Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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German & Latin Page · Branch 144 of 504
I.19 · Volatile, Acid and Alkali
German & Latin
1723 pp 96–97Es fällt mir zwar hier zu weitläufftig, solches fusius zu erklären: Jedoch einem Artisten ist mit rationibus Physicis und Praxi authentica mehr gedienet, als wenn man ihm innumeras Speculationes, Amphibolica, Hieroglyphica proponirt. Denn aus einer einmal gefaßten rechtschaffenen ration und praxi machen sich 1000. andere Argumenta, die zuvor einer niemals considerirt hat, und zündet sich selbst aus einem Lichte viel 100. andere Gemüths-Lichter an, dadurch er immer und näher ad scopum veritatis geleitet wird. Es werden viele Proceß-Bücher geschrieben, auch andere theoretice, aber keines ist oder sehr wenige ausgegangen, welche andeuten, aus was Ursach dieses oder jenes in hoc vel illo processu addiret wird, was da figire und flüchtig mache, welches das coagulans oder solvens, und warum & ex qua virtute das geschicht. Wenn denn nun ein unschuldiger Tyro über solche Processe stolpert, so gehet er blind hinein, bis er im Ausgang siehet den grossen Fehler. Denn weiß er sich weder hinten noch fornen zu helffen, weil er die Ursache nicht zu ergründen weiß. Wenn aber die gelehrte Welt ihre Bücher mit wahren rationibus illustrirte, die der Praxi auch gemäß sind, es sey auch in dem schlechtesten Stücklein, als es immer wolle, so würde man in kurtzen eine Wunder-Geburt unserer Jugend mit Erstaunen ansehen müssen, welche denn nicht mehr so viel Mühe würden haben, weitere Felder zu besamen, und die Kunst aufs höchste zu bringen.
The Golden Chain of Homer: I.19 · Volatile, Acid and Alkali
1723 pp 96–97To explain this more fully here would take too long. A practitioner, however, is better served by physical reasons and authentic practice than by being presented with innumerable speculations, ambiguities and hieroglyphs. From a sound reason and practice once grasped, a thousand further arguments arise that one had never considered before. From one light one kindles many hundreds of other lights in the mind, and is led ever closer to truth’s goal. Many books of processes are written, and other theoretical works too, but none, or very few, have appeared that explain why this or that is added in a particular process, what fixes and what makes volatile, what coagulates or dissolves, and why and through what power this happens. When an innocent novice stumbles upon such processes he enters blindly, until at the end he sees the great error. He can then find no way to help himself, because he cannot fathom its cause. But if the learned world illustrated its books with true reasons that also agreed with practice, even in the smallest possible detail, we would soon gaze in astonishment upon a miraculous new birth of our young people. They would no longer have such difficulty sowing wider fields and bringing the art to its highest point.
Socrates
Reading The Golden Chain of Homer · I.19 · Volatile, Acid and Alkali · B1C19S012 · 1723 pp 96–97
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.
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.