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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition

Attributed to Abraham the Jew

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I

Book of Hieroglyphic Figures

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The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume ILucretius Ovid and the Parts of the Human Being · Manuscript 115r · Scan 265

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Lucretius Ovid and the Parts of the Human Being · Manuscript 115r · Scan 265

French

Ms. 115r

par sa propre chaleur que par la chaleur étrangère qui vient au secours, et que dans sa putréfaction il fait sortir de lui-même plusieurs vapeurs qui à cause de leur trop grande humidité et de leur onctuosité sont bues par la terre et en pénètrent les pores qui auraient beau passer au travers et ne pourraient néanmoins expliquer rien à cause de la confusion des différentes substances et du trouble causé par les hétérogénéités. Quand ces fumées calioneuses [?] sont dissipées par la corruption complète, c’est-à-dire lorsque le cadavre est réduit en poussière, il attend quelque temps de sa digestion jusqu’à ce que ces formes attachées aux cendres soient dégagées des liens de la matière ; alors il arrive pour faire sortir dehors ces formes végétatives, que ces vapeurs spirituelles tremblantes passent au travers des pores de la terre remuée depuis peu de temps, parce que leur subtilité et leur ténuesse empêchent de les retenir et se coagulent par la force du froid de l’air qui les

Ms. 115r

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: Lucretius Ovid and the Parts of the Human Being

Ms. 115r

through its own heat and through the external heat that comes to its aid; and that in putrefying it gives off many vapors. Because of their excessive moisture and oiliness, they are drunk up by the earth and penetrate its pores. Even if they passed through, they could nevertheless unfold nothing because of the confusion of different substances and the disturbance caused by heterogeneities. When these caliginous(?) fumes have been dissipated by complete corruption—that is, when the corpse is reduced to dust—it awaits some period of its digestion until these forms attached to the ashes are freed from the bonds of matter. Then, to bring these vegetative forms outside, it happens that these trembling spiritual vapors pass through the pores of earth recently disturbed, because their subtlety and tenuity prevent their being retained, and they coagulate through the force of the cold air that

Ms. 115r

About This Reading Edition

The first manuscript in the Manly Palmer Hall collection at the Getty Research Institute: the Book of Hieroglyphic Figures, presented in French and English with 463 explanatory notes, 13 manuscript plates, 25 source details, an introduction, chapter outline, glossary, bibliography, and register of readings.

Historical Text and Translation

Book of Hieroglyphic Figures (Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques), attributed in the witness to Abraham the Jew. Getty Research Institute, Manly Palmer Hall collection of alchemical manuscripts, accession 950053, Box 1, Hogart manuscript 3; French witness catalogued circa 1800. Manly Palmer Hall is the collector, not the author.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The circa 1800 source manuscript is public domain. The supplied 2026 French reading transcription, English translation, introduction, notes, outline, glossary, register, and editorial arrangement are published with the site owner’s authorization. Source photographs are credited to the Getty Research Institute and Internet Archive in the supplied edition.