iS6 PARACELSUS 



the seat of the power that infuses life into the former, 

 and without which the former would be dead and decay- 

 ing. If we separate the vital force from the physical 

 form, the body dies and putrefies ; and by impregnating 

 a dying body with vitality it can be made to live again. 

 The invisible forces acting in the visible body are often 

 very powerful, and may be guided by the imagination 

 and be propelled by the will. As the odour of a lily 

 passes from the flower into the surrounding air, so the 

 vital force contained in the invisible body passes into 

 the visible form and beyond it. The physical body has 

 the capacity to produce visible organs — such as the eyes 

 and the ears, the tongue and the nose — but they all take 

 their origin from the invisible body, of which the external 

 visible form is only the outward representation." 



" But if the germs and the essences of all the organs 

 of the physical body are contained in the invisible vehicle 

 of life, it follows that this invisible microcosmic body 

 contains certain definite qualities, which, if they are 

 properly understood, may be used for some purpose ; 

 and the cures that have been performed by the use of 

 this Mumia prove that this assertion is true. The pinks 

 are beautiful flowers so long as they are not separated 

 from the plant upon which they grow, and the cheli- 

 donium grows as long as it can draw its nutriment from 

 the earth ; but if the pinks are separated from the parent 

 stem, and if the roots of the chelidonium are dead, these 

 plants, being separated from the source out of which they 

 drew their vitality, will decay. The life that made them 

 live is not dead, but it is departed from the dead form ; 

 and if it could be restituted, the form could be made to 

 live again. The Mumia, or vehicle of life, is invisible, 

 and no one sees it depart; but nevertheless it is a 

 spiritual substance containing the essence of life, and it 

 can be brought again by art into contact with dying 

 forms, and revive them, if the vital organs of the body 

 are not destroyed. That which constitutes life is con- 



