Subterranean Physics

...try, and has either seen with his own eyes the origin of other stones, or has clearly explained it. Indeed, there are many things in these matters that we know, yet very many more that we do not know; this alone, with David A reference to Psalm 104:24: "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all.", we know sufficiently: that the works of the Lord are magnified, and all are created in wisdom. Note 9. After the dignity of this study—which can never be praised enough—its usefulness and necessity must be addressed. Here, if we consider that no office or duty involving metallic or "fossil" fossilia|In the 17th century, "fossil" referred to anything dug out of the earth, including minerals, ores, and gemstones, not just organic remains subjects can be handled skillfully or fruitfully without this science, we see that Physics itself is largely lame in this regard. The Pharmaceutical arts and Medicine languish without knowledge of subterranean things; Chemists, Alchemists, and other investigators of nature cannot do without this study. Through a lack of knowledge of minerals, the most fertile ores are sometimes neglected; yet metal mines are the unique means by which Princes can grow wealthy without burdening their subjects' pockets or their own consciences. This, I say, and much else, if weighed diligently, will ensure that neither the utility nor the necessity of this study remains hidden from anyone; they will firmly conclude that it is necessary not only Note 10. for science, but also for civil use.

However, although it is clear from what has been said that this study is highly useful and necessary, and should therefore be cultivated above others, it has remained for many centuries wrapped in such obscurity that it has been handled skillfully by very few, whether they be teachers or students. The primary cause of this impediment was Peripatetic philosophy The traditional university philosophy based on the works of Aristotle, which places the foundations of its science for the most part in empty words—the diametric opposite of the Hermetic The alchemical tradition, which emphasized practical laboratory work over abstract logic approach. Hence, a true and practical Physics regarding the doctrine of the subterranean world has always been desired by wise men, especially since this kind of science has never been properly treated in the schools or Academies.

For even if some of the Galenists Followers of the ancient physician Galen; the medical establishment of the time, under the feigned name of Chemistry, opened colleges, they sought money rather than the benefit of their listeners. They could hand down nothing of truth, certainty, or solidity, because they themselves knew nothing beyond what they had read in books. It is true that many Chemical writers have existed who left behind works on the nature of fossils; yet some of these were occupied only with the separation of metals, and others only with their civil use. They never reached the kernel, but were always merely licking the husk. The traditions of the ancients, such as the writings left by Aristotle, Pliny, and others concerning subterranean things, are so frivolous, ridiculous, and thin in practice that if you accurately weigh their doctrine in this genre, you may rightly begin to wonder if they have even a grain of truth in other matters—for they wander about like blind men in the doctrine of the subterranean.

But the greatest damage has been done by the Pseudo-Chemists and Modern writers. Driven indiscriminately by some itch and a wicked habit of writing, they simply copied the lies of others and set them down as foundations. Knowing nothing meanwhile of nature or the practice of the art, they were deceived and in turn deceived others, thus piling lie upon lie. Even though there have been not a few diligent investigators of fossils, supported by many experiments that are not to be despised, they still lacked a genuine and solid Theory. This is because such laborers and miners have mostly not studied or devoted themselves to letters; some even attributed everything to practice...