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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 Homer4 How Nature Destroys, Corrupts, and Alters Minerals

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English Page · Branch 298 of 504

4 How Nature Destroys, Corrupts, and Alters Minerals

German & Latin

1723 pp 232–233

so sie aber in copia Saltz und Salpeter auf solche erhitzte Steine giesseten, sie solten die grösten Berge bald zu kleinen Hügeln machen. Denn so wir in unserer Kunst einen Stein glüen lassen, und löschen solchen in Saltz-Wasser ab, so zerfällt der Stein in Stücken, wenn er auch so groß als ein Hauß wäre und möglich, einen solchen zu glüen und abzulöschen, und je öffter wir solches thun, je kleiner der Stein wird, ja endlich wird er gar zu Schleim und Wasser, welches die unfehlbare Praxis gar zu gewiß zeiget. So wir nun solche Salia in Spiritus distilliren und damit die Steine solviren, so werden sie auf einmal zu lauter Wasser. Da siehet der Leser, daß der calcinirte Stein in kurtzen Stunden durch die Kunst sich zu ▽ machen lasse, da die Natur lange zu thun hat, bis sie den Stein dahin bringet, und auf solche Weise kommt der Stein weit eher zur prima materia, nempe in naturam salino-nitrosam aquosam, welches Wasser dann auch distillando in einen vaporem und solcher wieder zu einem Wasser werden kan. Hieraus lerne der Leser den Unterscheid naturae & artis, und aus diesen gradibus naturae & artis kan jeder lernen die destructionem, auch generationem aller Dinge. So dann solche salificirte Steine mit Erde misciret werden, und dem Himmel oder Lufft anbefohlen werden, so wachsen seiner Art Kräuter heraus, wie oben gesaget.

1723 pp 232–233

The Golden Chain of Homer: 4 How Nature Destroys, Corrupts, and Alters Minerals

1723 pp 232–233

but if they poured abundant salt and saltpetre over such heated stones, they would soon make the greatest mountains into little hills. For when in our art we make a stone red-hot and quench it in saltwater, it falls into pieces—even if it were as large as a house, provided it were possible to heat and quench so large a stone. The more often we do this, the smaller it becomes, until at last it turns wholly into slime and water, as unfailing practice shows with certainty. If we distil these salts into spirits and dissolve stones with them, they become nothing but water at once. The reader thus sees that art can make a calcined stone into water in a few short hours, while nature takes a long time to bring the stone to that state. In this way the stone returns much sooner to first matter: namely, to a watery, saline-nitrous nature. By distillation this water can become vapour, and the vapour water again. Let the reader learn from this the difference between nature and art; from these degrees of nature and art, everyone can learn the destruction and also the generation of all things. When such salified stones are mixed with earth and entrusted to heaven or the air, herbs of their kind grow from them, as said above.

1723 pp 232–233

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.