The basilisk of the pseudo-Paracelsian De natura rerum is the evil twin of the homunculus. Created from menstrual blood by artificial ectogenesis in an alchemical laboratory, the basilisk embodies the poisonous character traditionally ascribed to catamenial women, but magnified and concentrated by its mode of generation to the degree that it can kill by its glance alone. How does this remarkable thought experiment relate to other instances of the basilisk in the genuine and pseudonymous corpus of Paracelsus? The present paper outlines two primary uses which emerge repeatedly: first, in works other than De natura rerum, the basilisk is used by Paracelsus and his imitators as a means of explaining action at a distance, especially in the case of plague. Relying on a medieval association between the basilisk’s deadly gaze and the putative ability of menstruating women to damage mirrors, the genuine Paracelsus links contagious disease to the deleterious action of the female imagination. Second, because the basilisk was traditionally held to be the product of an unnatural birth, being born from an egg laid by a rooster and incubated by a toad, the Paracelsian corpus frequently invokes the monster as a model for unnatural generation in general.

中文翻译：

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坏化学：帕拉塞尔苏斯和伪帕拉塞尔苏斯的蛇怪和女人

伪Paracelsian De natura rerum 的蛇怪是homunculus 的邪恶双胞胎。蛇怪由炼金术实验室中的人工体外发生的经血制成，体现了传统上归因于经期女性的有毒特征，但由于其生成方式而被放大和浓缩，以至于仅凭一瞥就可以杀死。这个非凡的思想实验与帕拉塞尔苏斯真实和匿名语料库中的其他蛇怪实例有何关联？本文概述了反复出现的两个主要用途：首先，在 De natura rerum 以外的作品中，帕拉塞尔苏斯及其模仿者使用蛇怪作为解释远距离行动的手段，尤其是在瘟疫的情况下。依靠蛇怪的致命凝视与经期女性破坏镜子的假定能力之间的中世纪联系，真正的帕拉塞尔苏斯将传染病与女性想象力的有害行为联系起来。其次，由于蛇怪传统上被认为是非自然出生的产物，由公鸡产下的蛋和蟾蜍孵化而成，因此西拉塞尔斯语料库经常将这种怪物作为一般非自然产生的模型。