There has been much discussion as to what exactly is connoted by the name “Paracelsus,” and how it came to be first adopted. What seems clear is that von Hohenheim adopted the name himself, and was not, as some have held, given it by his admirers. It was a usual practice in those days to write books under some Latin _nom de plume_, frequently some adaptation into Latin of the name of the writer. In all probability the last two syllables of the name, “celsus,” were suggested by “Hohen” (or “high”), “Hohenheim” being literally translated as “high home.” With regard to the first two syllables it is noticeable that these were occasionally employed by Paracelsus in giving name to his medical treatises. There is thus one treatise called “Paramirum,” and another “Paragranum.” This word “para” seems to have been used in the sense of giving the word to which it was prefixed a superlative value. Thus “Paramirum” would mean “extremely wonderful.” The whole word is doubtless a polyglot hotchpotch, the first part being Greek and the second Latin; but mediæval writers had little scruple in adapting the classical tongues to their own requirements. To follow the writings of Paracelsus it is necessary to understand his phraseology, his jargon, as we should call it in the slang of to-day. Without this he is as incomprehensible as is the dog Latin of a scientific textbook to one who is not a scientific specialist—or, to give another example, as the language of Astrology is to one who is not an Astrologer. Paracelsus held that there were three basic substances necessary to the existence of all bodies. These he called Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. Sulphur corresponds to fire, or rather to the principle of inflammability; Mercury to water, or fluidity; and Salt to earth, or solidity. For a full glossary of the terms which he employed, readers are referred to the volume on _The Life and Philosophy of Paracelsus_, by the late Dr Franz Hartmann. In this terminology _Azoth_ stands for the creative principle in Nature, or the spiritual vitalising force; the _Ilech Primum_ is the causative force; _Cherio_, the essence of the thing, the “fifth principle,” which constitutes what we call its essential qualities; the _Evestrum_ is man’s astral body, his ethereal counterpart, that may act to him as guardian angel and warn him of dangers; the _Elementaries_ are the astral corpses of the dead, and must not be confused with the _Elementals_, or Nature Spirits—Sylphs, Salamanders, Undines, and Gnomes; _Magic_ is the conscious employment of spiritual powers to act on external Nature. Many of these expressions have been adopted by the Theosophists of the present day and by students of Occultism.