Hortulanus and Gerlandus

Use in the book

In the first proem, I.003.1, the attributed teaching is that Hermetic art imitates the great work of creation described in Genesis 1. That opening makes the book’s scriptural account relevant to material art. It does not by itself establish how an operator repeats each event of creation. The anonymous writer immediately adds that his own emphasis is theoretical and analogical, I.003.2.

At pp. 125-126 the argument is more explicit. Hortulanus is credited with saying that the Stone is called perfect because it contains animal, vegetable and mineral nature, II.125.1. The writer then reasons: whatever contains those three natures is a perfect subject; rainwater contains them; therefore rainwater is a perfect subject, II.126.1. From this he infers the possibility of preparing both a metal-improving tincture and a universal medicine.

The distinction between the attributed saying and its new application matters. Hortulanus’s authority supplies the criterion of perfection. The Candida’s preceding account of rainwater is offered as proof of the minor premise. The conclusion is consequently the anonymous writer’s constructed inference, rather than a quotation in which Hortulanus simply names ordinary rainwater as the exact subject.

This also explains why the passage must be read with pp. 77-79. There the writer distinguishes rainwater from the precise subject of the Hermetic art. A universal capacity or a suitable remote matter does not erase every distinction of preparation and specification. Reading only the syllogism can make the work appear simpler than its fuller discussion allows.

Places to read

1. Part I · I.003.1The opening identification and creation-as-imitation formula.
2. Part II · II.125.1; II.126.12The attributed definition of perfection becomes the premise of the rainwater syllogism.
3. Part II · II.077.2; II.078.12Read the argument alongside the distinction between rainwater and the exact Hermetic subject.

Translation

Hortulanum and Hortulani are inflected Latin forms; the English reading name is Hortulanus. The phrase sonst auch genannt is a claim that one name is an alternative to another. Translating it as otherwise called preserves that claim without adding a modern identification. Perfect subject renders vollkommenes Subjectum in the rainwater argument; perfection there initially means the possession of the three kingdoms’ natures, not a finished laboratory product.

Connections

Gerlandus also appears among older philosophers cited against multiplying speculative world-spirits, I.047.1. Here the writer says only that he knows of no support for the opposing view in these authorities. That limited negative testimony should be kept distinct from the explicit positive statements attributed to Hortulanus elsewhere.

Cautions

Do not infer that every saying associated with Hortulanus or Gerlandus belongs to the same identifiable historical writer. The local argument is clear; the transmission and attribution are less secure. The lexicon treats those as different questions.

Gerlandus

Gerlandus — Form as printed in the cited passage; the headword supplies the reading name. I.003.1.

Hortulanus

Hortulanus — Form as printed in the cited passage; the headword supplies the reading name. I.003.1.

Hortulanum

Hortulanum — Form as printed in the cited passage; the headword supplies the reading name. II.125.1.

Hortulani

Hortulani — Form as printed in the cited passage; the headword supplies the reading name. II.126.1.