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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition

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 HomerII.5 · The Anatomy and Regeneration of Chaotic Water

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German & Latin Page · Branch 373 of 504

II.5 · The Anatomy and Regeneration of Chaotic Water

German & Latin

1723 pp 298–299

Thut dieses solcher Schwefel in so kleiner Quantität, und da er noch nicht flüchtig in einen Liquorem gebracht ist, sondern ist nur in seiner fixern Form durch den Sp. vini subtilisirt und extrahirt, was wird er denn thun, so er cum propriis Principiis, wie ich zuvor gelehret, in einen Liquorem distillabilem gebracht wird? Obiger Autor hat seinen Extract Aurum potabile geheissen, was soll ich diesem vor einen Titul geben, wenn das Solvens & Solutum beysammen bleibt, und ist das Fix und Flüchtig unscheidbar vereiniget? Nun ist erwiesen die grosse Krafft der verworffenen Kohlen. So sie aber die Kohlen zu Aschen brennen, und aus dieser das Saltz auslaugen, so vermeynen sie recht gethan zu haben, und das Fixe geschieden. Daß nun das Saltz fix ist, das wissen und kennen sie selbst, die Asche aber möchte ihnen Scrupel machen; allein gehe nur in die Glaß-Hütte, so wirst du gleich sehen, was die Asche ist und zu was Ende die Asche dort gebraucht wird, und was aus der Asche wird, nemlich ein unverweslich ewig beständiges Corpus, ein Glaß. So nun ein Glaß daraus wird, so ist es ja fix. Es siehet ja jeder, daß es ein Corpus solidum, ab Igne invincibilissimum, ein Corpus regeneratum gloriosum, wie ein Edelstein.

1723 pp 298–299

The Golden Chain of Homer: II.5 · The Anatomy and Regeneration of Chaotic Water

1723 pp 298–299

If such sulphur does this in so small a quantity, without yet being brought volatily into a liquor, but only subtilized and extracted in its more fixed form by wine spirit, what will it do when brought with its own principles into a distillable liquor as I taught? That author called his extract potable gold. What title should I give this, when solvent and dissolved substance remain together and fixed and volatile are inseparably united? The great power of discarded charcoal has now been demonstrated. Yet when practitioners burn charcoal to ashes and leach salt from them, they think they have rightly separated the fixed. They know salt is fixed, but ash may trouble them. Go to the glassworks and see what ash is, what purpose it serves, and what it becomes: an imperishable, eternally lasting body, glass. If it becomes glass, it is surely fixed. Everyone sees a solid body supremely unconquerable by fire, a glorious regenerated body like a precious stone.

1723 pp 298–299

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.