Essais chimiques d’eckartshausen

Appendix

Summary of D'Eckartshausen's Opuscule: “THE MOST RECENT DISCOVERIES on LIGHT, HEAT and FIRE61, for Lovers of Physics and Chemistry”. (Munich, 1798. 1st Cahier, 1st Fascicle).

We find, in nature, forces acting on substances in renewal. All the forms, in ascending order, are modifications of a primitive form; all forces, in descending order, modifications of a primitive force. Forces are active stimuli or stimuli; bodies are determined orders of the principles of matter, or Elements, and appear as the result of the action of stimuli on passive excitability.

The primitive force would therefore be the first Agent or physical motor, and the first form, the first excitable element of things.

Physical nature forms all appearances, in ascending and descending order, by extension and concentration, from these two extremes. Bodily products, being appearances, constitute a middle ground between activity and passivity, force and matter. The Substrate of each manifestation of the three kingdoms is ELEMENTAL HEAT or SUBSTANCE OF FIRE (Feuerstoff), which is revealed in the form of CARBON, lower extreme, passive subject of nature. The other extreme is NITROGEN, the active ingredient in nature. Having carried out all the possible tests with these two principles, active and passive, I deduced the following system

The primitive physical element of nature is ANDROGYNE; Force and Matter, Activity and Passivity are balanced there. This primitive body is duplicated by MOVEMENT: the Active separates from the Passive. After this separation, the active force acts on the passive body, generating a Manifestation which constitutes a Medium between the force and the body. This triple process by means of the Movement forms the Three Principles of nature:

Lichtstoff: the luminous substance or elemental light; Warmestoff: Caloric Substance or Elemental Heat; Feuerstoff: Igneous Substance or Elemental Fire.

These three principles are manifested according to three 'properties

Expansion, Contraction and new Expansion, by which nature is divided into Upper, Middle and Lower. Where expansion dominates, the gaseous state appears; where attraction dominates, the solid state; where these two balance each other out, the liquid state.

By this division, nature establishes two progressions: one in decreasing series, from force to the body or from Light to Fire; the other, in ascending order, from body to force, from Fire to Light. This double hierarchy entails action and reaction, from which arise life and

60. 
    Text obligingly translated and communicated by a hermetist of our friends, B. H *****. May he be warmly thanked here.
    

movement of beings. The tendency of Force to pass into Form is called Attraction; that of Form to pass into the state of Force, Expansion, Assimilation.

Thus, the Movement determines three Essences (in ascending order, Fire, Heat, Light) which form three passive Subjects or Body.

Elemental Fire is latent or potential Fire; elemental heat, latent heat; the elemental Light, of the latent Light. Potential Fire is sensitive in the form of Carbon; the potential Heat under that of a fatty, acidic liquid; the potential Light in the form of a soapy, viscous, tasteless Essence.

That these three bodies enter again in expansion by the Movement, the gaseous phase appears: for the Carbon, like AIR VITAL or oxygen; for fatty acid such as flammable air or hydrogen; for soapy essence such as nitrogen.

These three gases, in ascending order, are three stimulating forces which, again, acting on the three primitive bodies, produce 5 manifestations, through the medium of the body to which they give rise.

The Igneous Substance, absorbing Vital Air or oxygen, produces the Fire Liberated by means of Hydrogen; the Caloric Substance, absorbing oxygen, produces the Released Heat; the Luminous substance produced, by the Nitrogen, of the Liberated Light. Thus appear, in decreasing order, Light, Heat and Fire in nature.

The medium or medium which allows the action of the primitive Agents on their passive Subject, consists of three Fluids, resulting from the action of the three Forces on their Subject; they are divided into three Regions (upper, middle, lower), but interpenetrate. They are the link between the force of expansion and that of contraction. Where liquefaction takes place, this bond generates the cohesive force, and where cohesion begins, this bond combines again to liquefy. In this way, Movement and Life are maintained. In the gaseous state, this medium is' oxygen or Air Vital, which maintains the balance between rarefied air and fixed air. In him,

Light and Heat are intimately united in gaseous form.

