Harmony or Consensus of the Chemical Philosophers

...disagreeing, so that what was stated by one seemed to be denied by another, and what was built up here seemed to be destroyed there. Therefore, I searched for and scraped together from every possible source all those who had written on this matter—both published works and manuscripts, even those already eaten away by moths and bookworms. I mean both ancient and modern authors original: "veteres... & neotericos auctores", whom I have read with as much diligence and persistence as I could muster. For twenty-two years, I have turned them over with my hand by night and by day, noting them, making annotations, copying out those notes, and arranging what I had copied into an order that has been observed by no one until now. I did this with the intention that this Compendium Compendium A concise but comprehensive summary of a larger body of knowledge. would serve me as a Cynosure original: "Cynosurae." In navigation, this refers to the constellation of the Little Bear (Ursa Minor) containing the North Star, used as a guide for sailors. in that vast and wandering sea of so many apparently conflicting opinions; so that, after having endured...

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