Page:Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus Vol I (IA cu31924092287121).djvu/147

 times, when there shall be nothing hidden, but all things shall be made manifest. And although up to this time it has not been known to men, it was, nevertheless, known to the wood-sprites and nymphs and giants long ago, because they themselves were sprung from this source; since from such homunculi when they come to manhood are produced giants, pigmies, and other marvellous people, who are the instruments of great things, who get great victories over their enemies, and know all secret and hidden matters. As by Art they acquire their life, by Art acquire their body, flesh, bones and blood, and are born by Art, therefore Art is incorporated in them and born with them, and there is no need for them to learn, but others are compelled to learn from them, since they are sprung from Art and live by it, as a rose or a flower in a garden, and are called the children of the wood-sprites and the nymphs, because in their virtue they are not like men, but like spirits.

Here, too, it would be necessary to speak about the generation of metals, but since we have written sufficiently of these in our book on The Generation of Metals, we will treat the matter very briefly here, and only in a short space point out what we there omitted. Know, then, that all the seven metals are born from a threefold matter, namely, Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, but with distinct and peculiar colourings. In this way, Hermes truly said that all the seven metals were made and compounded of three substances, and in like manner also tinctures and the Philosophers' Stone. These three substances he names Spirit, Soul, and Body. But he did not point out how this was to be understood, or what he meant by it, though possibly he might also have known the three principles, but he makes no mention of them. I do not therefore say that he was in error, but that he was silent. Now, in order that these three distinct substances may be rightly understood, namely, spirit, soul, and body, it should be known that they signify nothing else than the three principles, Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, from which all the seven metals are generated. For Mercury is the spirit. Sulphur is the soul, and Salt is the body. The metal between the spirit and the body, concerning which Hermes speaks, is the soul, which indeed is Sulphur. It unites those two contraries, the body and the spirit, and changes them into one essence. But it must not be understood that from any Mercury, and any Sulphur, and any Salt, these seven metals can be generated, or, in like manner, the Tincture or the Philosophers' Stone by the Art and the industry of the Alchemist in the fire; but all these seven metals must be generated in the mountains by the Archeus of the earth. The