Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
A fresh translation from the early Latin text with annotations and study apparatus
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Facing Pages · Branch 410 of 642
Book 8 · Separation · Passage 17
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1605 pp. 239–240
Latin
Separatio metallorum a suis mineris, modis multis fieri potest, nempe Ebullitione seu excoctione, eliquatione per pulveres liquefacientes ut sunt sal Alcali, Lithargyrum, sal fluxum, Fel vitri, scoria, sal Gemmae, salpetrae, &c. Indantur in fictile seu catinum in fornace liquentur. Sic nimirum metallum, ceu Regulus in fundum fictilis residebit: materia autem minerae enatabit in sublime, & fiet scoria. Regulum hunc metallicum per Reverberatorium in fornace urgebis tam diu, donec metallum omne purum, & ab omni sua sorde & scoria liberatum sit. Hoc modo metallum probe digeritur, & ab omni sorde seu scoria (ut ita dicam) finatur seu expurgatur. Eiusmodi minera interdum, plus uno metallo continebit, veluti multoties accidit, ut cuprum & argentum, cuprum & aurum, plumbum & argentum, stannum & argentum, &c. in uno minerali inveniantur: cuius rei signum est seu apparet si metallicus Regulus post reverberatorium in capella debito modo & ratione resolvatur. In eo enim imperfecta metalla omnia separantur, ut sunt cuprum, ferrum, stannum, plumbum: & sic una cum plumbo, cuius duplo plus quam Reguli esse in additamento debet, illa in fumum abeunt, solumque finum argentum aurumque in capella remanet. Idem similiter etiam deprehenditur, si metallicus Rex liquatur, & in glandes funditur. Ea namque fusione metalla permixta separantur, dum quod optimum & gravissimum est in fundum semper decidat, leviore contra supereminente &c.
English
Metals can be separated from their ores in many ways: by boiling or smelting, or by fusion with melting powders such as alkali salt, litharge, fluxing salt, glass gall, slag, rock salt and saltpetre. Let them be put into an earthen vessel or crucible and melted in a furnace. The metal will settle as a regulus at the bottom of the vessel, while the matter of the ore rises and becomes slag. Drive this metallic regulus in the furnace under a reverberatory heat until all the metal is pure and freed from every impurity and slag. In this way the metal is thoroughly digested and, so to speak, refined or cleansed of all impurity and slag. An ore of this kind sometimes contains more than one metal. Copper and silver, copper and gold, lead and silver, tin and silver, and other such combinations are frequently found in one mineral. A sign of this appears if the metallic regulus, after reverberation, is dissolved in a cupel by the proper method. There all the imperfect metals are separated, such as copper, iron, tin and lead. They pass into fumes together with the lead, of which the amount added should be twice that of the regulus; only refined silver and gold remain in the cupel. The same is also found when the metallic king is melted and cast into bullets: in that casting the mixed metals separate, since the best and heaviest always sinks to the bottom, while the lighter stands above it.
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
The complete supplied Latin–English edition of the historical title, dedication and all nine books, with 363 separately labelled historical marginal notes, 117 modern annotations and the complete Diotimos study apparatus. The transmitted composite work is traditionally attributed to Paracelsus; individual authorship remains qualified.
Historical Text and Translation
The normalized Latin follows the complete 1605 Frankfurt Palthenian witness, volume six, printed pages 198–271, in SUB Göttingen PPN578052199, historical scans 182–255. Earlier textual tradition is German; the individual translator of the 1605 Latin text is not identified. The dedication’s 1537 date is transmitted text, not an established date for the composite work.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
Rights
The historical Latin text is in the public domain. The fresh English translation and editorial material were prepared with AI assistance for Diotimos Editions in 2026 and are published with the site owner’s authorization.