Boehme's Divine Substance

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The British Society for the History of Science

Jacob Boehme's Divine Substance Salitter: Its Nature, Origin, and Relationship to SeventeenthCentury Scientific TheoriesAuthor(s): Lawrence M. Principe and Andrew WeeksSource: The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Mar., 1989), pp. 53-61Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The British Society for the History of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4026678Accessed: 25/11/2010 06:59

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BJHS, 1989, 22, 53-61

JacobBoehme'sDivineSubstanceSalitter:its Nature, Origin,andRelationship o SeventeenthCenturyScientificTheoriesLAWRENCE M. PRINCIPE* and ANDREW WEEKSt

The Century between the.death of Copernicus (1543) and the birth of Newton (1642)witnessed a major reshaping of traditional ways of viewing the universe. The Ptolemaicsystem was challenged by Copernican heliocentrism, the Aristotelian world was assailedby Galilean physics and revived atomism, and theology was troubled by the progressivedistancing of God from the daily operation of His creation. Besides earning this era thetitle of 'the Scientific Revolution', the intellectual ferment of these times offered manyworld systems as successors to the throne of crumblingAristotelianism.During these years of change the notion of a divine substance out of which the worldand its operations arise attracted a number of thinkers. The idea of such a substancedrew upon diverse currents of thought: alchemy, Hermeticism, mysticism, RenaissanceNeoplatonism, as well as mathematics and astronomy. Bruno and Spinoza are the morefamous proponents of a divine substance.

The German mystic and philosopher Jacob Boehme (1575-1624) must be includedamong the preeminent proponents of a divine substance. In Boehme's first book manu-script, Aurora (Morgenrote im Aufgang, 1612), the shoemaker of G6rlitz introduced hisnotion of Salitter. For Boehme, the Salitter designated the embodiment of the totalforce of the divinity, the compendium of all forces operatingin nature and in the humanpsyche. The substance Salitter is a matrix of forces that are identifiedwith sensible 'qual-ities'. The latter interact by means of fundamental oppositions and affinities. Accord-ingly, the spirit forces operating within Salitterare discerniblein many objects of specu-lation: in the deity, in sensory experience, in vegetable growth, and in the objects of geol-ogy, astronomy, and meteorology. Salitter animates the supersensible and the sensible;it is the common denominator of what is conscious and alive and of what appears inani-mate and inert. Salitter is the embodiment of a world conceived in organic terms.Previousanalyses of Boehme's mystical metaphysicshave ignored or glossed over thesignificance of the Salitter. It has been dismissed as an example of Boehme's ignorance ofproper alchemical terminology.1 However, we argue that Boehme's choice of Salitter as

*Department of The History of Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, U.S.A.tDirector, Austria-Illinois Exchange Program, Padagogische Akademie des Bundes in No, 67 Miihlgasse,A-2500 Baden bei Wien, Austria.

1 Will-Erich Peukert, Pansophie, ein Versuchzur Geschichte der Weif?enund Schwarzen Magie, Berlin,1979, pp. 385-386. Peukert is highly critical of Boehme's use of the terms Salitter and Mercurius. Adolf vonHarleg, Jacob Bohme und die Alchemisten; Ein Beitrag zum VerstdndnisJacob Boehmes, Leipzig, 1882. Cf.Ernst Bloch, Leipziger Vorlesungen zur Geschichte der Philosophie, Vol. 4, Frankfurt on the Main, 1985, pp.223 ff. Bloch glosses Salitter as a vague Hermetic term, perhaps 'sulphuric acid'.


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54 Lawrence M. Principe and Andrew Weekstheparadigm f divinepower s neither andomnoruninformed.Rather,his choice ndi-catesaconsiderable nderstandingfpractical lchemy,andstrongly uggestsa linkbet-ween Boehmeandaninfluential lchemist f theearlyseventeenth entury.WhenBoehme aptlycharacterizesheangelsas embodiments fSalitter,hispercep-tionplaceshisthought, orus, squarely n the side of visionarymysticism.Yettheequi-valentof Salitter emained focalpoint nthe discussion f the naturalworldfor decadesafterBoehme's ime.TheLusatian obblerandautodidactwasanearlyparticipantn theseventeenth enturydiscussionof nitre.Boehme'sSalitter s identifiedwith the corporealdeterminacy f things,with theiroriginor 'seed',andwith thepowersof fertilityn them:

