Hermes: A Journal in Occasional Issues

the acid and the combustible essence original: "säure und des brennbaren Wesens." In the chemical language of the time, this refers to the acidic and flammable components (phlogiston) of a substance., and even to the Ancients this was a matter of indifference. But they knew the materials very well in which their subject In alchemy, the "subject" is the raw material or "prima materia" used to begin the Great Work. resides, and experience guided them so correctly that one must do them justice when they analyze the powers of this substance. And herein lies the very reason for many truths that seemed unbelievable: that there are many paths to the Art term: the Art (die Kunst) A standard shorthand for alchemy or the "Hermetic Art" of transforming matter., which are very unequal in their yield and ease, just as there are different ways to fertilize the field and prepare the seed-grain for new development.

Correctness of the Hermetic theory of mephitic gas.

Just as the whole of Hermeticism has visibly derived all its principles from Nature, so it also agrees with her in this regard. What are fertilizers in agriculture? Such things which dissolve the seed, set its magnet Alchemists believed that every substance contained a "magnet" or attractive principle that could pull vital spirits down from the atmosphere or the stars. free, and thereby [allow] the influence of the Upper original: "Einfluss des Obern." A reference to the Hermetic axiom "As above, so below," where celestial forces influence terrestrial growth.