A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Undine (1811) [...] is, in fact, derived from a tale told by the Renaissance physician and alchemist Paracelsus in his Treatise on Elemental Sprites."--"Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1927) by H. P. Lovecraft |
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A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits (1566) is a treatise by Paracelsus, published posthumously. It is about elemental beings and their place in a Christian cosmology.
It became a popular source of inspiration for poets and fiction writers and was the main source for the descriptions of elementals in the 1670 work Comte de Gabalis, which in turn has influenced writers such as Alexander Pope, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, Charles Baudelaire and Anatole France.
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Background
A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits was written by Paracelsus (1493/1494 – 1541) late in his life, but it is not known what exact year it is from. The descriptions of elemental beings are based on various ancient and traditional sources, which the author adapted and reinterpreted.
Summary
Paracelsus argues from his reading of the Biblical creation narrative that man needs to use philosophy to gain knowledge about the natural world, or he will not be able to understand Christ and appreciate the Bible. The natural world contains many strange things, including elemental beings corresponding to the four classical elements: nymphs (water), sylphs (air), pygmies (earth) and salamanders (fire). He dismisses the conventional Christian view that elemental beings are devils, instead arguing that they are significant parts of God's creation, and studies them like he studied the rest of the natural world.
Publication
Like Paracelsus' other theological works, A Book on Nymphs was published posthumously, first appearing as a separate print in 1566 and the year after in a collection of the author's philosophical writings. After that it has appeared in a number of collections of Paracelsus' works. An English translation by Henry E. Sigherist appears in Four Treatises of Theophrastus von Hohenheim Called Paracelsus, published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 1941 and republished in 1996.
Legacy
The fairy-tale like quality of the treatise has made it a popular source of inspiration for poets and fiction writers. It was the main source for the descriptions of elementals in the 1670 work Comte de Gabalis, which in turn has influenced writers such as Alexander Pope, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, Charles Baudelaire and Anatole France. The dramatist Jean Giraudoux explicitly states his debt to Paracelsus in the preface to his 1938 play Ondine.
Background
In his 16th-century alchemical work Liber de Nymphis, sylphis, pygmaeis et salamandris et de caeteris spiritibus, Paracelsus identified mythological beings as belonging to one of the four elements. Part of the Philosophia Magna, this book was first printed in 1566 after Paracelsus' death. He wrote the book to "describe the creatures that are outside the cognizance of the light of nature, how they are to be understood, what marvellous works God has created". He states that there is more bliss in describing these "divine objects" than in describing fencing, court etiquette, cavalry, and other worldly pursuits. The following is his archetypal being for each of the four elements:
- Gnome, being of earth
- Undine, being of water
- Sylph, being of air
- Salamander, being of fire
The concept of elementals seems to have been conceived by Paracelsus in the 16th century, though he did not in fact use the term "elemental" or a German equivalent. He regarded them not so much as spirits but as beings between creatures and spirits, generally being invisible to mankind but having physical and commonly humanoid bodies, as well as eating, sleeping, and wearing clothes like humans. Paracelsus gave common names for the elemental types, as well as correct names, which he seems to have considered somewhat more proper, "recht namen". He also referred to them by purely German terms which are roughly equivalent to "water people," "mountain people," and so on, using all the different forms interchangeably. His fundamental classification scheme on the first page of Tractatus II of the Liber de Nymphis is based on where the elementals live, and he gives the following names:
| Correct name (translated) | Alternate name (Latin) | Element in which it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Nymph | Undina (undine) | Water |
| Sylph | Sylvestris (wild man) | Air |
| Pygmy | Gnomus (gnome) | Earth |
| Salamander | Vulcanus | Fire |
Of the names he used, gnomus, undina, and sylph are all thought to have appeared first in Paracelsus' works, though undina is a fairly obvious Latin derivative from the word unda meaning "wave."
In De Meteoris he referred to the elementals collectively as Sagani.
He noted that undines are similar to humans in size, while sylphs are rougher, coarser, longer, and stronger. Gnomes are short, while salamanders are long, narrow, and lean. The elementals are said to be able to move through their own elements as human beings move through air. Gnomes, for example, can move through rocks, walls, and soil. Sylphs are the closest to humans in his conception because they move through air like we do, while in fire they burn, in water they drown, and in earth, they get stuck. Paracelsus states that each one stays healthy in its particular "chaos," as he terms it, but dies in the others.
Paracelsus conceived human beings to be composed of three parts, an elemental body, a sidereal spirit, and an immortal divine soul. Elementals lacked this last part, the immortal soul. However, by marriage with a human being, the elemental and its offspring could gain a soul.