The Second Fluid comes from the expanding Calorific, by the intervention of Vital Air, and forms an elastic body uniting the most subtle forces with the most fixed, a body in which Luminous Matter (Lichtmaterie) and Caloric Matter are closely associated. It proceeds from the union of oxygen with the caloric matter made volatile and forms the generating body of ACIDITY, the true VITAL AIR or OXYGEN OF NATURE.

When ACID appears, the action of Air Vital alone is insufficient; this Vital Air must first form with the volatilized Calorific a medium or link which will give rise to ACID. This medium appears during the formation of acids, but is not manifest to the senses. This true SEMI-ACID is not simply oxygen, as has been claimed, but oxygen or Vital Air united with the volatile Caloric, thus forming an Elastic Fluid, bubbling like water, without humidity. It is subject to various modifications; It is

cause of elasticity of bodies; it generates sonority in its expansive mode; elastic and volatile, it lets itself be concentrated by cold, expands again, heats up in contact with water, generates Causticity with Carbon; owns an attractive property; combines with most bodies, changing their properties; is found in the Three Kingdoms, under various modifications; appears as a suffocating body in red coals and fermenting bodies; he is moved by heat. It is the medium between Light and Heat, between Acid and Alkali. -I1 is fixed to fire with fixed alkalis and has the greatest affinity for Carbon; it is the cause of all expansion. In combination with alkali, it makes it soluble in Water. Whenever the

In ; the ascending order, is the Elemental Fire fluidified in the form of Elemental Heat, then a median Fluid is born between Carbon and Elemental Heat, which is an Inflammable Acid, which I call IGNATED ACID. If Elemental Heat is volatilized in the form of Elemental Light, a new Fluid or Liquid appears, a medium term between the Light and Heat limits, which can be recognized as PHOSPHORIC ACID. Is the Elemental Light still volatilized, a new medium-term Fluid is formed, which is a Vital Air united to the very rarefied Caloric of which, I have spoken. This Caloric separated from the elemental Light, there remains NITROGEN.

Considered as an elastic being, the Elemented Light, in its liquid phase, penetrates all bodies; this elastic being, imponderable in itself, makes a body heavy when it is concentrated there, light when it is rarefied there. These two modalities also appear in the production of heat or cold: as soon as the sensible heat is born, the elastic being is concentrated inside the body; as soon as the cold appears, it expands and concentrates on the outside.

The capacity of a body to absorb Fire, Heat, Light in the free state is independent of its density or its volume, but depends on its affinity with Light, Heat and Fire Elements, which is a function of its degree of cohesion. The more a body tends to expand, the more it is able to release Heat, Light, Fire in the free state; the more it contracts, the more apt it is to unite with Heat, Fire, Light. The sensible Fire, in its greatest expansion, becomes sensible Heat, which, in its greatest expansion, becomes sensible Light ... The elastic entity already named is the cause of the attraction of bodies: wherever it is expanding , it tends to recontact, hence the Attraction. This elastic luminous essence has the greatest affinity with the matter of iron and forms, with it, in its diluted state, Aimaint. The attraction of the magnet is observed each time this elastic expanding essence tends to resume its concentrated state of equilibrium; the repulsion takes place as a result of the repulsion of this elastic fluid, periodically, under the action of the calorific matter.

Fire, Heat, and Elemental Light have determined spheres of influence: the most restricted is that of Fire, then comes that of Heat, and finally that of Light.

The coexistence of the Motor and the Mobile in a being produces its manifested existence: in a physical body, movement; in a plant, -the vegetation; in an animal, animal life

; in a metal, electricity. In all three kingdoms, Engines in Action appear under the

form of the elastic substance, which is a liquid, soapy, dilated essence. Motile Subjects appear as more or less dilated Carbon.

