is one of the greateſt wonders of God which he ever did ſuffer mortall man to know. I ſhall not here ſet down the full proceſſe because I think it unfit to be done, at leaft to be divulged: beſides neither this, nor the former is for my preſent purpoſe.
- Homunculus is taken for a moſt excellent Arcanum or Medicament extracted by the ſpagyricall Art from the chiefeſt ſtaffe of the naturall life in man, and according to this acception I ſhall here ſpeak of it: But before I ſhew you the proceſſe, I ſhall give you an account why this Medicament is called Homanculus; and it is this.
No wiſe man will deny that the ſlaffe of life is the nutriment thereof, and that the chiefeſt nutriment is Bread and Wine, being ordained by God, and nature above all other things for the ſuſtentation thereof. Beſides Paracelſus preferred this nutriment for the generation of the bloud and ſpirits, and the forming thence the Sperme of his Homunculus. Now by a ſutable alluſion the nutriment is taken for the life of man, and eſpecially because it is tranſmuted into life: and again the life is taken for the man, for unleſſe a man be alive, he is not a man, but the carkaſſe only of a man, and the baſeſt part thereof, which cannot perfectly be taken for the whole man, as the nobleſt part may. In as much therefore as the nutriment, or aliment of life may be called the life of man, and the life of man be called man; this nutriment extracted cut of Bread, and Wine, and being by digeſtion exalted into the higheſt purity of a nutritive ſubſtance, and conſequently becoming the life of man, being ſo potentially, may Metaphorically be called Homunculus.
The proceſſe, which in part ſhall be ſet down allegorically is thus: Take the beſt Wheat, and the beſt Wine of each a like quantity, put them into a glaſſe, which you muſt Hermetically cloſe: then let them putrefie in horſe-dung three dayes, or untill the Wheat begin to germinate, or to ſprout forth, which then muſt be taken forth and bruiſed in a mortar, and be preſſed through a linnen cloth, & there will come forth a white juice like Milk; you muſt caſt away the feces: Let this juice be
