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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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Facing Pages · Branch 182 of 504

I.22 · The Generation of Plants

German & Latin

1723 pp 129–130

Man siehet, was noch mehr ist, daß die Dämpffe in denen Mineren und Bergen hefftig sind, welche sich denen Visceribus anschlagen und daraus die Ertze NB. aus denen Dämpffen geboren werden. Ist es in denen beyden Reichen also, so wird die Natur mit denen Vegetabilien kein besonders machen. Weil dann erwiesen, daß alle Creaturen Dampff-weise Nutrimenta in alle Glieder schicken, und dadurch ihr Wachsthum unterhalten und erlangen, so folgen sie billig ihrem Ursprünge nach. Denn sie sind alle und jede aus dem Universal-General-Dampff oder Chaos entsprungen, welcher durch Verdickung zu Wasser worden; also müssen auch billig die minora sich nach majus reguliren, und gleichwie sie aus Dampff entsprossen, ernehret und erhalten werden, also werden sie in ihrer Verwesung zu Wasser, und dieses durch die Hitze in Dampff verkehret, welcher Dampff denn wieder sich in ein ander begiebt und abermal corporalisch wird nach Art des Subjecti. Es muß sich auch keiner einbilden, daß die Vegetabilia ihre wässerige Nutrimenta, obschon Dampff-weise, also rohe an sich ziehen und Nahrung davon empfangen. Nein, denn so diesem also wäre, daß sie das zu Dampff gemachte Wasser mit aller seiner Substantz sollen in sich nehmen, so würden ja die meisten Vegetabilia gantz wässerig, weich und nicht lang dauerhafft, denn das übrige Wasser wecket den Geist auf zu agiren und würde ein Kraut kaum gewachsen seyn, so faulte es wieder zusammen.

1723 pp 129–130

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

1723 pp 129–130

We see, moreover, that vapours in mines and mountains are powerful: they settle upon the earth’s inward parts, and from them the ores are born—mark this, from the vapours. If this happens in both kingdoms, nature will make no special exception for plants. Since it has been shown that all creatures send nourishment in the form of vapour into all their members and thereby sustain and attain their growth, they rightly follow their origin. Each and every one sprang from the universal, general vapour or Chaos, which became water through condensation. The lesser things must therefore be governed by the greater. Just as they spring from vapour and are nourished and maintained by it, so in their decay they become water; heat turns that water into vapour, and the vapour enters something else and again becomes corporeal according to the nature of its subject. Nor should anyone imagine that plants attract their watery nutriments in this raw state, even as vapour, and receive nourishment from them. No: if they took in the vaporized water with its entire substance, most plants would become wholly watery, soft, and short-lived. The superfluous water would rouse the spirit to action, and scarcely would a plant have grown before it rotted and collapsed again.

1723 pp 129–130

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.