A metallic lime from which the Carbon is removed to replace it with Elemental Light gives a vitrified body, which has become insulating, without electrical conductivity. If we add carbon to glass, it becomes conductive like metals.

The flower lives on Carbon, just as man sucks in vital Air and exhales Carbon which, in contact with oxygen, turns into carbon dioxide. The plant sucks in air, fixes carbon, transforms it and gives, in sunlight, renewed oxygen. In animal bodies, the excitatory principle is in the nervous Ether while the excitable principle of Carbon is in the blood. The factors of all destruction are the excess of the excitable principle or "carbon" and the exhaustion of the excitatory factor. Carbon tends to densify, the material of Light to volatilization. By volatilization, there is exhaustion of the stimulant; by crowding, excess of excitability.

In plants, where carbon is dissolved, there is putrefaction; where it accumulates and the Motor disappears, desiccation.

A body remains in its perfection for as long as its principles interpenetrate. At the slightest modification, imperfection is born, the starting point of all separation and dissolution. What penetrates is, everywhere, the Elemented Light or, better, the Light produced by the luminous Engine on the luminous Subject.

Nature is a whole made up of acting forces and moving bodies. Everything is alive there, nothing is dead.

Death is only a pause to harmonize new chords. Putrefaction is a process of renewal, with a view to freeing life from apparent death and to freeing living particles trapped in order to make them suitable for new organic combinations. Caloric Substance and Luminous Substance are the PASSIVE and ACTIVE Principles of Nature.

The atmosphere of this globe is a fluid whose particles are formed of dissociated luminous and caloric matter; it is liable to condense and become perceptible under various vitreous formations. Bodies consist of luminous and caloric matter made visible and are only modifications of Elemental Heat and Light, in definite proportions.

The matter of Heat and Light exists in a dispersive state in the atmosphere and constitutes' the fluid in which the diversity of lives floats. Diluted or concentrated in visible forms, it can form multiple appearances. In the rarefied state, it is imperceptible and becomes sensitive, formal, ponderable by concentrating.

By means of the Sun and the convex and concave lenses are produced the Archetypal Forms of luminous and caloric matter. We can get Carbon from Nature in a

vase full of water, by means of lentils. By expansion, it is resolved into caloric matter and forms, with: animal or vegetable earth, real charcoal. The colored phenomena of the lenses show the modifications of the luminous and caloric matter by the appearance of distinct ACIDS: the RED focus generates Carbonic Acid on the Carbon; the BLUE focus generates on 'Caloric Phosphoric Acid; the WHITE focus generates very volatile hydrochloric acid on the luminous matter. Acids therefore appear to manifest themselves through colors. By the knowledge of the laws of the colors one can arrive at that of the Acids. Where the particles of light are disjoint, there is darkness, this disjunction giving black on an object. Where they are joined, visible light reigns, giving white to an object. Darkness should be called: "A certain state of disunity of luminous matter."

-The Sun acts on our globe as a luminous stimulant, transforming the nascent Carbon into luminous matter and returning it to us under the species of stimulating forces. So the world feeds the Sun and the Sun feeds the world.

Process of Nature: There is a Formative Principle; this AGENT is the dispersed Luminous Matter, manifested in the gaseous state as NITROGEN. And a Passive Principle, which is CARBON. This Nitrogen acting on the Carbon splits it into three basic bodies: Elemental Fire, Elemental Heat, Elemental Light, each of them having three possibilities: keep its passive specificity or pass to the liquid or gaseous state under the action. of an Agent. The liquid manifestation of Carbon is a flammable acid (Phosphorsäure) which is distinguished from chemical phosphoric acid (Phosphorige Säure) by its greater causticity. In the gaseous state, it turns into Air Vital.

The caloric matter in the liquid state becomes Phosphorlschesdure and, in the gaseous state, Inflammable Air [Hydrogen, if one insists on considering it chemically].

