PNEVMATOLOGV I2l 



of man ; but man is not God, and the elemental spirits 

 of Nature are not human beings, although they somewhat 

 resemble man. They are liable to sickness, and they die 

 like animals. Tbeir habits resemble those of men ; they 

 work and sleep ; they eat and drink and make their 

 clothing ; and as man is nearest to God, so are they 

 nearest to man " ^ {Lih. Philos., i.). 



" They live in the four elements : the Nymphae in the 

 element of water, the Sylphs in that of the air, the 

 Pigmies in the earth, and the Salamanders in the fire. 

 They are also called Undinae, Sylvestres, Gnomi, Vulcani, 

 &o. Each species moves only in the element to which it 

 belongs, and neither of them can go out of its appropriate 

 element, which is to them as the air is to us, or the 

 water to fishes ; and none of them can live in the element 

 belonging to another class. To each elemental being the 

 element in which it lives is transparent, invisible, and 

 respirable, as the atmosphere is to ourselves." 



"The four classes of Nature- spirits do not mix with 

 each other; the Gnomes have no intercourse with the 

 Undines or Salamanders, nor the Sylvestres with either 

 of these. As a fish lives in the water, it being its 

 element, so each being lives in its own element. For 

 instance, the element wherein man breathes and lives is 

 the air ; but to the Undines the water is what the air is 

 to us, and if we are surprised that they are in the water, 

 they may also be surprised because we are in the air. 

 Thus the element of the Gnomes is the earth, and they 

 pass through rocks and walls and stones like a thought ; 

 for such things are to them no greater obstacles than the 

 air is to us. In the same sense the fire is the air wherein 

 the Salamanders live ; but the Sylvestres are the nearest 

 related to us, for they live in the air like ourselves ; 



* Man in his aspect as a terrestrial being, and if we leave the divine 

 principle out of our consideration, is himself an elemental spirit of Nature, 

 composed of all the four elements ; but as he lives and breathes in the air, 

 he may be called an elemental of the air walking upon the earth. 



