From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Seed and generated result
semen; semine; seminatum; sperma; spermatis; fructus; fructum; fructibus
Semen ranges from plant seed to generative seed in bodily reproduction; sperma specifies sperm in the controversial bodily examples.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordSemen ranges from plant seed to generative seed in bodily reproduction; sperma specifies sperm in the controversial bodily examples.
- In the workThe putrefaction account first invokes a grain of wheat that bears abundant fruit after its earlier condition has been destroyed.
- In this editionThe edition retains the grain passage as a paraphrase combining biblical motifs.
- A place to read“centuplum fructum ferre”
Meaning
Semen ranges from plant seed to generative seed in bodily reproduction; sperma specifies sperm in the controversial bodily examples. Fructus may mean fruit, produce or the result borne from a beginning. The pairing supports an analogy across domains, but does not prove that every domain works identically. The proverb-like marginal statement, “As the seed is, so is the fruit,” names a relation of correspondence. A later use of fruit for the fetus belongs to that same figurative extension and should not be mistaken for the ordinary botanical sense alone.
Use in the book
The putrefaction account first invokes a grain of wheat that bears abundant fruit after its earlier condition has been destroyed. Seed here connects death with multiplication rather than simply preserving an unchanged object. The next major seed argument is more rigid: onion, spelt, barley and oats supposedly demonstrate that a generated result corresponds to the seed sown. The speaker then deploys this pattern in a biologically false argument about human conception through another animal.
The following paragraph complicates the rule by granting maternal imagination the power to transform a fetus arising from male seed. The seed does not explain every feature of the outcome on its own. The maternal body is described as the place where inner stars impress a form, with the potter’s clay as a model of receptivity. The text places these arguments together without fully reconciling them.
In Book 2, seed and root are ordinary starting materials in the claim that plants and fruit can be produced out of season. The same language of fecundity is then extended to minerals, but the passage does not literally provide mineral seeds. Fructus consequently serves both concrete botanical description and a broader vocabulary of successful production.
Places to read
- Book 1 · Generation · Passage 1Latin“centuplum fructum ferre” The grain image relates loss of prior condition to abundant yield.
- Book 1 · Generation · Passage 4Latin“quale est semen seminatum, talis etiam fructus” The body uses plant examples to support the disputed bodily claim.
- Book 1 · Generation · Original marginal note 13Latin“Semen quale, talis fructus.” The historical margin states the correspondence tersely.
- Book 1 · Generation · Passage 5Latin“format fructum in corpore suo” Fruit denotes the fetus within the imagination argument.
Translation in this edition
The edition retains the grain passage as a paraphrase combining biblical motifs. It does not endorse the cross-species biological claim. “Fruit” may be deliberately broader than edible produce; “sperm” should not be expanded into a complete modern genetic account.
From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →The rule’s force
quale; talis; semper
The seed argument says that the fruit always corresponds to the seed sown, then illustrates the relation with familiar crops.
Meaning
The seed argument says that the fruit always corresponds to the seed sown, then illustrates the relation with familiar crops. Semper makes the proposition stronger than a merely frequent resemblance. The following paragraph’s account of imagination complicates the application to the fetus. The later complication leaves a tension within the historical account of heredity, rather than replacing its initial rule with a uniform explanation.
Places to read
- Book 1 · Generation · Passage 4Latin“semper quale est semen seminatum, talis etiam fructus”