from their figure, form, and appearance, as the Morsus Diaboli, Pentaphyllum, Cynoglossum, Ophioglossum, Hippuris, Hepatica, Buglosum, Dentaria, Calcatrippa [consolida regalis), Perforata, Satyrion or Orchis, Victorialis, Syderica, Petfoliata, Prunella, Heliotrope, and many others which need not be recounted here, but separately in the Herbary. The same is true as to the signs of animal matters, because, in like manner, from the blood and its circulation, from the urine and the circulation thereof, all diseases which lie hid in men are recognised. From the liver of a slaughtered animal all its flesh can be judged whether it is fit for food or not. For if the liver be not clear and of a red colour, but livid and yellow, rough and perforated, it is inferred that the animal was sick and that, on this account, its flesh is unwholesome. It is no marvel that the liver indicates this by natural signs. The origin of the blood is in the liver, and hence it flows forth through the veins over the whole body, and is coagulated into flesh. For this reason, from a sickly and ill-affected liver no healthy and fresh blood can >e produced, just as from morbid blood no wholesome flesh can be coagulated. But, nevertheless, even without the liver, the flesh, as well as

1 90 The Hermetic mid Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus. the blood, can be distinguished. If both are sound, they have their true and natural colour, which is purple and bright, with no extraneous colour, such as yellow or livid. These extraneous colours always indicate sickness and disease. But, moreover, there are other signs which are worthy of our wonder, when, for example, the Archeus is the signator and signifies on the umbilical cord of the foetus by means of knots, from which it can be told how many children the mother has had or will have. The same signator signs the horns of the stag with branches by which its age is known. As many branches as the horns have, so many years old is the stag. Since there is an addition of a new branch to the horn every year, the age of the stag can be set down as twenty or thirty years. So, too, the signator marks the horns of the cow with circles from which it is known how many calves she has borne. Every circle indicates one calf. The same signator thrusts out the first teeth of the horse so that for the first seven years its age can be certainly known from its teeth. When the horse is first born it has fourteen teeth, of which it sheds two every year, so in seven years all of them fall out. For this reason a horse more than seven years old can only be judged by one who is very skilled and practised.