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 most celebrated Physician and Philosopher, Aureolus Philippus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast ab Hohenheim! a great mystery indeed! but what is that to thy receipt for making the Homunculus, that arcanum super omnia arcana, which thou didst not scruple to call miraculum & magnale Dei, unum ex maximis secretis quæ Deus mortali, et peccatis obnoxio, homini patefecit! Oh that this Prince of Chemists, as he was deservedly called in his own age, should deserve to be called the Prince of Liars in all ages!

This resuscitatio ligni was a far less beautiful experiment than the resurrection of flowers, of which Kircher has given the receipt, or the Imperial Secret, as it is called, because it was given him by the Emperor Ferdinand III. who purchased it of a chemist. The Imperial secret is this: "1. Take four pounds of the seed of the plant which you mean to raise from its ashes; the seed must be