THE WOOD OF LIFE

STUDENT: You then, in whom all sciences are infused, teach me this medicine, which Adam taught to some of his descendants, by which they lived their lives for nine hundred years. RAYMOND: Medicines for preservation must be extremely durable and far removed from corruption. For since they must keep the human body from corruption, they must first be durable themselves; otherwise, they would corrupt more than they would preserve. Therefore, for those wishing to preserve the radical moisture radicalis humidi: the vital fluid thought to sustain life in medieval medicine and innate heat calidum innatum: the natural warmth or "biological fire" of a living body in the young, and to restore what is lost in the old—bringing them back as if to youth in terms of strength—it is necessary to choose the most incorruptible substance found beneath the lunar sphere. This must be prepared into a medicine and a most sweet food, so that when taken by mouth it immediately penetrates the whole human body, rendering it nearly incorruptible.

STUDENT: With all due respect, what you just said seems impossible to me, and I will provide the reason. RAYMOND: Speak, for I will listen gladly. STUDENT: All bodily things created by God for human use are either elements or generated from elements and opposites; therefore, they are corruptible. Where then will this so-called incorruptible medicine be found? We also see that everything generated is generated from its like, and corrupted by its opposite, as the Philosopher A common medieval reference to Aristotle. says in the seventh book of the Metaphysics. Therefore, what is lost from corruptible human flesh must be regenerated and acquired through another corruptible thing, as we see in corruptible foods. These are corrupted by the power of natural heat and transformed in the stomach, liver, and limbs; then, by the power of the nutritive faculty, they are converted into human flesh. If the medicine is incorruptible, it cannot be turned into human flesh in this way, just as the matter of the heavens cannot be transformed into elemental matter. RAYMOND: You have spoken learnedly. But do you think there is

Note β.

nothing in elemental things except corruptible elements? STUDENT: From what else, then, are elemental things composed alongside the elements?

The medicine consists of a subtle substance and radical moisture. It is a simple and incorruptible substance found within the elemental parts of things.

RAYMOND: It is composed of a subtle substance, or radical moisture, which is intrinsic and diffused through the elemental parts. This substance is simple and nearly incorruptible; it preserves the things themselves in their vigor for a long time. Wise nature ordained this because she strives to preserve individuals for a longer time and species perpetually. And although in the direct generation of animals every animal generates its like in species, nevertheless, in the generation that occurs through the corruption of the generator, the thing generated differs from the generator in species or genus. We see this in foods, from which that which is lost from human flesh is generated by the power of intrinsic and extrinsic heat.

In incorruptible creatures, it is made of a matter superior to others, or incorruptible in respect to them, because it is a simple creature separated from corruptible things.

Neither do I say that this medicine is as entirely incorruptible as the heavens. I mean that it is generated from a matter superior to others, or incorruptible in relation to them, and it is made simple through the separation of all corruptible elements. If it were properly preserved, it would last ten thousand years without corruption; and taken by mouth, it would keep the human body uncorrupted for a long time. For this reason, skilled physicians always urge us to use less corruptible foods. STUDENT: This opinion seems similar to that of certain philosophers who said the Salamander lives on fire alone, the Herring original: "Alec" on water alone, the Mole on earth, and the Chameleon on air alone. This opinion is false, because no elemental thing lives on a simple element, but lives from those things of which it is also composed, as the Philosopher says. Therefore, man could not live from that radical moisture alone, which is simple and so incorruptible.

RAYMOND: I do not say that man can live on that medicine alone, but by using it with moderation alongside other foods, he could approach the age of the ancient Fathers. In the earthly paradise, they would have used not only the Wood of Life original: "Ligno vitae" but also other fruits. STUDENT: Did the first Fathers use this medicine?