Thecorporeal ryings to be callednthisbook he DivineSALITTER.or he seedof theentireDivinitysinit,and t is likeamotherwhich eceivesheseedandbearshe ruitagainandagain,naccordanceithallqualitiesftheseed.2Moreover, he Salitter s a matrixof forces hatgenerateife andawareness: Thedry(herb), our,andsweetqualities rethe Salitterwhichpertainso thecorpus, romwhichthecorpus s formed.'3Boehme'spostulationof an all-encompassing ivinesubstance s predicateduponthreeaspectsof his view of the cosmos.Thefirst s his belief nthemysticalomnipresenceof God: 'Foryoucannotsay:"Where s God?"Listenyou blindhuman,you livein God

and Godin you . . .'4A secondpre-conditiontemsfromBoehme's arlyheliocentrism.Heliocentrismnecessarily ejects he Aristoteliannotion that the cosmicorder can beheldtogetherbythe'aspirations'hatlaywithin the fourelements.' fthe earthwas notthecentreof theuniverse,henthenotion of 'naturalplace',stemmingromthegeocen-trichierarchy f elements,had to berevised. nBoehme's ystem, heSalitter, s thepre-senceof the divineomnipotence, ndservingas the vehicleof God'spower,preservedheorderof the cosmos.Finally,hispassionate ejectionof the doctrineof creatioex nihilorequiredheexistenceof a 'primematter'out of whichGod created he world:Fromwhat ortofmateriaorforcedid hegrass, egetation,nd reesproceed?What ortofsubstance ndcircumstanceGelegenheit]was nvolvednthiscreation? hesimple ersonsays hatGodmade verythingromNothing; uthe doesnot know hisGod,anddoesnotknowwhatHe is.Whenhe beholds he earthogetherwiththe depths bove he earth,hethinks"that s notGod, here s not God".Hehasformedhenotion hatGoddwells nlyabove heblueheaven f thestars . .6Alongwith alchemy,Paracelsianism ndNeoplatonism,heliocentrisms one of themajor ngredients f the speculative ystemof Aurora.Convinced hat theearthrevolvesand turnswiththe otherplanetsasin awheel around hesun',Boehme anksas anearly

2 Jacob Boehme, Morgenrote im Aufgang (Aurora),In:SamtlicheSchriften, vol. 1 (ed.Will-ErichPeukert),Stuttgart, 1955, p. 137.3 Ibid., p. 89.4 Ibid., p. 327.5 Aristotelians maintained that the elements sought (or 'aspiredto') their 'naturalplaces' thus preservingorder in the cosmos. Earth,the heaviest element, had its place at the centre of the world, water above it, airyethigher, and fire, the lightest of all, uppermost.Thus earth always falls through air or water to reach its naturalplace, fire rises through air to reach its naturalplace, and so on.6 Ibid., p. 308.


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Jacob Boebme's Divine Substance Salitter 55proponent of the Copernican system.7In one passage of Aurora, the problems posed bya spinning earth are solved by the 'inner birth', which is said to prevent the seas frombeing sloshed off the planet, thus insuringthat the earth will not dryout nor be pulverizedby its motion. The implications which Boehme derived from heliocentrism areexpressedin mystical analogies: the central sun is the material likeness of Christ; the force that pro-ceeds from the sun is like the Holy Spirit. The sun is the 'heart' of all the forces in thisworld and has been fashioned of all the stars. The sun stands 'amidst the planets'-

And just as the othersix planetsare generalsalongside he sun, and give theirwill over to thesun,so that t canruleover hemandact nthem, heangelsgivetheirwill over o theKing ..8Although the mystical heliocentrism of Aurora is not developed systematically,9 it is

