From the book
Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici
Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Jean de la Fontaine is named as the author of a Romant Philosophique from which a six-line speech by Nature is introduced. Nature calls salt as witness to the action and endurance of fire. The argumentative voice within the verse is therefore personified Nature, not a fresh experimental declaration by Nuysement or an independently authenticated statement by the historical author. The naming and title are preserved as transmitted; they should not be silently reassigned to a better-known writer with the same surname. Read the quotation with the prose claim that fire is salt’s father and multiplier and with the later qualification that surviving salt is not generated by burning.
Places to read
- Book Two · Chapter 1 · Unit 5Named author and work frame a six-line speech by Nature, who calls salt as witness.
- Book Two · Chapter 3 · Unit 22The later denial of generation by fire is a contrast to the poem’s witness and the adjoining paternal claim.
Attested forms
Jean de la Fontaine; Romant Philosophique