From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Book 1 places ores and semimetals under the same three-principle explanation as metals but assigns them less perfect and more tenuous Mercury, Sulphur and Salt. These historical categories should not be treated as an exact modern periodic-table classification. Book 2’s claim to mature ores relies on this language of incomplete condition. Their distinct colours remain relevant even when their constituents are described as less perfected.
Places to read
- Book 1 · Generation · Passage 14Latin“generatione minerarum & semimetallorum”