nonetheless an important element in the larger context of the Salitter. Just as the centralsun rules the revolving planets, Salitter, the matrix of all forces, holds the world togetherin its entirety. Salitter embodies the divine forces: it is the matrix and completion of theseven source-spirits or qualities at work in nature. The first of the seven source-spiritsexpresses itself in the quality called herb-a raw, or sour, or dry taste or texture. Thisquality and spirit contracts or pulls together in the fluid medium of the spirit world. In akind of chain reaction, this leads to a variable series of furtherforces or qualities, whichgraduallyrenders the inchoate substrate more and more chargedwith tensions, more ani-mate, or more sensate, until finally the seventh quality, Corpus, lends the conflation offorces body, tangibility, or determinacy (Begreiflichkeit).The fact that the source-spiritsare seven in number betokens their correspondence to the seven days of the scripturalCreation, and to the seven planets at work in the continual creation. (The correspon-dences can be extended to the seven metals, the seven salts and the seven liberal arts.)Thenumber seven therefore both extends the domain of the primal qualities-and, at thesame time, encourages a reduction and systematization of all possible forces. AfterAurora, Boehme continued to see nature as a conflation of animating forces, but hedropped or de-emphasized the term Salitter. In his final great treatise, the divine sub-stance resurfaced under the name 'Mysterium magnum'-a term derived from Para-celsian natural philosophy.

Before expounding further upon Boehme's Salitter and its place in the nitre dis-cussion, it is worth considering how the cobbler of Gorlitz could have become involvedin such a discussion. Boehme's Gorlitz, a medium sized city of about 10 000 inhabitantsin the German territory and Bohemian crownland of Lusatia (die Lausitz) was a centreof alchemical, mystical and astronomical speculation.Just north of Bohemia, Gorlitz wason the road that led to Prague,where Rudolph IIpresided over his court of astronomersand alchemists around 1600. Bartolomaus Scultetus, the mayor of Gorlitz, was a man ofvery broad interests. He had studied mathematics at the universities of Leipzig andWittenberg, where he knew the famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Scultetus and

7 Boehme, op. cit. (2), p. 376. The acceptance of heliocentrism is a surprising position for a Lutheran ofBoehme's time, for Luther himself had harshly condemned Copernicus and his system.8 Boehme, op. cit. (2), pp. 76, 77, 80, 148.9 Cf. Pierre Degaye, 'Dieu et la Nature dans l'Aurore naissante de Jacob Boehme,' in Antoine Faivre andRolf Christian Zimmermann, Epochen der Naturmystik, Berlin, 1979, pp. 125-156.


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56 Lawrence M. Principe and Andrew Weeksother citizens of Gorlitz followed the latest developments n the new astronomy.Scultetushadwritten albeitwith littlesuccess)on the natureof comets,10 ndhad corres-pondedwithJohannesKepler.The lattervisitedGorlitz n 1607 and recruited youngamanuensis o copy the Astronomianova."1Moreover,the mayorand most of themedicaldoctorsof the city wereParacelsians. cultetus imselfeditedandpublished neof Paracelsus'reatiseson the plague.Another citizenof Gorlitzwas a theosophistby the name of AbrahamBehem.12Behem (a variant of 'Boehme') nfluenced he importantGermanspeculativemysticValentinWeigel.It is possiblethat Behemmayhave been an older kinsmanof JacobBoehme thenamewas too common nUpperLusatia o permita certainconclusion). tappears hat the obscureBehemwas one of the medicaldoctorswho were onceques-tionedbythe citycouncilunder uspicionof belonging o the'sectaParacelsi.'13What scertain s that his notionof a celestialor supercelestialbirth'-a kind of Neoplatonicemanation-is also found n thewritingsofJacobBoehme.Nitre,variouslyknown assaltpetre salpetrae), alnitre(salnitri),earthsalt(salter-rae),orinBoehme'sGerman,Salitter,igured mportantlynseveral cientific heoriesofthe seventeenthcentury.This salt, which systematicchemistrynow calls potassiumnitrate,had been studiedby alchemists or centuriesbefore Boehme.Salitterhad alsorevolutionizedwarfareby its use in themanufacture f gunpowder. nthe seventeenthcenturynitreacquireda new significance.Not only was its importancencreasedbyfindingsn thestill infantfieldof modernchemistry,but it also becamecentral o someimportant heoriesof naturalphenomena.Boehme'suse of the term Salitterfalls squarely n the alchemical radition.Inalchemy, he threeprinciplesMercury,Sulphur ndSaltareconsidered o be the essentialingredients f all materials.Theseprinciplesare not to be confusedwith the commonsubstances f the samenames(quicksilver, rimstone nd commonsalt).Theprinciplesare designated Mercury', Sulphur'and 'Salt'because the common substanceshaveroughlyanalogousproperties.14Bythe samemeasure,Boehmenames the divineforceSalitternot because t is actualsaltpetre,butratherbecausecommonsaltpetremanifestspropertieshat areanalogous o thedivinesubstance vide nfra).Auroradrawsan importantdistinctionbetweentwo typesof Salitter,one celestialand the otherearthly;he former spureandclear, he latter sdark,stinkingandpoison-ous. Outof the former, he angeliccreatures reshaped.Transparent ndsexless,they

