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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 Homer23 What the Generation of Minerals Is and Which Principles Constitute Them

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Facing Pages · Branch 238 of 504

23 What the Generation of Minerals Is and Which Principles Constitute Them

German & Latin

1723 pp 180–181

Es wird auch der Künstler sehen, wenn das Corrosiv aufs beste dephlegmirt, daß es dennoch noch eine überflüßige Wäßrigkeit bey sich hat. Denn wenn das Corrosiv die Erde solviret hat, so distillire die Feuchte per Alembicum in den Recipienten ab, so wirst du ein süsses abgeschmacktes Wasser empfangen: oder so der Erde zu wenig gewesen, und das Corrosiv noch mehr hätte können solviren, so wird zwar ein Corrosiv mit übergehen, aber so geschwächt gegen dem ersten, daß es fast ein pur lauteres Wasser ist. Daß solcher Vitriol und Gur durch das Universal-Corrosiv gemacht wird des Nitri und Salis, und nicht durch die corporalische Saltze, sondern geistlich und aufgelöst, zeiget der Vitriol selbst an. Denn tractire mir ein Künstler eine Erde mit einem Saltz, das nicht Spiritus ist, sondern ein Corpus, wie er will, er macht mir in Ewigkeit keine solche Vitriolinität hieraus; aber wohl durch jedwedes Acidum vel Sal resolutum, vel Spiritum salinum Nitri, Salis, Vitrioli, Sulphuris, Aluminis, ja durch einen jedweden scharffen rectificirten vegetabilischen Eßig. Daß solches wahr ist, und daß die mineralische Gur aus Corrosiven ist gemacht, muß seine Reduction in primum beweisen. Denn distillire man solche Gur oder daraus gelaugten Vitriol, ob er nicht ein corrosivisch Wasser geben wird. Denn aus wem etwas entspringet, in dasselbe muß es wieder resolvirt und reducirt werden. Ex quo aliquid fit, in illud rursus resolvitur, und werden die Mineralia aus Corrosivis generirt, und werden auch wieder in Corrosiva reducirt.

1723 pp 180–181

The Golden Chain of Homer: 23 What the Generation of Minerals Is and Which Principles Constitute Them

1723 pp 180–181

The practitioner will also see that even the best-dephlegmated corrosive still contains superfluous wateriness. After it has dissolved the earth, distil its moisture through the alembic into the receiver: you will receive a sweet, insipid water. Or, if there was too little earth and the corrosive could have dissolved more, some corrosive will pass over, but so weakened compared with the original that it is almost pure, clear water. Vitriol itself shows that vitriol and Gur are made by the universal corrosive of nitre and salt, with these not in a corporeal state but spiritual and dissolved. Let a practitioner treat an earth however he wishes with a salt that is a body rather than a spirit: he will never produce such a vitriolic nature from it. Yet he can do so with any acid or dissolved salt, or saline spirit of nitre, salt, vitriol, sulphur, or alum, indeed with any sharp rectified vegetable vinegar. Its reduction to the first state must prove that this is true and that mineral Gur is made from corrosives. Distil such Gur or the vitriol leached from it and see whether it does not yield a corrosive water. Whatever something springs from is what it must again be resolved and reduced into: “From that which a thing is made, into that it is again resolved.” Minerals are generated from corrosives and reduced again into corrosives.

1723 pp 180–181

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.