The Sixth Part of the Books and Writings of the Noble and Highly Learned Philosopher and Physician Paracelsus

oppose natural mobility. For they do not come from their own nature, but ex Accidente by accident; this has its origin thus: Intentio mea my intention is the sole master, most powerful over my mobility, to be understood thus. Intentio vel Imaginatio intention or imagination ignites the Virtutem Vegetatiuam vegetative power, like a fire ignites wood, as we write separately de Imaginatione concerning imagination. Now, it is nowhere more powerful in carrying out its effect than in the body in which it is and lives; and there is nothing in the whole body that is more easily ignited than the Anima Vegetatiua vegetative soul, for the reason that it runs and moves within itself and is prepared for this. Just as a dampened fire burns as soon as it feels the air, so too is my thought; it looks toward a goal. Now I cannot turn my eye there with my hands, but my imagination turns the same toward the end that I desire. Thus, it is also to be understood regarding walking: that I desire to walk, and I set it before myself, so my body moves toward that end. And the firmer that is in my thought, the firmer it is that I run. Thus, imagination alone is a mover of my running. Thus, the medicine cleanses the bodies in which the Spirituale lies, so that the Motio motion may be performed more easily.

And for the third point, we must understand that in the body there is a distribution to all limbs of all that comes from without and from within. And in the distribution there is a Mutation change, such that for a while it continues into the complexion of the heart, then into the nature of the brain, and so on. This is understood thus: the body draws into itself in two ways, internally and externally. Internally is everything that we take in per Os through the mouth. The other is external, as everything that the body draws to itself from air, earth, fire, and water, and this is to be understood as follows. What is taken inside is not

necessary to recount, for the foundation of reason recognizes that it is distributed, as will be spoken of later de Diuisione concerning division. But that which comes from without is such that the body draws its needs from the four elements through the entire skin. And if that were not so, the internal food would not be sufficient to sustain man. For the moisture, as much as the body needs, is drawn from the water without habit. Thus it is possible, as long as one stands in water, to have no need to quench one's thirst at all times; not in the sense that the water quenches the heat like fire, but the heat draws it in and drinks it, as if it were from within. Therefore, cattle can remain a whole summer on the Alps without drinking, for their nature is that they can be quenched by the air. So also with man. Likewise, nourishment also grows so that nature can be sustained without eating, in such a form as it is buried in the earth with the feet. We have also seen one who ate nothing for six months except for an earth-clod, which he kept lying on his stomach; when it became dry, he laid another upon it, and complained of no hunger. That had reasons which we set forth de Appetitu concerning appetite. Thus also with the medicine, we have seen that one sustained himself for many years with the Quinta Essentia Auri quintessence of gold, of which he barely took half a drachm per day. Therefore, there are many who have eaten nothing for several years, or very little, as has happened in our own memory (though this is attributed to God because of the strangeness of the person). We do not wish to judge that. But it is natural that Tristitia sadness, Melancholia melancholy, and a heavy mind dampen hunger and thirst, as a body can be sustained for many years through the body’s own drawing-in. For eating is not arranged in such a way that we must eat bread