From the book
A New Light of Alchemy
Michael Sendivogius · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Sperm and seminal matter
sperma; Sperma; Spermatis; menstruum Mundi
Core treatises and preliminaries. Sperma belongs to the seed vocabulary, but its scope changes.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordCore treatises and preliminaries. Sperma belongs to the seed vocabulary, but its scope changes.
- In the workCore treatises and preliminaries. The second treatise uses semen and sperma together while describing the one source of many things.
- In this editionCore treatises and preliminaries. The English alternates “seed,” “sperm” and “seminal matters” in response to these local uses.
- A place to readSperma igitur est elixir cuiusque rei: Here sperma bears the full praise of the generative principle.
Meaning
Core treatises and preliminaries. Sperma belongs to the seed vocabulary, but its scope changes. It can name generative material broadly or, in an explicit distinction, the visible containing medium whose centre holds the effective seed.
Treatise of Sulphur. Sperma is the generative vehicle, and menstruum the receptive or dissolving medium. Both names are applied to water without erasing the distinct semen it carries.
Use in the book
Core treatises and preliminaries. The second treatise uses semen and sperma together while describing the one source of many things. It calls sperma the elixir, perfect digestion and balsam of sulphur. The same word later appears in the command to take seeds or seminal matters rather than complete bodies. These uses prevent a rigid dictionary rule that sperma always means merely an inert envelope.
When the distinction becomes explicit, the carrier is visible, its inward semen invisible. Opening the bodily pores allows sperma to emerge; its centre then provides the seed that reaches the suitable matrix. The reader should follow these stages of explanation without treating each verbal variation as a new identified substance.
Treatise of Sulphur. The source distributes receptacles precisely: earth receives sperm, water receives seed. Sperm can be abundant yet fruitless when insufficient seed is present. Conversely, sufficient seed in sperm may fail because the womb is obstructed by faulty sulphurs or phlegms. These are the author’s natural-philosophical analogies, not a clinical account of fertility.
Once the womb receives its proper portion, nature proceeds to completion; remaining sperm falls aside and putrefies. The author assigns secondary generation of worms and small animals to such residues, and considers their sensation nobler than vegetable life. Water as menstruum also receives air’s warm vapour and serves as the material nourishment drawn by the seed’s magnet. The language connects cosmology, vegetation and generation without making them one undifferentiated process.
Places to read
- Treatise II · Passage 1LatinSperma igitur est elixir cuiusque rei: Here sperma bears the full praise of the generative principle.
- Treatise VII · Passage 2Latinut emittatur sperma, in cuius centro semen iacet: The carrier–centre relation is stated directly.
- Treatise VII · Passage 3Latinsed sperma est visibile: Visibility marks the sharpened contrast with semen.
- Sulphur · Water · Passage 1LatinSpermatis receptaculum Terra est: Earth receives the vehicle rather than serving as seed itself.
- Sulphur · Water · Passage 2LatinIn profundo, menstruum Mundi est: Water is a generative medium in the depths.
- Sulphur · Air · Passage 2Latinnutrimentum menstrui mundi, id est aquae: The menstruum is here explicitly glossed as water.
Translation in this edition
Core treatises and preliminaries. The English alternates “seed,” “sperm” and “seminal matters” in response to these local uses. The Latin does not sustain a single modern reproductive meaning, nor does every occurrence oppose semen.
Treatise of Sulphur. The retained word “menstruum” has a technical medium/solvent sense as well as reproductive associations. The spontaneous-generation claims are historical beliefs.
From the book
A New Light of Alchemy
Michael Sendivogius · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Sperm; seminal matter
sperma
A broad term for generative material which becomes, in the sharper later distinction, the visible carrier whose centre holds semen.
- English renderings
- sperm; seminal matter
Meaning
Lemma.
A broad term for generative material which becomes, in the sharper later distinction, the visible carrier whose centre holds semen. The text can nevertheless call sperma an elixir or perfect digestion, so it is not always merely an inert covering. In the opening-of-pores passage the sperm is emitted, and its central seed then reaches the appropriate receptive place.
Places to read
- Treatise VII · Passage 2Latinut emittatur sperma, in cuius centro semen iacet.
From the book
A New Light of Alchemy
Michael Sendivogius · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Sperm; generative vehicle
Sperma
Sperm is the vehicle received by earth, whereas seed is received by water.
- English renderings
- sperm; generative vehicle
Meaning
Lemma.
Sperm is the vehicle received by earth, whereas seed is received by water. The author calls water the world’s sperm and allows sperm to be abundant while deficient in seed. This distinction is fundamental to his generative analogies. It should not be read as a modern analysis of reproductive cells, nor collapsed into seed simply because both words belong to reproduction.
Places to read
- Sulphur · Water · Passage 1LatinSpermatis receptaculum Terra est.