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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 Homer7 the Anatomy of Animals

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Facing Pages · Branch 401 of 504

7 the Anatomy of Animals

German & Latin

1723 pp 326–327

Wenn du derowegen Haar, Beine, Hörner, Klauen klein geschnitten, zerraspelt und gefeilet hast, so koche sie mit eigenem Urin des Thiers, davon die Beine sind, oder Urin vom Menschen, oder verfault Regen-Wasser, oder aber Saltz-Wasser zu einer Gallerte oder Sultze. Du must wohl 24. Stunden oder zwey Tag und Nacht aneinander kochen, bis die Hörner und Beine also werden; doch werden auch etliche geschwind, nachdem die coagulation hart oder weich ist. Wenn sie denn zu Sultze worden, so gehen sie in wenig Tagen und Nacht in putrefaction, mit Zugiessung mehrern Regen-Wassers oder Urin, das faul und stinckend ist, das ist so viel, daß es werde wie ein dünn zerlassen Honig, und so es nun faul und stinckend ist, so ist die separation und conjunction in allen, wie oben, daß du erstlich die flüchtigen Theile per alembicum ex B. M. dann die fixere ex arena vel per Retortam treibest, und post rectificationem conjungirest, coagulirest und figirest. Der andere Handgriff ist dieser, allein es giebt nicht so viel substantz, als durch die putrefaction, jedoch wird es ein contento machen. Man nimmt die Hörner, Klauen, Beine, Haare, Koth und Haut, macht sie klein, wie Hasel-Nüsse, die Haare klein geschnitten, in eine Retorte gethan mit seiner Vorlage, und per gradus lente distilliret alles, was da gehen will. Wenn die praeparation geschehen, so conjungiret mans wieder in solcher Ordnung, als sie von einander gegangen. Hier aber erlanget der Künstler kein volatile, sondern nur ein grob phlegma, acidum, oleum und die Kohlen, denn das volatile ist durch die coagulation und exsiccation in solchen harten partibus zum Theil verflogen, zum Theil aber in das acidum oder [Acetum] animale mutiret worden. Dieses ist nun die separatio & conjunctio artis, atque separatio faecum, in welchen alle partes ausser dessen recolacei seu phlegmatis concentriret und figiret worden.

1723 pp 326–327

The Golden Chain of Homer: 7 the Anatomy of Animals

1723 pp 326–327

When you have cut, rasped, and filed hair, bones, horns, and hooves into small pieces, boil them with the urine of the animal from which the bones came, human urine, putrefied rainwater, or saltwater into a jelly. You may have to boil continuously for twenty-four hours or two days and nights before horns and bones reach this state; some do so quickly, according to the hardness or softness of their coagulation. Once made into jelly, they enter putrefaction within a few days and nights. Add further putrid, stinking rainwater or urine, enough to give the consistency of thin melted honey. Once it is putrid and stinking, separation and conjunction proceed in every respect as above. First drive the volatile parts through the alembic from the water bath, then the more fixed parts from sand or through a retort; after rectification, reunite, coagulate, and fix them. The other procedure is this. It yields less substance than putrefaction, but will nevertheless give satisfaction. Take horns, hooves, bones, hair, excrement, and skin. Reduce them to hazelnut-sized pieces, cutting the hair small, and put them in a retort with its receiver. Slowly distil by degrees everything that will come over. After preparation, reunite the parts in the order in which they separated. Here, however, the practitioner obtains no volatile, but only coarse phlegm, acid, oil, and coals. In such hard parts, the volatile has partly flown away through coagulation and drying, and partly changed into the acid or animal vinegar. This is the art's separation and conjunction, together with separation of the dregs, in which all parts except the recolaceum or phlegm have been concentrated and fixed.

1723 pp 326–327

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.