Dedication, 1612-11-09, Heinrich Nollius to Wigand Heimel
| Author: | Heinrich Nollius |
| Recipient: | Wigand Heimel |
| Type: | Dedication |
| Date: | 9 November 1612 |
| Place: | no place [Ziegenhain] |
| Pages: | 7 |
| Language: | Latin |
| Quote as: | https://www.theatrum-paracelsicum.com/index.php?curid=5655 |
| Editor: | Edited by Julian Paulus |
| Source: | Heinrich Nollius, Systema medicinae hermeticae generale, Frankfurt am Main: Zacharias Palthenius 1613, sig. I2r-I5r [BP.Nollius.1613-02]
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| Translation: | Raw translation see below |
| Abstract: | Nollius expresses deep respect and gratitude towards Heimel, acknowledging him as a friend and patron. He recounts a recent encounter with a learned man, a headmaster and professor of Logic, who sought to understand the secretive aspects of their philosophy. Nollius obliged, guiding him through the concepts of natural generation, emphasizing that the foundation of their philosophy is deeply rooted in understanding this process as ordained by God. He argues that true knowledge of generation leads to the mastery of essential substances used in their philosophical practices, ultimately leading to the creation of noble medicines, not gold. Nollius criticizes those who pursue alchemy for material gain, particularly gold, stating that the true purpose of alchemy is far more profound and aligned with nature. He further explains that alchemy, based on the light of nature, is essential for complete medicine. It teaches how to purify and renew substances, drawing parallels between macrocosmic (larger, external) and microcosmic (human, internal) processes. Nollius emphasizes that understanding these alchemical processes is crucial for effective medical practice. The letter also includes references to the works of other philosophers and poets, reinforcing his arguments about the significance of alchemy in medicine and the pursuit of knowledge. (generated by Chat-GPT) |
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[sig. I2r] Magnifico, prvdentissimo viro, Dn. Wigando Heimelio. Reip[ublicae] Dreisanæ Proconsuli, Sobrino amico & Mecœnati meo dilecto S[alutem] P[lurimam] ex animo precor. Henricus Nollius.
Non ita diu est, Magnifice, & amplissime vir, amice & patrone obseruande, vbi apud me Gueilburgi fuit quidam vir doctissimus, pædagogiarcha & Logices professor in illustri quodam Gymnasio, atque obnixe me rogauit, vt sibi principia aperirem, ex quibus ipsi ad secretiorem nostram philosophiam pateret aditus. Itaque cum in eo viro singularem humanitatem, & ex collatione mutua insignem ingenii dotem atque acumen deprehenderem, ipsius petitioni deesse nolui, ac proinde dissertan- [sig. I2v] do eum ad generationem rerum naturalium vestigandam deduxi, significans, nostræ philosophiæ primarium fundamentum per Deum in exquisita generationis cognitione consistere. Quamuis vero hæc mea responsio isti viro simplex visa fuerit, tamen id, quod dixi ipsa veritas est: Qui enim generationem perfecte intellexerit, verorum menstruorum, quorum in nostra philosophia vsus est, notitiam sibi facile comparabit; imo viam inueniet, quam si imitando naturam iuerit, omnium nobilissimam medicinam ex conuenienti corpore per naturalissimum acetum resoluto & digesto ad generationis modum creabit. Medicinam dico non aurum. Sophistæ enim in scriptis processibus auaris & insatiabili auri fame marcescentibus auri faciundi desiderium inculcant, & aureos pollicentur montes. Ars aurum facere nequit. Sola natura producit substantiam. Renouare vero imperfecta metalla per solam naturam, nulla re extranea admota, atque peregrinas naturas, à quibus eorum imperfectio dimanat, ab ipsis separare philosophi norunt: ignorant contra artem, qua sola aurum fieri queat. Ars non producit substantiam, quamuis transplantatione & insitione naturas in sua specie pro- [sig. I3r] pagare & multiplicare sciat: non tamen sine natura. Id mihi certum est ex naturæ lumine, cuius solius contemplatio Deo benedicente & benigne iuuante, mihi hunc tractatum de generatione peperit, atque in totum persuadet, vt credam, ad modum generationis veram medicinam præparandam esse. Omne quod à natura in salutem hominis creatum est, crudum est, & vlteriori digestione indiget, vt vel in substantiam