Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim, 1493–1541), Cosmological and Meteorological Writings

Didier Kahn is Senior Researcher at the CNRS (Cellf 16-18, UMR 8599, Sorbonne Université). He has extensively published on alchemy, including Alchimie et paracelsisme en France à la fin de la Renaissance (Droz, 2007) and La Messe alchimique attribuée à Melchior de Sibiu (Classiques Garnier, 2015). Andrew Weeks, Ph.D. (1979), professor emeritus of German literature at Illinois State University, has published monographs on Paracelsus, Valentin Weigel, and Jacob Böhme, and translations of their writings. Most recently, he organized and published the results of a symposium on The Forgotten Reformation (in Daphnis 2020).

Abbreviations



Introduction to the Paracelsian Cosmological Writings

 1 Pre-modern Cosmology

 2 Paracelsian Cosmology and Meteorology

 3 Meteorology in the Time of Paracelsus

 4 The Problems of Authenticity

 5 Methodology

 6 Summaries of the Writings in This Volume

 7 Questions posed by the authentic writings



Texts and Translations



I Philosophia ad Athenienses (Philosophy for the Athenians)

 Preface to the Second Paras of Prince Theophrastus

 [The First Book.] Texts 1–24

 Conclusion of the Second Paras of the Prince Theophrastus

 Preface to the Third Paras of the great Prince Theophrastus

 [The Second Book.] Texts 1–23

 Conclusion of the Third Paras of Prince Theophrastus.

 Preface to the Fourth Paras of Prince Theophrastus.

 [The Third Book.] Texts 1–6



II Philosophia de Generationibus et Fructibus quatuor Elementorum (Philosophy of the Elements)

 Book One. On the element of air (sections 1–12)

 Book Two. On the element of fire

 Book Three. On the Element of Earth

 Book Four. On the element of water together with its fruits



III Liber Meteororum (De Meteoris: The Book of the Meteors)

 [Preface]

 1 On the elementated father and mother

 2 On the prime matter of the heavens and the stars

 3 On the prime matter of the stars and on their essences

 4 About the living species in the stars

 5 On the generation of winds

 6 On the generation of rains

 7 On congelation

 8 On the lightning bolt

 9 On extraneous things

 10 On exhalations



IV [Another Account of the Meteora]

 Book One

 Book Two. Concerning coagulated impressions

 Book Three

 Book Four

 Book Five



V [Another Book on Meteors]

 Prologue to the Books of Meteors

 Second Prologue

 The First Book of Meteors. The First Volume: On the Element of Air

 The Third Book of Meteors: On the Meteoric Phenomena Stemming from the Element of Fire, and their Impressions



VI Other Meteorological Fragments

 Concerning hoarfrost

 Chapter concerning dew

 Concerning winds

 Chapter concerning lightning and thunder

 A Fragment from another Book of Meteors, concerning the rainbow

 Alternate concerning the rainbow

 Concerning comets

 Concerning rain

 [A Table of Celestial Impressions]



VII The Fifth Book of the Natural Waters: Concerning Falling Waters

 The First Treatise

 The Third Treatise



Bibliography

General Index

Index of Proper Names

Index of Scriptural Citations