2o8 PARACELSUS 



" Many diseases are caused especially by the abuse of 

 physiological powers, in consequence of which the organs 

 lose their strength and vitality. Thus the stomach may 

 be overloaded with food and irritated by stimulating 

 drinks, which force it to perform more than its natural 

 and legitimate amount of work ; the kidneys may be 

 inflamed by stimulating and poisonous drinks, and be- 

 become weak, or enlarged, on account of their overwork ; 

 the same may be said of the liver ; the sexual powers 

 may become prematurely exhausted by excesses, and the 

 health of women be destroyed by the unnatural frequency 

 by which connubial acts are performed. Animals live 

 according to their nature, and it is only given to reason- 

 ing man to act against his instincts, to neglect to listen 

 to the warning voice of his nature, and to misuse the 

 organism with which he has been entrusted by the 

 creative power of God. In many cases of lost vitality 

 the weakened organs will recover their strength after a 

 time of rest and cessation of abuse. Nature is a patient 

 mother that often forgives the sins committed against 

 her, although she cannot forget them. We may there- 

 fore often trust to her recuperative powers, and Nature 

 will be able to restore that which has not been irre- 

 vocably lost; for Nature is a great physician, and the 

 dabblers in medicine and apothecaries are her enemies, 

 and while the latter fill the graveyards of the country 

 with corpses. Nature distributes the balsam of life." 



" Every organ in the human body is formed by the 

 action of certain principles that exist in the universe, 

 and the former attract the corresponding activity in the 

 latter. Thus the heart is in sympathy with the elements 

 of the sun, the brain with the moon, the gall-bladder 

 with Mars, the kidneys with Venus, the lungs with 

 Mercury, the liver with Jupiter, the spleen with Saturn, 

 &c. There are many stars in the great firmament of 

 the universe, and there are many germs hidden in the 

 little world of man, and the high influences the low j 



