244 PARACELSUS 



The above extracts will be quite sufficient to show 

 that the modern method of thinking scientifically, which 

 deals only with external phenomena, and with comparing 

 opinions referring to them, is quite insufficient for our 

 initiation into the mysteries of alchemy, and that this 

 study requires a mind capable to look upon the world 

 not as being made up of many separate pieces, but as 

 one great and indivisible organism, pervaded by co-exist- 

 ing spiritual powers, whose outward manifestation is the 

 realm of phenomena. Alchemy studies not merely phe-' 

 nomena, but it is the science of the soul of all things. 



What does material science know about things of 

 the soul ? Chemistry is a science which deals with the 

 chemical combination, separation, and recombination of 

 physical substances. Alchemy deals with the purifi- 

 cation and combination of astral elements, and with 

 the development of lower forms and lower states into 

 higher ones. By chemistry we may purify physical 

 substances from all foreign elements, and divest them 

 of physical impurities, but their own element will not 

 be changed. By alchemy we raise a principle into a 

 higher and purer state of development. The processes 

 in Nature by which combinations and decompositions 

 of matter take place, such as putrefaction, caused by the 

 contact of a substance with air, and the chemical com- 

 binations of two or more substances coming into contact 

 with each other, are chemical processes. The growth of 

 a tree out of a seed, the evolution of worlds, the develop- 

 ment of precious metals out of an apparently worthless 

 matrix, the growth of a foetus, the development of an 

 animal or a human being, &c., are alchemical processes, 

 because life itself enters into these processes, as a factor, 

 and they would not take place without the action of 

 life.^ 



1 Johannes Tritheim, Abbot of Spanheim, one of the greatest alchemists, 

 theologians, and astrologers, a learned and highly esteemed nian, makes 

 some remarks in bis book (printed at Passau, 1506) that may help to 



