Centrum Naturae Concentratum

Name: Centrum Naturae Concentratum
Author: Attributed to Ali Puli

The Salt of Nature Regenerated

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Centrum Naturae ConcentratumThe Last Testament of a Father to His Beloved Son · Passage 20

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Facing Pages · Branch 149 of 175

The Last Testament of a Father to His Beloved Son · Passage 20

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German

Das Gewichte des 🜍is [Kreiszeichen]i und [Quadratkreuzzeichen] beschreibt Paracelsus, und ist also: Nimm 8. Loth [Kreiszeichen] 4. Loth 🜍 und 2. Loth [Quadratkreuzzeichen]i, misch es untereinander, dieses aber ist ein gewaltiges Schlag-Pulver, da man sich wohl muß mit vorsehen, denn so es alles allein im Tiegel zum Feuer gesetzt würde im Schorstein, muß man alsbald davon gehen, denn so gehet es an, so bald der † durchaus warm wird, und thut einen mächtigen Schlag, daß man nicht weiß wo ein Stück vom Tiegel blieben ist. Darumb muß man damit cautè umbgehen, wenn man das Pulver auff den geflossenen Regulum nach und nach träget, damit nicht zu viel auff einmahl genommen werde, welches die Erfahrung am besten lehren wird. Besser wird es angehen wenn der Regulus pulverisiret und mit dem andern Pulver wohl vermischt, Löffelweise in den Tiegel, so glüet nach und nach, getragen wird.

English

Paracelsus gives the weights of the sulphur, nitre and tartar, as follows: take 8 lot of saltpetre, 4 lot of sulphur and 2 lot of tartar, and mix them together. But this is a violent detonating powder, and one must be well on one’s guard with it. For if it were put by itself in a crucible on the fire in the chimney, one would have to leave at once. It goes off as soon as the crucible is warm right through and gives such a mighty bang that one cannot tell where any piece of the crucible has got to. So one must go about it cautiously when adding the powder to the molten regulus little by little, so that too much is not taken at once. Experience will teach this best. It goes better if the regulus is pulverised, mixed well with the other powder, and added a spoonful at a time, little by little, into the glowing crucible.

97.The English in the augmentation passage, this paragraph and the following discussion of butter of antimony follows the supplied translation adopted for this edition. The historical attribution to Paracelsus remains unverified. “Violent detonating powder” is retained as that translation’s rendering of Schlag-Pulver within the account of calcination and tincture work; the phrase alone establishes neither a military purpose nor a precise modern chemical identity. Descriptive German sign tokens preserve shapes ordinary type cannot reproduce; the separately labelled supplied note records readings and reservations rather than settled identifications. Quantities and directions may carry material and symbolic meanings together: procedural form alone does not establish an exclusively material or symbolic authorial intention. The later language of spirit, soul and earth permits a reading concerned with inner transformation, although the text also explains these terms materially; no symbolic decoding of each quantity or direction is established here.

About This Reading Edition

The complete supplied German–English edition of the 1682 collection: the main treatise attributed to Ali Puli, Helbig’s preface, distinct companion discourses, the short potable-gold preparation and the anonymous Father’s Last Testament, with four historical figures, 103 annotations and the full Diotimos study apparatus.

Historical Text and Translation

The governing German witness is the complete 1682 collection in Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe, shelfmark 87 B 76050, with an unnumbered title and printed pages 1–80. The historical title’s Arabic and Portuguese antecedents and its authorial persona are retained as claims, not authenticated originals. Johann Otto Helbig (Hellwig), Martin de Delle, J. J. F. and the anonymous testament retain their distinct historical roles.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The historical German source text and engraving are in the public domain. The English translation and editorial material were prepared with AI assistance for Diotimos Editions in 2026, with a supplied translation and sign commentary identified separately, and are published with the site owner’s authorization.