10 Ernst-HeinzLemper, Jacob Bohme; Leben und Werk,Berlin, 1976, pp. 39-45, 120-125.11 Ernst Koch, 'Moscowiter in der Oberlausitz und M. Bartolomaus in Gorlitz' (pts. 1 and 2), NeuesLausitzisches Magazin (1907), 83, 1; (1910), 86, 1.12 Winfried Zeller, 'Naturmystik und Theologie bei ValentinWeigel,' In: Epochen derNaturmystik: Her-metische Tradition im wissenschaftlichenFortschritt, Berlin, 1979, pp. 120-121.13 Koch, NLM (1907), 83, 75 ff.14 Each material has its own proper Mercury, Sulphur,and Salt. Whatever part gives the whole fusibility

or metallicity (for example) would be called its Mercury (quicksilver is liquid and metallic); whatever givesinflammability or colour would be called its Sulphur (brimstone takes fire readily and is bright yellow); andwhatever gives solidity or brittleness would be called its Salt (common salt is hard and brittle).The Mercury-Sulphur-Salt triad also presented a material analogy to the human Spirit-Soul-Body trichotomy, as well asto the Divine Trinity.


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Jacob Boehme's Divine Substance Salitter 57are immaterial embodiments of the manifold qualifying forces of a divine 'all-force' (All-Kraft). The divine forces bring forth celestial fruits, flowers, and vegetation; the earthlyforces vainly strive to follow suit. But debased though it is, the earthly Salitter can dimlyattest to the power of its divine counterpart by producing all sorts of useful and pleasantfruits and plants.15

The heavenly-earthly duality of Salitter recalls the double existence of objects in thePlatonic doctrine of Ideas. This doctrine, that objects perceptible to the senses are onlymaterial reflections of their immaterial Ideas,was adapted into aspects of both MedievalChristian theology and alchemy. Material objects are not considered only per se, butratheras beings-in-becoming; that is, all material creation is in a state of being perfected,approaching its ideal state. In theology, man constantly strives to overcome the limita-tions of a nature corrupted by Original Sin, and so to approach perfection.'6 In alchemy,metals grow and mature in the earth, and are gradually purged of impurities and 'super-fluities', increasing in perfection until they become gold. Likewise, Boehme's 'earthlystinking' Salitteris only a materialreflection, a crudecopy, striving to imitate the immate-rial 'celestial, pure' Salitter. (An eschatological touch is added to this transcendentpurityby Boehme's references to the 'crystalline sea' at the end of the world, an allusion toRevelation 4:6.)

However, there exists another level of analogy, for the two types of Salitter alsocorrespond to stages in the production of saltpetre."7Before the discovery and exploita-tion of the enormous mineral nitrate deposits in South America, saltpetre was obtainedby extracting 'nitrous earth'. This nitrous earth was soil gathered from stables andslaughterhouses, where bacterial action had oxidized animal matters, especially nitro-gen-richurine, into nitrates.18The nitrous earth was firstboiled with water to remove thewater-soluble compounds; when evaporated, the extracts yielded a brown residue ofcrude nitre, called, at this stage, sal terrae.19Since the nitrous earth contained putrescentanimal matters which were partially drawn off in the aqueous extraction, this sal terraewas indeed a 'stinking' substance. This crude nitre was then purified by treatment withwood ashes, whereby potassium carbonate in the ash converted calcium nitrate (formedby reaction of lime with the bacterially produced nitrate) to potassium nitrate andinsoluble calcium carbonate. The ashes simultaneously absorbed much of the organic

15 Boehme, op. cit. (2), p. 55.16 Boehme writes that 'the devil infected and spoiled the Salitter from which Adam was made.' Op. cit. (2),p. 55.17 See the excellent study, 'The Production of Saltpeter in the Middle Ages' by A.R. Williams, Ambix,(1975), 22, 125.18 Starting in the fifteenthcentury artificialnitrebeds were being constructed. These beds consisted of piles

of earth, dung and lime, generally watered frequentlywith urine. The contents of these piles, after being sub-jected to natural bacterial action for many months, would be artificial 'nitrous earth'.19 The saline residue at this point would have consisted of several salts, with calcium, sodium, and potas-sium nitrates and sodium chloride predominating.


