From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
The list places caterpillars, flies and grubs among multiple kinds of vermes allegedly arising from putrefaction. The broad historical category does not match a modern taxonomic phylum. In Book 3 worms also threaten wood and cheese, while clothing pests receive more particular names. The vocabulary helps explain how visible decay and small creatures are associated in the text without endorsing the proposed spontaneous generation.
Places to read
- Book 1 · Generation · Passage 6Latin“multiplicibus vermibus, ut erucis, muscis, bruchis”