The Most Secret Secrets

To the Readers.

...so that it may stand, and this SO GREAT A GIFT OF GOD may be vindicated from the blasphemies of detractors. No one, I think, will judge gold—the finest metal, which has been accepted according to the value of things in the world as long as the world has existed and will exist, and which is usually applied to curing many human diseases—as something useless, most harmful, and detestable. Nor will he proscribe and accuse it because he does not have as large a supply of it as he would wish, nor because it does not remove all the afflictions, diseases, and desires of men, or because it is the alluring cause of many evils: theft, robbery, murder, adultery, and almost all vices being committed; unless he wishes to live entirely outside the world and appear as a Cynic The Cynics were an ancient school of philosophy that advocated living in accordance with nature and rejecting worldly goods. The name "Cynic" derives from the Greek word for "dog.". Let the same judgment apply to Medicine: If, therefore, medicine comes from gold, or gold from this medicine, who but the most insane would detest that medicine? He is a child in the world who thinks everything is the same everywhere as it is in his own home, or city, or region where he was raised. He is twice a child who, being of age, thinks there have never been nor are any who have seen, known, and understood more in these matters than he himself can grasp. Therefore, no one of sound judgment will deny the truth of Chemistry Chymia: In this period, the term "chemistry" encompassed both what we now call chemistry and alchemy, focusing on the transmutation of metals and the creation of medicines. because he does not see, know, or understand it. For this would be a mark of the most impudent mind: to accept only those beings known to himself and wish to banish the unknown from the universe of things. This would be, I say, an envious and dog-like original: "canini". This is a pun on the Cynic philosophers mentioned earlier, suggesting a snarling, unreasoning hostility. habit, not a human one: to deprive the world of that which he himself does not use. But lest anyone should imagine that, in bringing forth such a writing, I profess a mastery of this same matter, let them understand the nature of my studies: Having professed Galenic medicine Galenic medicine: The traditional medical system based on the works of the Greek physician Galen, which focused on balancing the four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile). up to this point, I have not ceased to investigate other things, if there were any most secret matters within Chemistry. For I judged this to be characteristic of a liberally educated man, since just as birds seem born for flying, so he is born for reasoning. We see that not just one part of the air is open to birds, but the whole universe; why should it not be the same for men in their reasoning? Hence, let no one be angry with me if, beyond common knowledge, I desire to know even secret and rare things, having their foundation in the natures of things, proven by reason and experience, and most true. For Aristotle demonstrates in his Metaphysics Referring to the opening line of Aristotle's Metaphysics: "All men by nature desire to know." that this is proper to the intelligent soul. Indeed, moved by that passion, I have also visited foreign places, and thus also into this most celebrated kingdom...