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58 Lawrence M. Principe and Andrew Weeksmatter, and after filtration, a pure liquor was obtained. Its fractional crystallizationyielded saltpetre in the form of white, transparent crystals.20A complex set of interrelationships among the various 'nitres' presents itself. First,Boehme's Salitter is analogous to chemical saltpetre-through this analogy the divinesubstance received its name. Second, within divine Salitter there exist two analogousforms, a lower 'earthly' Salitter and a higher 'heavenly' Salitter. Finally, this duality inBoehme's Salitter (heavenly-earthly) is analogous to a duality in chemical saltpetre(purified-crude).

Boehme's choice of saltpetre as the paradigm for divine power is made clearer by aconsideration of the chemical andphysical propertiesof the materialsaltpetre, potassiumnitrate. When treated in various ways, this salt gives rise to diverse properties andpowers. After its isolation and purification, saltpetre appears as a white crystallinematerial. In this form it feels cold and astringent on the tongue by virtue of its negativeheat of solution; it was therefore often termed a 'frigorific salt'. However, upon beingheated strongly in a retort (often with vitriol, i.e., ferrous or cupric sulphate), it givesforth red fumes (nitrogen dioxide) as a 'fiery spirit' (aqua fortis, or nitric acid) collects inthe receiver. This acid, combined with 'spiritof common salt' (hydrochloric acid), givesaqua regia, a fuming liquid of such greatsolvent power that it can dissolve gold, the inde-structiblerex metallorum. When mixed with spiritof wine (ethanol), corrosive nitric acidyields a 'dulcifiedspiritof nitre' (ethyl nitrite)which is non-corrosive and has the pungentaroma of sweet apples. Boehme states that the qualitiesof cold and astringent, sweet, andbitter like a 'hellish fire' arise from the divine Salitter.2' Thus, potassium nitrate can giverise to the kind of qualities that infuse and animate Boehme's divine substance.

Other properties of this salt also correspond to mystical forces in Boehme's system.When thrown upon a burning coal, nitre violently deflagratesin a flash, a correlative ofBoehme's Schrack or flash that elevates things to a higher level of being. Applied toplants, saltpetreexerts a powerful fertilizing effect, thereby imitatingthe creativepowersof the divine Salitter.The most prevalent use of nitre was, of course, in the preparationof gunpowder. The earliestWestern references(mid-thirteenthcentury)to black powderare found in the Liber ignium of Marcus Graecus and the Opus maius of Roger Bacon.Bacon was impressed by the awesome power of sal petrae:

Bya devicemadeof asize assmallasahuman humb,by the forceof thatsaltcalled al petrae,sucha horriblenoise sproducedn therupture f sucha small hingasa littleparchmenthatit is felt to surpass he noise of violentthunder,andits light surpasses hegreatest lashesoflightning.22

20 Since the difference in the solubility of potassium nitrate in cold water versus boiling water is muchgreater than the difference for the other salts present, fractional crystallizationis an efficient means of separa-tion. Even after the Chilean nitratedeposits were exploited, fractional crystallizationwas still employed in themanufacture of saltpetre. The native material (predominantly sodium nitrate,often called 'sodanitre')was dis-solved in boiling water together with an equimolar quantity of potassium chloride, and upon cooling, potas-sium nitrate crystallized out leaving sodium chloride in solution.21 Boehme, op. cit. (2), pp. 85-88.22 Roger Bacon, Opus maius (ed. J. H. Bridges), 3 vols, Oxford, 1897-1900, vol. 2, p. 218.


