From the book
Candida Phoenix Philosophica
Anonymous · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe book distinguishes inferior “Bohemian diamonds,” crystals, and the diamond discussed as a colourless mineral body.
- In the CandidaColourless appearance supports an argument about absent external colouring assistance, later qualified by the necessity of sulphur and salt.
- TranslationHistorical stone names remain historical identifications; the entry does not certify samples.
- A place to readRead pp. 115–120 together with p. 155; either passage alone can mislead.
Meaning
Diamonds and crystals serve two connected purposes. They are examples of comparatively inferior stones that the philosophical elixir is said to improve, and they illustrate how mercurial moisture may remain without a specified colour. The local question is not a general survey of diamond properties. It concerns the relation between common mineral matter, external assistance, colour, and perfection.
At II.115.2 Bohemian diamonds are listed with crystals and garnets among stones said to become more perfect, Oriental precious stones through red and white elixirs. The historical trade-name must be preserved rather than silently modernized to genuine diamond. A later Smithsonian gem catalogue uses “Bohemian diamond” for rock crystal, offering a useful terminological comparison without identifying the actual specimens the Candida imagined.84
At II.119.2 the narrator says that crystal and diamond retain water’s colour because they lack suitable assistance and a particular external sulphur. Water is said to contain all colours, yet actual acquisition of a distinct form and colour requires conditions through which a potential becomes specified. Colourlessness therefore illustrates a lack of this external determination. It does not imply absence of every principle named Sulphur.
Use in the book
The later discussion at II.155.1 makes that distinction explicit. Philosophers may say diamond is generated from the vapour of nature without sulphur, but the narrator refuses an absolute reading. Diamond can no more exist without sulphur than without salt; Nuysement is invoked for salt’s contribution to hardness. White and red sulphur also belong to the philosophical vocabulary. An uncoloured body can thus contain sulphur in the author’s sense without displaying the colour associated with a particular external sulphur.
The entry is a useful example of how a negative claim changes with its qualifier. “Without an external particular sulphur” and “without sulphur” are materially different statements. The first concerns a forming or colouring addition; the second would remove an essential principle. The narrator accepts the former description of the colourless cases and corrects the latter when it is understood absolutely.
The distinction also connects gemstones with the larger assertion that no element or principle exists entirely without the others. Common matter contains the relevant principles even when a particular operation makes one manifest or predominant. Colour can indicate a process or specification, but it cannot simply be used as a visual inventory of all principles present.
No physical specimen of the chapter is available for modern testing within the edition. The references to diamond, crystal, topaz, and emerald consequently remain statements within a historical account of mineral formation. Their value for reading lies in the argumentative contrast between coloured and uncoloured bodies and in the author’s correction of an overly literal principle claim.
Places to read
- Part II · II.115.2Bohemian diamonds and crystals among stones allegedly improved by elixir.
- Part II · II.119.2The colourless cases and the absence of an external particular sulphur.
- Part II · II.155.1The explicit refusal of an absolutely sulphur-free diamond.
Translation
Chrystall may be “crystal” or “rock crystal” where the stone is intended. The original forms are retained in the term list so readers can distinguish the passage from the author’s eschatological “crystalline clarity.”
Absque Sulphure is “without sulphur,” but it is the philosophers’ reported formulation that the narrator qualifies. It should not be printed as his final unqualified conclusion.
Connections
Generation of precious stones explains the formation theory; Sulphur philosophical and Salt philosophical explain why colour and hardness do not map directly onto modern chemical ingredients.
Nobility and perfection supplies the ranking behind the claim that an inferior stone can become a better one. The ranking is not simply a list of today’s mineral species arranged by price.
Cautions
The headword does not imply that every historical use of diamond denotes the same material.
The later correction at p. 155 must accompany the earlier account of external sulphur.
Böhmische Diamanten
Böhmische Diamanten — Attested wording in the cited original passage. II.115.2.
Chrystallen
Chrystallen — Attested wording in the cited original passage. II.115.2.
Diamant
Diamant — Attested wording in the cited original passage. II.119.2.
absque Sulphure
absque Sulphure — Attested wording in the cited original passage. II.155.1.
Source note
George P. Merrill, Handbook and Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Gems and Precious Stones in the United States National Museum (1922), Smithsonian Bulletin 118, uses the trade-name for quartz rock crystal: https://repository.si.edu/items/289deca0-e4d8-4e8a-a9fb-b2eae543f28d. This later terminology is a comparison, not an analysis of the Candida’s materials.