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I.14 · Nitre and Salt in Plants

14 Nitre and Salt Are Found in Plants, Which Are Made From These Two and Resolve Into Them Again

Chapter outline

Plant growth is attributed to the universal seed concealed in earth and water.

The author proposes a comparison of soaked and unsoaked seed.

Flame, burning spirit, vinegar, oil and alkali are interpreted as evidence of nitre and salt.

The common first matter precedes specification into particular beings.

Every gardener and peasant knows that plants grow from dew and rain and from water and earth, as the later test also shows. We demonstrated above that the pure and real being and essence of dew and rain is saltpeter and salt, and that all water and earth conceal these as their essential substance beneath an earthly and watery covering. It is known that the universal sperm—dew, rain and snow and the saltpeter and salt hidden and dissolved within them—gives and promotes growth. As stated, both are in every water and earth. If they are present, plants must necessarily grow from them. Plants do not grow from bare earth or empty water without seed, but from the universal sperm, which is saltpeter and salt. Melt two parts salt and one part saltpeter together in a crucible, then dissolve them in ten times as much rainwater. Let a vegetable seed swell in this, dry it again in the sun and sow it in soil. Take the same kind of seed that has not been soaked in this water and sow it in similar soil, but separately. Observe the speed of growth, the beauty of the fruit and the difference between the two plants.

Plants are strongly nitrous, though one more than another, as is seen in their burning spirit, vinegar, oiliness and alkaline salt. When lit, plants break into a strong, bright flame. Inflammability, heat and flame come from saltpeter alone, and from nothing else. Is burning spirit not a very subtle, indeed heavenly nitre? It burns so subtly and beautifully, in the manner of the stars. Oil needs no further test; their alkali proves they have a salt. I hope to have done enough for this kingdom and for saltpeter and salt, named above as its origin and its immediate universal first matter, although not yet specified or individuated. Both intimate a conjunction [unclear expression] and, according to nature’s will, generate one thing after another.

144.The comparison retains the same kind of seed and similar soil, separating the treated and untreated groups. The proposed causal agent is the preparation, while the claim for its benefit remains the author’s.

145.The proportions are two parts salt to one part saltpeter, followed by ten times as much rainwater. These historical directions are preserved without translating the materials into modern formulas.

146.Spiritus ardens is “burning spirit,” a flammable distilled liquid associated here with vegetable materials. Its identification as heavenly nitre expresses the book’s interpretation of burning.

147.The final printed phrase “Conjunction ⊕ entis insinuiren” is syntactically difficult and contains a cross-in-circle sign. The German retains the sign; the English marks the relationship as unclear and does not assign the sign an unverified chemical expansion.