hominis vel in salubre medicamentum conuertatur. Alimentum intueamur: Hoc in hortulis nostris nobis crescit, in stabulis sustentatur, atque in agris, nostra cura, prouenit. Verum in sanguinem nostrum non mutatur, nisi ad modum generationis in stomacho nostro putrefiat & soluatur, vt inde ad corrobor andum cor, reliquaque membra spiritus vitales proliciantur, ac tandem variis digestionib[us] præmissis sanguis in semen humanum, cuius virtute humanum genus conseruatur & propagatur abeat. Quidni, quando vas putrefactionis in nobis est insufficiens, naturam natura & philosophico ingenio similiter eo promouere possimus, vt crudum corpus extra carnem nostram naturaliter putrefiat, digeratur, dissoluatur, & ex dissolutione natura spiritualis extrahatur, qua [sig. I3v] propter summam harmoniam spiritus noster veluti in momento mirifice confortetur & restauretur, vt hac ratione in fortiter exturbandis & exterminandis vitæ nostræ hostibus, nimirum morbis grauissimis suo fungatur officio! Si exquisite cognouerimus, quid sit, quo putrescat semen, & quomodo id fiat, dubio procul in hominis salubrem vsum vere philosophicas medicinas indagabimus, & assiduitate laborum ξὺν Θεῷ reportabimus. Hac in re nobis vere philosophica Alchymia inseruit: Huius enim ope scimus digerere, soluere, putrefacere, purum ex impuro eruere, atque perfectam generare medicinam. Cuius artis tanta præstantia est, vt in circumforaneos omnium fraudum artifices, tyrannos, delicatulos, otiis indulgentes, heluones, vsarios, Plutiq́ue cultores non cadat, sed pium, beneficum, auaritiæ osorem, sedulum, laboris nullius pertæsum atque naturæ subtilem perscrutatorem requirat. Quemadmodum nos doctissimus philosophus & poeta Augarellus hsice verbis dilucide docet:
Hanc non impuris manibus fraudator auarus
Attingat, decoctor item, quisqusue fabrili
Arte valet, mollisue etiam cum perdita cordi
Otia Marcatorque vagus, &c.
[sig. I4r] Et paulo post:
Ast sapiens superos in primis qui colat, & qui
Noscendis penitus causis modo gaudeat; huc se
conferat & totis sectetur viribus artem.
Tunc Comes hærebit grauis exploratio rerum
Intima naturæ passim vestigia seruans.
Tunc mora sollicitos cursus remorata sequetur,
Et visura olim stabilis patientia finem.
Audite, medicastri, qui nostram hanc diuinam scientiam odio habetis: Audite inquam, & dicite, qui vos medicorum numero vere adscribere possitis, cum sine Alchymia, quæ ex lumine naturæ manifestato in hoc libro robur suum trahit, medicina imperfecta est! Siquidem hæc vna primo morbis macrocosmicarum substantiarum (dum ὲγχειρήσεις & naturas ex lumine naturæ suppeditat, quibus purum ab impuro segregamus) mederi nos docet, vt ab iis rebus exemplum curæ certissimæ sumamus, atque ita habitum curandi nobis ingeneremus. Profecto qui metalla renuoare nescit, quomodo ille restaurare hominis balsamum, eumque ad morbos propulsandos confortare sciat? Qui nescit, quid in Antimonio aurum purget, quomodo perspectum habeat medicamentum, quo naturæ peregrinæ molestiam & morbum nobis inuehentes reuellantur! Qui extra microcosmum arsenicum figere, sub- [sig. I4v] limato corrosiuam naturam adimere, spiritus sulphureos cogere & lapides per veram & conuenientem naturam confringere nequit, nunquam arsenicales salis spiritus edomare, corrosiua salia abluere, edulcorare & mitigare, virus sulphureum coagulare & demere, calculumque vesicæ dissoluere & dissolutum foras eiicere in homine poterit. Tutius est vires medicamentorum in rebus macrocosmicis primum experiri, quam in microcosmo. Quod iam dudum veri philosophi abunde intelligentes eo studiosius vere philosophicam Alchymiam tractauerunt, vt Hermetem philosophorum patrem & principem imitati medicinas fabricent efficacissimas & propellendis morbis aptissimas: præcipue vero illud remedium, quod vniuersale vocant, omnium morborum certissimam antidotum. Ad quod & animo & re assequendum cum non parum momenti conferat hic meus de generatione tractatus, diutius eum studiosam iuuentutem celare nolui, sed in lucem emittere in animum induxi, vt veritatis hostes nostræ scientiæ fundamentum & basin esse lumen naturæ cernant, & filii artis magis magisque ad veritatem studiose inquirendam ammentur, quo [sig. I5r] si forsan ex hoc meo libello aliquid profecerint, Deo ante omnia agant gratias, meque etiam sua iuuent opera.