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Jacob Boehme's Divine Substance Salitter 59Three centuries ater, Paracelsus ttributed he detonationof thunder o saltpetreandcompared he flash of lightning o Christ'ssecondcoming.23Thus, the divinepowerfrequently ssociatedwiththunderand lightningwas manifest n saltpetre.The widespread aturaloccurrences f saltpetreprobablyadded mpetus o its incor-poration n Boehme's ystemas an imageof the omnipresent ivinepower. Its apparentubiquity s noted by severalauthors.RobertBoyle,observinghat nitre s to be 'found nso greata numberof CompoundBodies,Vegetable,Animal,and evenMineral,'callsit'the most Catholickof Salts.'24 he sourceof saltpetreappeared o be the air itself,forearth romwhichallthenitratehad beenextractedwouldyield a new quantityof thesaltafterremaining ntouchedby anything aveairfor severalmonths.25 y the shoresof theNeusiedlerLake,southeastof Vienna,saltpetrewas collectedby the bushel rom hesur-faceof the ground,where t mysteriouslydescendedikedew' during he night,andvan-ishedagain into the air'shortlyaftersunrise.26To thehistorianof science, he mostsignificantnitresystem' s notJacobBoehme'sbut John Mayow's.In 1674, Mayow publishedhis Tractatusquinquemedico-physici,which contained the tract 'De sal nitro et spiritunitro-aereo'. n this work Mayowendeavouredo showthatcombustionandrespiration redependentuponan active n-gredient n the air,whichhe termed he 'nitro-aerialpirit'.This spiritis not saltpetreitself dispersed hroughout he air,but ratheran etherealparticulatematerial oinedtoinert air particles.This same substances also fixed n saltpetre;henceits characteristicpropertiesof supporting ombustion n a vacuum,and of deflagratingwith flammablesubstances.HenryGuerlachaspointedout thattheoriesdealingwitha nitroussubstancen theair were 'widelycurrent n the seventeenth entury.'Guerlachas citedconvincingevi-dence that the inspiration or these systems (includingMayow's) lies in the treatiseNovum lumenchymicum,writtenby the ScottishalchemistAlexanderSeton,butpub-lished under hename of MichaelSendivogiusn 1604.27 ust asMayownoted that thenitro-aerial articlesmustbepresent n theair for the maintenance f animal ife,Setonwrote of a 'hidden ood of life' containedntheair.28 ignificantly,etonconnected his

23 Paracelsus, Simtliche Werke, III, Jena, 1930, pp. 950-954. For Paracelsus on nitre see the study byAllen G. Debus, 'The Paracelsian Aerial Niter,' Isis, (1964), 55, pp. 43-61.24 Robert Boyle, 'A Physico-ChymicalEssay, containing An Experimentwith some Considerations touch-ing the differing parts and Redintegration of Saltpetre,' In: Certain Physiological Essays, London, 1661,pp. 107-108.

25 The extracted earth would still retain any insoluble organic matter, and thus further bacterial actionwould produce new nitrates.

26 This practiceof collecting nitre (for use in saltlicks and for curingmeats) is recounted with awe by AntonKirchweger (Microscopium Basilii Valentini,Berlin, 1790). The nitre in the area is now somewhat depleted bygenerations of collecting and changes in the watertable, but in earlier centuries the fenny soil around the lakewas saturated with nitrates. At night when the temperature fell, the salts crystallized out of solution andappeared as an efflorescence on the ground. Shortly after daybreak, as the temperature rose, the salt depositsredissolved, thus appearing to vanish miraculously by the warmth of the sun.

27 Henry Guerlac, 'John Mayow and the AerialNitre,' Actes du Septieme CongresInternational d'Histoiredes Sciences, Jerusalem, 1953, pp. 332-349; 'The Poets' Nitre', Isis, (1954), 45, p. 243.28 Creatus homo de terra, ex aere vivit: est enim in aere occultus vitae cibus, . . . Michael Sendivogius(AlexanderSeton) Novum lumen chymicum, In: Musaeum hermeticum, Frankfurt,1678, p. 579.


