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Anonymous (traditionally attributed to Anton Joseph Kirchweger)

The Golden Chain of Homer

A New Translation from the German Edition of 1723

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The Golden Chain of HomerI.22 · The Generation of Plants

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English Page · Branch 181 of 504

I.22 · The Generation of Plants

German & Latin

1723 pp 128–129

Denn wer solle sich einbilden und begreiffen können, daß die Natur in denen Animalien solle das wässerige und safftige Nutriment als schwer-wässerig aufwärts der Leber zubringen, es solle vielmehr abwärts sincken und durch die Loca excrementosa ausrinnen. So es aber das Nutriment in Dampff verkehret, welcher durch alle Poros corporis, wie der Schweiß zur Haut, ausdringet, so kan solcher Dampff in seinen gehörigen feuchten Orten durch seine Verdickung zu Wasser gleicher Weise sich condensiren, bis er durch die Circulation zu Blut, Fleisch, Knorpel und Bein coagulirt wird. Daß dieses wahr sey, daß die Natur durch lauter Dampff alle Creaturen nähret, so sehet nur an den Macrocosmum, wie er mit Gewalt von dem untersten Centro der Erden die Wasser zu Dampff machet durch seine innerliche Hitze, und solche bis in höchsten Himmel austreibet, und alldorten wieder andicket und schwer machet, daß sie zu Wasser werden und durch eigene Schwere wieder zur Erden fallen. Solches siehet man an allen Animalien, als des Macrocosmi Kindern. Denn das Kind artet sich doch nach dem Vater und der Mutter, daß die Natur von der innersten Tieffe des Magens Dampff-weise die Feuchtigkeit bis in die äußerste Haut zwischen den Zähen und Fingern austreibet und durch deren Verdickerung sich in Wasser resolviren und condensiren, welches wir Schweiß nennen.

1723 pp 128–129

The Golden Chain of Homer: I.22 · The Generation of Plants

1723 pp 128–129

For who could imagine and understand how nature should convey watery, juicy nourishment upward to the liver in animals when it is heavy with water? Rather, it should sink downward and run out through the excretory passages. But if nature turns the nourishment into vapour, which passes outward through all the body’s pores as sweat passes to the skin, that vapour can likewise condense into water by thickening in the moist places proper to it, until circulation coagulates it into blood, flesh, cartilage, and bone. To see that nature truly nourishes all creatures through vapour alone, look only at the macrocosm: by its inward heat it forcibly makes water into vapour from the earth’s lowest centre, drives it out to the highest heaven, and there thickens and makes it heavy again, so that it becomes water and falls back to earth by its own weight. We see the same in all animals, the macrocosm’s children. The child resembles its father and mother: from the innermost depths of the stomach, nature drives moisture outward as vapour to the outermost skin between the toes and fingers; by thickening, it resolves and condenses into water, which we call sweat.

1723 pp 128–129

About This Reading Edition

The two-book alchemical work of 1723 in German with a new English translation, 399 notes, eight historical diagrams, chapter outlines, keyword essays, a glossary, bibliography, subject index, and 400 discussion questions.

Discussion Questions

Historical Text and Translation

Anonymous, Aurea Catena Homeri. Frankfurt and Leipzig: Johann Georg Böhme, 1723. Traditionally attributed to Anton Joseph Kirchweger; the attribution remains uncertain. Historical diagrams from the Stiftung der Werke von C. G. Jung copy digitized by e-rara.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The supplied edition identifies the 1723 German source and historical diagrams as public-domain material. Its new English translation and editorial apparatus are published with the site owner’s authorization. The complete original files are retained unchanged.