Tibi vero, Magnifice & Consultissime vir, sobrine & amice intime, hoc quicquid est, inscribo, vt animum promptum ad recompensanda innumera beneficia, quæ ab initio studiorum vsque in hanc horam cumulate in me contulisti, videas, atque te mihi Mecœnatem multis ab hinc annis electum scias. Quamobrem non possum non te orare, vt hoc leuidense munus beneuolo animo accipias, meis Musus patrocineris, me contra morsus maleuolorum hominum, qui vndique in me conuolant, defendas & perpetua tua amicitia digneris: Repromitto, me nunquam aliquid ξὺν Θεῷ perpetraturum, quod ius amicitiæ nostræ violet, sed semper attentaturum, vt magis magisque copulemur, & arctius vniamur. Quod Deus Ter Opt[imus] Maximus faxit. Amen Vale & Nollii studia, vt reuera facis, promouere perge. Dabam è Musæo patrio 9. Nouemb[ris] Anno 1612.
English Raw Translation
Generated by ChatGPT-4 on 1 January 2024. Attention: This translation is a machine translation by artificial intelligence. The translation has not been checked and should not be cited without additional human verification.
To the Magnificent and Most Prudent Man, Mr. Wigand Heimel, Proconsul of the Dreisan Republic, my beloved friend and patron, I pray for your utmost well-being with all my heart. - Heinrich Nollius.
Not so long ago, Magnificent and Most Honorable Sir, esteemed friend and patron, a highly learned man visited me in Gueilburg. He was a headmaster and professor of Logic at a renowned Gymnasium (school), and he earnestly requested that I reveal to him the principles that would grant him access to our more secretive philosophy. Recognizing in this man exceptional humanity and a remarkable sharpness of intellect through our discussions, I did not wish to deny his request. Thus, I led him in a discourse towards investigating the generation of natural things, indicating that the primary foundation of our philosophy lies in understanding generation as ordained by God. Although my response seemed simple to him, it is indeed the truth: He who understands generation perfectly will easily acquire knowledge of the true menstrua, which are used in our philosophy, and will find a way to create the most noble medicine by resolving and digesting a suitable body through the most natural vinegar, in the manner of generation. I speak of medicine, not gold. Sophists in their writings instill a desire for making gold in those consumed by a greedy and insatiable hunger for gold, promising mountains of gold. Art cannot create gold. Only nature produces substance. Philosophers know how to renew imperfect metals through nature alone, without any foreign substances, and to separate from them the foreign natures causing their imperfection. They do not know the art by which gold alone can be made. Art does not produce substance, though it knows how to propagate and multiply natures within their kind through transplantation and grafting, but not without nature. I am certain from the light of nature, whose contemplation, with God's blessing and kind assistance, has given birth to this treatise on generation, and convinces me entirely that true medicine must be prepared in the manner of generation. Everything created by nature for the health of man is raw and requires further digestion to be transformed either into human substance or into a healthful medicine. Consider food: It grows in our gardens, is sustained in our stables, and comes forth from our fields with our care. Yet, it does not turn into our blood unless it putrefies and dissolves in our stomach in the manner of generation, so that from it vital spirits may be produced to strengthen the heart and other members, and finally, after various digestions, blood turns into human semen, by whose virtue the human race is preserved and propagated. Why not, when the vessel of putrefaction within us is insufficient, similarly promote nature with nature and philosophical ingenuity, so that a raw body outside our flesh may naturally putrefy, be digested, dissolved, and from this dissolution a spiritual nature extracted, by which our spirit is wonderfully strengthened and restored in a moment, so that it may perform its duty in vigorously driving out and exterminating the gravest diseases, our enemies to life! If we thoroughly understand what causes semen to putrefy and how this happens, we will undoubtedly