From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Preserving a thing and its powers
conservatio; conservatione; conservare; conservari; conservativa; conservativum; praeservatio; praeservari; praeservativa; custodire; custodiunt; conservationibus
Conservatio names keeping a thing from loss or damage; praeservatio emphasizes safeguarding against an anticipated enemy.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordConservatio names keeping a thing from loss or damage; praeservatio emphasizes safeguarding against an anticipated enemy.
- In the workBook 3 begins with knowledge of enemies.
- In this editionThe edition labels the malformed marginal wording Conservatio res inveniuntur in reb.
- A place to read“in sua substantia, virtute, vi”
Meaning
Conservatio names keeping a thing from loss or damage; praeservatio emphasizes safeguarding against an anticipated enemy. Their associated verbs and the language of guarding often overlap in Book 3. Conservativum can be the thing credited with a preserving effect, not simply the abstract action. Preservation includes more than preventing visible disappearance: the opening paragraph lists substance, virtue and force as possible sites of injury. A retained body whose relevant power has been lost would not count as fully preserved under that account.
Use in the book
Book 3 begins with knowledge of enemies. Before a thing can be defended, its mode of injury must be understood. The introduction then makes a providential comparison with medicines against diseases and with opposed waters, stones, ores, poisons and metals. This gives preservation a relational structure: what protects one material may harm another, and a universal list of “good substances” would misrepresent the argument.
The ensuing examples differentiate storage and preparation. Roots are kept in earth, plants and fruit in water, lead in a cold moist place, and salts in warm dry wooden containers. Metal preservatives allegedly maintain nature and virtue while improving colour. The magnet is said not merely to retain its force but to gain it when kept with iron or steel filings. Preservation can therefore shade into enhancement.
Other examples use a barrier or expulsion: oil separates liquids and prevents alleged mould; aromatics repel clothing pests; oil of sulphur allegedly resists decay in wood and ropes. The final honey paragraph supplies a revealing exception. Honey has no particular preservative, the speaker says, beyond being kept from its enemy. The exception makes avoidance of harm, rather than addition of a special preparation, sufficient within this particular account of keeping.
Places to read
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 1Latin“in sua substantia, virtute, vi” Damage can affect material being and powers.
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 8Latin“in ipsorum natura & virtute constant” Metal preservatives are said to maintain constitution and capacity.
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 10Latin“in calido & sicco loco” Salts receive a particular environment, not a universal storage rule.
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 19Latin“nullum peculiare conservativum habet” Honey is presented as having no special preservative.
Translation in this edition
The edition labels the malformed marginal wording Conservatio res inveniuntur in reb. omnibus as rough and compressed. Its cautions distinguish historical absolute preservation claims from validated safety. The source’s references to other works do not authorize the editor to fill missing formulations.
From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Preserving bodies and powers
conservat; conservare; praeservativum; Conservare
Preservation names the action of spirit upon a living body, spirit of salt against putrefaction and residual balsam upon other bodies in the mummia doctrine.
Meaning
Preservation names the action of spirit upon a living body, spirit of salt against putrefaction and residual balsam upon other bodies in the mummia doctrine. The subject changes and must remain explicit. Book VI also denies a preservative against the completed predestined term of life. Thus preserving is a real claimed power in the work but not an unlimited ability to prevent every death.
Places to read
- Book 4 · Life · Passage 16Latin“a foetore & putredine conservat”