The second morbific cause is the _ens veneni_, which proceeds from alimentary substances: when the archeus is languid putrefaction ensues, either _localiter_ or _emuncturaliter_. This last takes place when those evacuations, which ought to be expelled by the nose, the intestines, or the bladder, are retained in the body. Dissolved mercury escapes through the pores of the skin, white sulphur by the nose, arsenic by the ears, sulphur diluted with water by the eyes, salt in solution by the urine, and sulphur deliquesced by the intestines. The third morbific cause of disease is the _ens naturale_; but Paracelsus subjects to the ens astrorum the principles which the schools are in the habit of arranging among the number of natural causes. The _ens spirituale_ forms the fourth species and the _ens deale_ or _Christian entity_ the fifth. This last class comprehends all the immediate effects of divine predestination. It would lead us too far if I were to point out the strange methods which he takes to discover the cause of diseases. But his doctrine concerning _tartar_ is too important, and does our fanatic too much credit to be omitted. It is without doubt the most useful of all the innovations which he introduced. _Tartar_ according to him, is the principle of all the maladies proceeding from the thickening of the humours, the rigidity of the solids, or the accumulation of earthy matter. Paracelsus thought the term _stone_ not suitable to indicate that matter, because it applies only to one species of it. Frequently the principle proceeds from mucilage, and mucilage is tartar. He calls this principle _tartar_ (_tartarus_) because it burns like hellfire, and occasions the most dreadful diseases. As _tartar_ (_bitartrate of potash_) is deposited at the bottom of the wine-cask, in the same way _tartar_ in the living body is deposited on the surface of the teeth. It is deposited on the internal parts of the body when the archæus acts with too great impetuosity and in an irregular manner, and when it separates the nutritive principle with too much impetuosity. Then the saline spirit unites itself to it and coagulates the earthy principle, which is always present, but often in the state of _materia prima_ without being coagulated.