The luminous matter gives in the liquid state of Mephitic Acid [carbonic acid to follow the analogy used by the author], in the very volatile state of hydrochloric acid, and in the gaseous state of l 'Nitrogen. These three gases act as stimulants on the passive bodies and give rise to manifested fire, heat and light. In the liquid state, these three manifestations give the FLUIDUM UNIVERSALE in which our Earth bathes, seat of all modifications. The first bodies formed are therefore Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Carbon, which then effectively produce acids, water and earth: four Forms-Types from which all the others emerge.

If the Elemental Heat and Light are captured by means of lenses in porcelain vessels in pure water, a black color occurs in the expansion phase. The water heats up to boiling; Gradually cooled, the Carbon concentrates in a white residue which, on analysis, turns out to be a Magnesia Carbonate (Kohlensdure Magnesia) porous substance, tasteless, hardly soluble in water this alkaline earth could be the primitive earth. According to the dosage of carbonic and luminous elements, it is offered: with an excess of luminous matter as siliceous; of carbonic material, such as clay, which after further addition of carbonic material is transformed into limestone. In the

multiplicity of active Forces and driven Subjects, one cannot recognize the Primitive Agent nor the First Subject. But, with the help of superior chemistry, the bodies allow themselves to be divided up to Carbon, the ultimate limit. Starting from this base and breaking down in ascending order, we come to gas and, finally, to the First Agent, NITROGEN [ie. Azoth or Azoq des Sages].

As soon as NITROGEN acts on CARBON, it extracts a soapy essence which is the Substance of Light (Lichtstof f) in the bound state. It arises from the expansion of Carbon. By condensation of this body, a second is born, a fatty acid, the substance of heat. The luminous substance is the Principle of Expansion, the cause of all diaphaneity. The Caloric substance is the principle of Attraction, the cause of all condensation. These are the two FIRST PRINCIPLES OF CREATION, the AZOT'H of the Sky and the AZOTH of the Earth, the Yin and the Yang of the Chinese. CARBON is the true matter of all things, AND + ROGYRNE BY NATURE, uniting the Male and the Female, the Passive and the Active. By expansion, he forms his active Principle which he again attracts as a passive being to form some, from himself alone, the multiplicity of bodies. It is the CENTER of NATURE, from which the visible creation arises. This primitive body has a triple faculty: expansion, contraction, new expansion.

In Nature, the Force is always immutable, offering itself. The body captures it and is modified by it. The participation of the Force seems a plunge, freely consented, in the form, to manifest itself. This penetration generates a median being who balances the two and which we call ESPRIT. Thus, in physical Nature, the luminous stimulant acting on the elemental heat produces a Spirit in physics, gas. The Ancients called it SPIRITUS, VAPOR which bathes the universe; it is called Air Vital, SPIRITUS UNIVERSALIS. Through him, the Light is linked to the Heat and generates all the Manifestations.

The entire natural process forms the following cycle:

Partout, la Lumière, agissant en ordre décroissant, tend à se figer en Chaleur élémentée, tandis que la Chaleur, en ordre croissant, tend à se volatiliser en Lumière. Chaque fois que, dans l'ordre décroissant, la Chaleur est liée, apparaît de la Lumière, en ordre croissant et réciproquement, ce, par le medium de l'Esprit Vital de la Nature. Les Trois Principes de cette dernière sont donc, FORCE LUMINEUSE, CHALEUR ELEMENT>JE, ESPRIT DE VIE, leur produit. Trois essences distinctes, mais unies dans une Matière qui est la Matière Primitive du Monde Physique ; ces Trois Éléments peuvent se nommer SEL., MERCURE et SOUFRE des Philosophes, Matière, Lien, Force de toutes choses.

This Spirit of; Nature, issued from Light and Heat, is like a Breath or Vital Breath of the Universe, which by condensation turns into WATER - and then it is the RADICAL WET OF NATURE.