The Chemical Hippocrates

PREFACE

Many indeed, as the dispositions original: "ingenia"; referring to the natural character, talent, or mental inclination of an individual. of men are varied, will judge in various ways that which I bring to light—which Nature has decreed to make manifest only to philosophers toiling with labor and study.

For Raymond [Lull] (ᵃ) says: that the Mistress and Lady Nature appeared to him and said weepingly: "Alas, what shall I do now, since they are trying to seize and take away my instruments from me, and they wish to plunder and uncover my secrets," etc. On this account, we have received a command that we should hide and guard her instruments from the hands of her enemies, etc. These instruments of Nature, the profound Lull, having been thus taught by Hippocrates, conceals deeply, and identifies them by at least two words: REAL BEINGS original: "ENTIA REALIA." This refers to the actual, physical substances or forces that perform the work of alchemy, as opposed to mere theoretical concepts..

So also Basil Valentine hid them under barbarous In this context, "barbarous" refers to invented, non-Latin jargon used to obscure meaning from the uninitiated. words: namely ASA and PHALAIA; indeed, these are the mechanical instruments of Nature, which Hippocrates [calls] fire and water: ᵇ Keys, 12. Refers to the "Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine," a series of alchemical allegories. here elsewhere he calls them GLADIATORS (ᵇ); and just as Hippocrates—