For his cosmogony he rests on the authority of Genesis. The world is created out of the three principles of Matter, Spirit, and Light. The qualities of things are Consistency (salt), Oleosity (sulphur), and Aquosity (mercury). Plants are endowed with “vital spirit,” while animals are distinguished from them by the power of originating movement and by the possession of “animal spirit.” Man consists of Body, Spirit, and Soul.
Comenius wrote his Physics under the inspiration of Campanella; but he differs from his master on certain points. As substratum for his philosophy Campanella had taken the existence of two principles, cold and heat. Alsted also had imagined two principles, heaven and earth, the first active and the second passive. According to Comenius this duality is inconsistent with the harmony that exists in nature. Whenever two opposing principles meet we find nothing but strife, and a Trinity of cosmic principles is therefore necessary to account for the peaceful working of the universe. In introducing this Trinity he was doubtless influenced by a desire to make the Christian Trinity harmonise with the basis of natural phenomena, but in reality he is only returning to the fancies of Paracelsus, who had already originated the conception of salt, sulphur, and mercury as a Cosmic Triad. What part Comenius made these principles play in the Astronomy[1] that he published at the same time as the Physics, it is impossible to say, as the book has unfortunately been lost.
The writing of school-books was now once more to occupy his attention. The Janua had proved too difficult for the boys who entered the Latin School, and to meet their wants the Vestibulum or Entrance Hall to the Janua was composed.[2] His first intention was to write some dialogues for boys to make them familiar with the Latin language,[3] but he decided to preserve the form of the