investigate true philosophical medicines for the benefit of man, and with God's help, achieve them through persistent labor. In this matter, true philosophical Alchemy serves us well: For by its means, we know how to digest, dissolve, putrefy, extract the pure from the impure, and create perfect medicine. The excellence of this art is such that it does not fall to the lot of itinerant fraudsters, tyrants, the indulgent, gluttons, usurers, and worshippers of wealth, but requires a pious, beneficent person, a hater of greed, diligent, tireless in labor, and a subtle investigator of nature. As the most learned philosopher and poet Augarellus clearly teaches us in these words:
'Let not the greedy fraudster with impure hands
Touch it, nor the bankrupt, nor anyone skilled in
Crafty art, nor even those with lost leisure at heart
The wandering Merchant, etc.'
And shortly after:
'But let the wise man who first worships the gods, and who
Delights in thoroughly understanding causes, come here
And pursue the art with all his might.
Then will follow a serious exploration of things,
Observing the intimate traces of nature everywhere.
Then delay will follow the anxious courses,
And patient endurance will one day see its end.'
Hear, you quacks, who hate our divine science: Listen, I say, and tell me, who among you can truly count yourselves among the doctors, when without Alchemy, which draws its strength from the light of nature revealed in this book, medicine is incomplete! Indeed, it teaches us first to cure the diseases of macrocosmic substances (as we separate the pure from the impure with operations and natures supplied by the light of nature), so that we may take from these things the most certain example of cure, and thus instill in ourselves the habit of healing. Surely, he who does not know how to renew metals, how can he know how to restore the balsam of man, and strengthen it against diseases? He who does not know what purifies gold in Antimony, how can he have a clear understanding of the medicine that reveals foreign natures bringing us annoyance and disease! He who cannot fix arsenic outside the microcosm, remove its corrosive nature by sublimation, collect sulphurous spirits, and break stones through true and suitable nature, will never be able to tame the spirits of arsenical salt, wash away corrosive salts, sweeten and mitigate them, coagulate and remove sulphurous poison, and dissolve and expel bladder stones in man. It is safer to first test the powers of medicines in macrocosmic things than in the microcosm. True philosophers, fully understanding this long ago, have all the more diligently dealt with true philosophical Alchemy, so that, imitating Hermes, the father and prince of philosophers, they may fabricate the most efficacious medicines most suitable for repelling diseases: especially that remedy, which they call universal, the most certain antidote to all diseases. Since my treatise on generation contributes not a little to achieving this both in spirit and in reality, I did not want to keep it hidden from studious youth any longer, but decided to bring it to light, so that the enemies of truth may see that the foundation and basis of our science is the light of nature, and that the sons of the art may be more and more encouraged to diligently seek the truth, so that if perhaps they benefit from this my book, they will first of all give thanks to God, and also to me for their youthful work.
But to you, Magnificent and Most Wise Man, my close friend and relative, I dedicate whatever this is, so that you may see my readiness to repay the countless benefits that you have heaped upon me from the beginning of my studies to this hour, and know that you have been chosen as my patron for many years now. Therefore, I cannot but ask you to accept this modest gift with a benevolent mind, to patronize my Muses, to defend me against the bites of malevolent men who flock against me from all sides, and to deem me worthy of your perpetual friendship: I promise, with God's help, never to do anything that would violate the law of our friendship, but always to strive to be more and more closely bound and united. May God the Most Good and Great make it so. Amen. Farewell and continue to promote Nollius' studies, as you truly do. Given from my paternal study, November 9, 1612.
