TO THE READER.

...for [who] will perceive in their mind the most rare eloquence of the old man referring to Hippocrates, the "father of medicine.", or the gentle fire original: "ignem mollem." This refers to a specific chemical technique of using low, steady heat (like a water bath) to transform substances without destroying them. in that same place, unless they are practiced in this hidden Hippocratic natural doctrine? As Raymond Raymond Lull (c. 1232–1315), a philosopher and logician to whom many influential alchemical and chemical treatises were later attributed. He is cited here as a champion of experimental knowledge over mere theory. attests:

a) Testament, chapter 26.

"However much a logician," he says, "may have a profound talent for argument, or a natural talent regarding external things, he will nevertheless never be able, through any reasoning that reaches the senses, to directly know or judge how a seed sprouts in the earth, grows, and gathers fruit, unless he has first entered into OUR NATURAL PHILOSOPHY with experimental doctrine. He must avoid that sophisticated, talkative philosophy born of logicians through various fantastical presumptions. Such men, with their predictions of consequences that run contrary to the force of nature, cause many to stubbornly err in the sophistication of their own minds. Because through our MECHANICAL SCIENCE original: "mechanicam scientiam." In this period, "mechanical" refers to manual, laboratory-based work—the "hands-on" practice of chemistry as opposed to abstract speculation., the intellect is rectified by the power of experience, in view of the eye and true mental knowledge; indeed, our experiences stand above...