On the Triple Anatomy

Section I. Portion III. Part I. Book I.

one might justly object that there is no such thing as a pure element in the natural world; but as I have replied to such a person, I would also have you know that these parts of a compound are called "elements" because they participate more greatly in one element or another. For we acknowledge that nothing absolutely pure or clean is to be found in the progression of nature, for even the simplest element among us is observed to participate in a foreign nature. Indeed, these elements are said to have taken on a polluted and corrupt nature immediately after the Fall of Adam The theological belief that nature became "debased" or less perfect after the expulsion from Eden. and to have wandered from their original simplicity. And yet, the wise and those well-versed in true Alchemy original: "Alchimia"; here referring to the "sacred art" of purifying substances to their primal state. have not doubted that they can reach the sanctuary of the pure element.

CHAPTER IV.

How the elements of bread concur for human nutrition, and concerning the peculiar office and function of each of them.

Now indeed, even if it might seem a very difficult thing to demonstrate to the ignorant—namely, what portion in this vegetable i.e., the wheat/bread procreates blood in the animal, by means of which its natural faculty is refreshed and satisfied; and then to distinguish in it that element which primarily regards the heart and the vital spirits; and furthermore, what that vegetable substance is which passes through the various urinary channels or conduits into the bladder; finally, whence proceeds that which fills and nourishes the vessel of the gall the gallbladder; and lastly, what nature it is that claims the spleen and the viscera for its own receptacle—nevertheless, to him who diligently attends to the order of this anatomy of ours, all these doubts will become clear and manifest.

For he will perceive that the airy part is that which is converted into blood by the blood-making virtue and nature of the liver, since thick blood comes closest to that pure spiritual humidity which fills the arterial vessels. In terms of its property, this stands in relation to the blood of the liver as spirit of wine concentrated alcohol/ethanol stands to common water of life aqua vitae/brandy. For the vital spirits contained in the arteries behave like the cream or the purest and most subtle portion of the blood, which is nothing other than the thinnest substance of air, mixed with the subtle nature of the ether or the quintessence The "fifth element," a celestial substance thought to be the source of life and health. by whose benefit we live. This portion of arterial blood is preserved partly through the bright spirits of the blood, but principally through the air drawn in at every moment by breathing. In that air, the invisible and celestial spirits of life lie hidden and concealed; as soon as the heart receives them through inhalation, it retains them firmly, casting out through exhalation the smoky and vaporous air that had carried them, as being useless for its purpose.

The element of fire preserves and occupies the vessel of the gall; the aqueous humidity distills from the principal blood vessels to the bladder through a double channel. The thicker part of the earth is received by the viscera or intestines, as it is too thick to pass through the tiny mesenteric veins original: "messeraicas"; the veins draining the intestines. For it is the office of these veins to convey the chyle The milky fluid of digested food. to the liver; but if by chance a little bit enters through these narrow branches along with the thicker waters (arising from a slight viscosity), the dark spleen is immediately ready to attract that slimy matter to itself, greedily sucking it into its spongy substance.

For Nature ordained these internal tracts and conduits in man and other animals for this sole purpose: without them, such terrestrial and dreg-like matter would contaminate, pollute, and infect the entire mass of the red substance prepared for the nourishment and preservation of the fleshy part. Therefore, it is manifest that when retention has occurred by the virtue of the transverse fibers in the stomach until the bread and food are cooked into perfect chyle, then that chylous pulp—consisting of the aforementioned elements (namely, viscous earth; fluid and slippery water serving as a vehicle for all the rest; subtle air, which is like a volatile salt or an invisible Ammoniacal original: "Armoniacalis"; likely referring to Sal Ammoniac, a volatile salt. or Nitrous original: "Nitralis"; relating to saltpeter, thought to carry the "spirit of life" in the air. humor, whose thicker and more tenacious substance is sent to the bladder after the airy element is reduced into blood; and finally the spiritual quintessence which keeps itself between air and fire and mixes itself with every element, as it is by its amiable nature a friend to all and an enemy to none)—this chylous pulp or substance (I say), being thus prepared, is attracted to the liver. There, as if in a furnace, every humor is examined by the fire of nature, as it were, and divided from one another, and according to its dignity and quality, is disposed and infused into the appropriate or convenient vessels ordained by Nature to receive it.

And so it is very easy for a diligent anatomist to discern and perceive the disposition, office, and property of each of these elements in wheat, ordained by Nature for the nutrition and preservation of the human body. From this, I would also have the ignorant be advised to observe how a true transmutation is made by means of this natural Alchemy in the microcosm The human body, viewed as a miniature reflection of the entire universe.; namely, the conversion of one species into another—that is, of the vegetable into the animal—since every essential and elemental part of the wheat is transformed by a certain natural agent into the vital and natural parts of both man and any other animal.