August 12, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



Ill 



matter and form in the first stage of crea- 

 tion, which he calls ' die Form oder Ma- 

 teria,'' was earth and water. Creation con- 

 sisted in separating these two; it was a 

 work of chemical analysis. The principal 

 result is the earth, and the essence of the 

 earth is salt. The salt of man is his body. 

 As the second step of creation, mobility 

 was requisite. The warm air breathed by 

 the Creator upon the earth rendered the lat- 

 ter pregnant, and sulphur was brought forth, 

 which is an intangible, conscious spirit, 

 imparting, through its inflammability, 

 warmth and motion. The sulphur of man 

 is his soul. All animals and plants have 

 souls. Next, the earth became again preg- 

 nant, this time of its moisture; and mercury 

 was brought forth, being an invisible and 

 intangible shape identical with the power 

 of imagination from which results all cog- 

 nition. In the microcosm, owing to its 

 volatility, this mercury resides chiefly in 

 the upper parts. It is the invisible spirit 

 of the human body, plainly identical with 

 the archseus of Paracelsus. These three 

 things, salt, sulphur and mercury, or body, 

 soul and archseus, are the three constitu- 

 ents of Macrocosm and of Microcosm alike 

 — the tria principia. These three constitu- 

 ents must exist in all animals, vegetables 

 and minerals. A man, for example, feeds 

 upon beef, which nourishes body, soul and 

 archseus. The nutrition takes place by 

 putrefaction in the stomach. Now putre- 

 faction is nothing but chemical decomposi- 

 tion. This decomposition being effected, 

 assimilation in due proportions takes place. 

 Thus, nourishment for body, soul and ar- 

 chseus must exist in the beef; that is, the 

 salt, the mercury and the sulphur must all 

 be contained in it. The ox, in its turn, 

 feeds upon vegetables ; and by the same 

 argument the tria principia must all be pres- 

 ent in these vegetables. Finally, the plants 

 derive their nutriment from minerals ; and 

 thus by necessity all three constituents 



must be contained in the minerals. The 

 remainder of the brochure seems intended to 

 apply the doctrine of the universal presence 

 of the tria principia to the tracing out of a 

 chemical physiology of the action of various 

 foods and medicines upon the human body. 

 All this is dilfused through a vehicle of 

 bombastic verbiage. Curious little theories 

 abound, such as that ' the liver must have 

 air, else it could not laugh ;' that ' the salt- 

 spirit has its chief seat in the bladder;' ' like 

 must be expelled by like;' ' the seven metals 

 are fundamentally but one substance,' all of 

 which are Paracelsian doctrines. 



Following this tract, I find, in the edi- 

 tion I use, a sort of mountebank's speech 

 concerning two universal medicines, called 

 Phalaia and Asa, the former to be admin- 

 istered inwardly, the latter for external ap- 

 plication. Then come some score of odes 

 on such poetic themes as copper, vitriol, 

 sal amoniac, tartar, etc. 



In the treatise Von dem grossen Stein der 

 uhr-alten Weisen we trace the same prin- 

 ciples. The following sentence is a fair 

 specimen of the book at its clearest : 

 " Nimm ein Stiick des allerbesten feinen 

 Goldes, und zerlege dasselbige durch die 

 Mittel, so die Natur dem kunst-liebenden 

 Menschen nachgelassen, von einander, wie 

 ein Artzt des Menschen Corper zerlegt, und 

 dadurch den innerlichen Leib des Menschen 

 erfahren will, und mache aus denen Gold 

 zuriick, was es zuvor gewesen ist, so 

 wirstu finden den Saamen, den Anfang, 

 das Mittel und das Ende, woraus unser 

 Gold und sein "Weib gemacht worden, nem- 

 lich aus einem durchdringenden suhtilen 

 Spiritu, auch einer reinen zarten und un- 

 befleckten Seele, und einem Astralischen 

 Saltze und Balsam, welches nach ihrer 

 Vereinigung anders nicht ist, den Mercuri- 

 aZischer Liquor, dasselbige Wasser ward zu 

 seinem eigenen Gott Mercurio in der Schule 

 gefiihret, der examinivie, das Wasser, und da 

 ers recht und ohne falsch befand, da machte 



