Musaeum metallicum

added that the artist is never able to attain the degree of natural heat acting in the workshop of metals. Furthermore, if the place of the generation of metals is considered, not every place contributes to their generation, since Plato left it written that nature had designated various places for various generations of things; for this reason, the place is called by Porphyry the father and principle of generation. Therefore, metals, plants, and animals do not arise indiscriminately everywhere.

The nature of the art of alchemy.

Finally, from experience, the parent of all arts, the supporters of Alchemy prove that other metals, and especially gold and silver, flow from the manufactured Philosopher's Stone. But we cannot imagine this as more absurd, since various and distinct things cannot be generated immediately from one body and one nature; if indeed the proximate principles of distinct species are constituted differently, and metals differ greatly among themselves. Then that philosophical stone will have to be called either a simple body or a mixed one; it is not simple, because it would take on the nature of an element, nor mixed; for thus it would either be a metal or not; if a metal, it has already been shown that one metal does not spring from another, and consequently, other things will not emerge from one metal. If it is only a stone, as the Chemists assert, metals cannot arise from it either, because one mode of generation is assigned to one thing; since metals are formed by nature in the bowels of the earth without such a stone. Let us add to these that no one has achieved a huge sea of wealth by the virtue of Alchemy. Cardano writes to the point that his own father diligently applied himself to the work of Alchemy, and did not accumulate a greater hoard of gold from it. Nero also applied immense expenses and the utmost care for the knowledge of this art, and summoned the most skilled artisans, and at last, with the greatest diligence and constant experience, he learned that this art was empty and to be despised. And if some report that they have produced gold and silver by the benefit of this art, they do not afterwards tell of their condition, progress, and quantity, since they received a heavy ruin in their estates. A learned man, worthy of belief, who had given long service to Alchemy, told us that he had only once made gold of a small mass at great expense, and subsequently, while frequently attempting the same work, he was always frustrated in his hope, having lost his oil and his labor.

DIFFERENCES.

Book 3, Meteor., chapter 1. Book 1, On Metallic Things, chap. 1.

There is variation in the opinions among authors concerning the species of metals; but so that this may be explored by all, the differences of fossils must be weighed first, since the division of an object ought to look to that science of which it is the object. Aristotle, therefore, assigns two kinds of metals, namely Fossils and Metallics, although the term fossil, taken in a broad sense, includes all things dug from mines, and in this way also encompasses metals; but taken in a narrow sense, the fossil is discriminated from the metallic. Encelius distributes fossil bodies into greater and lesser, understanding by greater minerals, metals, which he establishes as either perfect, like gold, or quasi-imperfect, like silver; he declares the others to be imperfect, such as Tin, Lead, Bismuth, Copper, and Iron; and he demonstrates the remaining fossils as lesser minerals. Theophrastus also seems to assign only two differences of fossils, while he establishes them partly from water, like metals, and partly from earth, like the remaining metallics. Galen places fossils in a triple distinction, while he enumerates various earths, diverse stones, and differing metals. Albertus Magnus, whom Beringutius and many others follow, manifested three kinds of fossils, namely stones, metals, and intermediate minerals; and by intermediate minerals, he understood Salt, Alum, Nitre, Pyrite, Ink vitriol/iron sulfate, and others of this kind, which partly taste of the nature of metals, partly of the nature of stones. Avicenna, as reported by Albertus, published four differences of fossils, and named them stones, sulfurs, salts, and metals. Finally, among other authors, four heads of fossils come to light, which are: Notable Earths, Concrete Juices, Stones, and Metals, which division Dioscorides embraced. This division seems to please most people, and especially Cardano; for fossils either liquefy and, returning into their original form, remain hard—