From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordSanguinis means “of blood.” The whole phrase names a preparation credited with remarkable powers, while “balsam of balsams” praises its preserving virtue.
- In the Nine BooksThe arcanum appears as nourishment in the homunculus account and as preserved blood in Book III. The latter passage gives it a double role: it is preserved from corruption and is said to preserve other flesh and blood.
- In this editionThe distinction between blood preserved as blood and a quintessence is maintained. The unspecified salt water is not replaced by an assumed modern saline formulation.
- A place to readBook 3 · Preservation · Passage 3, where the change from quintessence to blood preserved in its own form is made explicit.
- English renderings
- arcanum sanguinis, “arcanum of blood”; balsamus balsamorum, “balsam of balsams”
Meaning
The phrase arcanum sanguinis cannot be explained by arcanum alone. Its genitive identifies blood as the material in question, and the surrounding passage assigns the preparation both preservation and further preserving power. “Balsam of balsams” is an emphatic valuation of that power rather than the name of a separate substance introduced at the end.
Two neighbouring terms also need their own meanings. Mummia is the historical bodily medicinal or preserving substance used for comparison, not simply an embalmed museum mummy. Aqua salis is the salt water named in the historical process. The passage refers its preparation elsewhere, so the name does not authorize a modern reconstruction of its contents.
Use in the book
The arcanum of human blood first appears in the account of the homunculus (Book 1 · Generation · Passage 9). There it is assigned a nourishing role in the alleged development of an artificially generated human. The passage names the preparation as something on which the claimed process depends, but does not there explain its own preparation. That earlier use gives the later preservation passage a wider connection within the book: the same phrase belongs to a claim about generation as well as to an account of resistance to decay.
Book III begins its discussion from the familiar perishability of flesh and blood (Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 3). They rapidly putrefy and become rancid. The author first claims that renewed spring water can assist their conversion into a quintessence and protect them indefinitely from decay and bad smell without balsam. He then extends the claimed effect beyond the prepared matter: it preserves other flesh and blood and protects the human body against putrefaction and diseases attributed to it. The comparison with common mummia concerns that preserving or medicinal capacity.
The paragraph then makes a deliberate turn. It proposes preserving blood by itself, “not as a quintessence.” This second account must not be folded back into the first as though every use of the arcanum required the same transformation. Its language describes separating blood from phlegm and adding the named salt water, or using a balsam as an alternative. The preparation of that water is referred to “our Surgery.” Its absence from the present account is a real limit to what this passage supplies, not an invitation to complete the directions from an ordinary modern meaning of salt water.
The promised result is blood remaining fresh and beautifully red for many years, as on its first day. Colour and freshness make the preservation visible in the description. The author then names such blood the balsam of balsams and arcanum of blood, attributes extraordinary virtue to it and commands that it be concealed as a great medical secret. The historical margin likewise identifies the subject as the preparation of the arcanum of human blood (Book 3 · Preservation · Original marginal note 6).
The passage's double movement explains its importance. Something naturally prone to corruption is said to become resistant to it; what has been preserved is then said to preserve something else. The secret is valued not just as a way of keeping a material unchanged but as a source of further power. The indefinite preservation and medicinal effects remain the source's assertions, not results validated by the edition.
Places to read
- Book 1 · Generation · Passage 9Latin“Arcano sanguinis humani” The homunculus account gives the preparation a nourishing role.
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 3Latin“non ut Quinta Essentia” The second preservation route is explicitly differentiated.
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 3Latin“quam quidem aquam in nostra chirurgia docemus conficere” The salt water’s preparation is deferred to another work.
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 3Latin“Balsamus Balsamorum” The preparation receives an emphatic preserving title.
- Book 3 · Preservation · Original marginal note 6Latin“Arcanum sanguinis humani, ut paretur.” The historical margin names the subject.
Translation in this edition
The genitive in Arcanum Sanguinis is retained as “of blood”; the earlier Arcano sanguinis humani specifies human blood. The expression non ut Quinta Essentia is translated “rather than as a quintessence,” preserving the change between the two accounts within the paragraph.
Note 24 explains the historical sense of mummia and warns against supplying a modern saline formulation for the unspecified aqua salis. It also distinguishes the source's preserving and medicinal promises from validated results. “Our Surgery” is the transmitted speaker's reference to another work; the present entry does not independently establish its attribution or pretend that the missing formulation is supplied here.