P R E F A C E

...debating, namely, what might be the primary and immediate matter of metals materia metallorum: the fundamental substance from which metals are formed, what is their efficient cause, how they differ among themselves—whether by some substantial form or truly by accidents alone—what affinities they have, whether one can be transformed into another, and how they ought to be brought to the highest perfection. All these things, and many others of this kind,
5 while they either investigate them or assert with great constancy and authority that they have already discovered them long ago, they bring so much light and knowledge that I, for my part, would not unwillingly doubt whether either Aristotle or Theophrastus Theophrastus (c. 371–287 BCE) was Aristotle's successor and wrote extensively on mineralogy could have provided as much. Therefore, this so remarkable addition to Philosophy ought not to be neglected or despised by students, even if it must be begged for here and there from a "Barbarous" The author refers to Medieval or non-Classical Latin writers as "Barbarous" class of writers, and gathered, as it were, like gold from dung original: "aurum è stercoribus" — a common alchemical metaphor for finding value in base or rejected materials. There is also another cause not