Note 42 — III.

“Arcanum” means mystery. The key to a mystery is its understanding. The Arcana of Paracelsus were not, as has been asserte by certain “authorities,” patent medicines whose composition he kept secret; but they were his knowledge of the means for effecting a cure. He says:—“If there is a stone in the bladder, the arcanum is the knife (for performing lithotomy), in (acute) Mania phlebotomy is the arcanum. An arcanum is the entering into a new state, the giving birth to a new thing.” (Lib. “Paramir.,” I. 5, II. 2.) Every plane of existence has its own mysteries and arcane remedies.