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Tenacious fatty earth

tenax; pinguis terra

The calcination example calls earth tenacious, soft, and fatty before describing its hardening into stone.

From the book

Nine Books on the Nature of Things

Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

The calcination example calls earth tenacious, soft, and fatty before describing its hardening into stone. Pinguis here is a material-quality term, not a claim that the earth is animal fat. Its juxtaposition with tenax and mollis identifies a workable, cohesive starting condition, contrasted with the harder state brought about by the historical firing account.

Places to read

  1. Book 7 · Transmutations · Passage 2Latin“tenax, mollis, & pinguis terra”