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60 Lawrence M. Principe and Andrew Weeksaerialsubstance o saltpetre, laiming hat the vital part of the air is also foundfixed nsaltpetre.Setonstated hatwhen rain s produced, t receives hatpowerof life fromtheair andjoins t to the sal niterofthe earth-because the salnitreof the earth s likecalcined artar potassiumarbonate)which,drawingairto itselfbyits owndryness, onverts he air nto water29-the sal nitreof the earthhas a similarpower of attracting, or it was onceair,and is now joined o the fatnessof theearth.30

Mayowwrotein a verysimilarwaythat(nitre) eems o consistof salt of threekinds,of whichone, the most active, s derived rom heair,and it has an etherealandfierynature.31The othertwo kindsof saltin nitre (according o Mayow) arethe 'salinevehicle' orthe nitro-aerial articlesandthe 'fixedsaltsof the earth'with which he former wo com-bine. These latter wo saltsmaywell beequatedwith Seton's salnitreof the earth'and'fatnessof theearth',respectively.Boehme'sSalitter, lthoughmoremetaphysicalnnature hanSeton's food of life' orMayow's completely physical 'nitro-aerial pirit', is clearly part of this current ofthought.What couldhavedrawnthe cobblerof G6rlitz nto the nitrediscussion?Wehave alreadynoted the importanceof G6rlitz as a centreof alchemicaland mysticalspeculation.We also know that AlexanderSeton ravelledhroughCentralEuropedur-

ing 1602-1603, stoppingnZurich,Basel,Strasbourg, rankfurt n theMain,Cologne,Hamburg,Munich andfinallyDresden,wherehe was imprisonedandtorturedn late1603.32Everywhere e went, Setonarguedand demonstratednfavourof his alchemicalart. His whereabouts etweenhisdepartureromMunichand his arrivalnDresdenarenot known.Perhaps estopped nGorlitzandrelatedhis ideason nitre o the Paracelsiandoctorsof thecity. Thus,Boehmecouldhaveheardof Seton's heoryof nitredirectlyorindirectly.Reflectingon the propertiesof nitre,he could have concluded hat it was aclear ikenessof the divinepower.We cannotproveconclusivelyhat Seton nfluencedBoehme n this manner; et thecontactwouldexplain he cobbler'sknowledgeof nitre,hissubsequent hoiceof Salitteras the divinesubstance,and the similaritybetween his and Seton's notions of nitre.Seton's al nitreexistsbothintheair,where t is the'powerof life',andfixed nsaltpetre.Analogously,Boehme'sdivineSalittermaintains he life and order of the macrocosm,while the terrestrial alitterdimlyreflects tsdivinecounterpart.

29 Potassium carbonate, originally produced by strongly calcining potassium bitartrate (tartar, a depositfound in wine barrels), is a highly hygroscopic salt, and is thus capable of attracting enough water vapour fromthe air to dissolve itself. This process, seen with alchemical eyes, was considered a transformation of air intowater.30 ... quando pluvia fit,accipit ex aere illam vim vitae, & conjugit illam cumsale nitro terrae, (quia sal nitriterrae est instar calcinati Tartari,sua siccitateaerem ad se trabens, qui aer in eo resolvitur in aquam: Talemvimattrahendi habet ille sal nitri terrae, qui etiam aerfuit, & est conjunctus pinguedini terrae). Sendivogius (Seton),Novum lumen, p. 581.31 John Mayow, 'On Sal Nitrum and the Nitro-aerial Spirit,' in Medico-Physical Works, Alembic Club

reprint no. 17, London, 1957, p. 33.32 See John Ferguson, Biblioteca chemica, Glasgow, 1906, vol. 2, pp. 374-376 for an account of the lifeof Seton, and numerous references.


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Jacob Boebme'sDivineSubstanceSalitter 61In conclusion, oehme'shoice fSalitterstheparadigmfdivine reativitys not

haphazard:t demonstratesknowlegef both heoreticalndpracticallchemy. heroleofSalitters a 'life-force'lassifies oehme'smetaphysicalystemwith hephysicalnitre heories f Seton,Sendivogius,hruston,Mayow,Hooke,EntandDigby,whichattributedhemaintenancef life o a nitrousubstancen theair.Wehave uggestedhepossibilityf Seton'spresencen Gorlitzn 1603 and of his influence ponBoehme.Although oehme's uroraecallshesixteenthentury orks f men uchasBruno ndParacelsus,ts divine ubstance,alitter,ontinuedo playa role n seventeenthenturyscientificheories.Accordingly,oehme'sotionof theSalitter ridgeshegulfbetweenHermetic aturalismndmechanisticcience.

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Boehme's Divine Substance