From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordCalx is calx, a product or powder associated with calcination; cinis is ash.
- In the workThe decisive paragraph initially presents paired alternatives without immediately assigning each property.
- In this editionNote 57 warns that these are operational categories, not modern chemical identities.
- A place to read“Cinis est volatilis”
Meaning
Calx is calx, a product or powder associated with calcination; cinis is ash. Book VI makes a sharp operational distinction between them in metals: calx is fixed and reducible to metal, ash volatile and not reducible to metal. These are the author's categories, not definitions guaranteed to match modern materials bearing the same names.
Use in the book
The decisive paragraph initially presents paired alternatives without immediately assigning each property. The following sentences resolve the alignment: ash is volatile, cannot return to metal and yields only glass or slag; metallic calx is fixed and can return to its metal. Reading only the opening pairs risks reversing the assignments. The paragraph then explains the difference through retained resources. Ash has less fatness and more dryness; calx is fatter and moister, retains resin and flux, and especially possesses Salt that promotes melting and restoration.
The passage's next instruction concerns extracting salt from metallic ashes to make them wholly volatile and irreducible. It should not be harmonized into a modern classification in which every ash is inherently and permanently volatile from the start. The text moves between its principal opposition and a practical refinement. Its stated concern is whether a residue can be brought back to metal.
That concern leads directly into the attack on false physicians. The author says they have administered leprous calx of gold in place of potable gold or other arcana. He alleges that such material is uselessly retained or expelled, or becomes metal in the body and impedes digestion. His proposed alternative is a volatile irreducible preparation, not an established safe medicine. Beyond this metallic discussion, wood's ash is identified with Salt in the three-principle account. The different local classifications should be preserved rather than forced into one unqualified definition of all ashes.
Places to read
- Book 6 · Resuscitation · Passage 3Latin“Cinis est volatilis” The assignment of volatility to ash is explicit.
- Book 6 · Resuscitation · Passage 3Latin“Calx autem metallorum est fixa” The assignment of fixity to calx is explicit.
- Book 6 · Resuscitation · Passage 4Latin“leprosam calcem Solis” The medical polemic depends on confusing distinct preparations.
- Book 6 · Resuscitation · Passage 9Latin“cinis est sal” Wood’s ash belongs to a different local explanatory alignment.
Translation in this edition
Note 57 warns that these are operational categories, not modern chemical identities. “Leprous” is the source's disparaging adjective for calx, not a clinical diagnosis of the material. Note 58 likewise separates the author's warning from validation of his proposed alternative.