Introduction or Preface

...tific understanding, yet attributing nothing to Theory, they have despaired of understanding the causes of things. Furthermore, even those who were good Theorists were for the most part estranged from practice. They judged it beneath them to expend their funds, health, time, and reputation on dirty and dangerous practical labors. Hence, their Theory was rarely supported by practice. This and similar obstacles have hindered this study not a little, and have brought about much detriment and obscurity. By what path I have walked, how I have applied myself to this study in both theory and practice, and by what occasion I discovered those things which few have touched upon until now, the preface of this work will show, where the reader may read more regarding these matters.

Now we come to the distribution of the work, which will be completed in fourteen Sections; seven will be contained in the first book, and just as many in the second. The first section of the first book will explain the creation of the entire World, especially the heavens and the earth, and then the production of all things from these. The second section will demonstrate the motion of the Subterranean Principles, especially the descent and ascent of subterranean water and earth into the center and toward the surface of the earth. The third section makes a special digression into the three subterranean principles original: "principia"; in alchemy, these are the fundamental building blocks of matter, often identified by Becher as three types of "earths.". The fourth section will deal with the Mixing of the subterranean Principles; it will establish an Analogy between animals, vegetables, and minerals regarding seminal mixing and combination; and accordingly, it will bring forth specific details on generation, growth, and accretion, after first laying out general principles on the necessity of mixing and the Theory and practice for mastering it.

The fifth section will speak on the dissolution original: "solutione" of mixtures; and, just as with mixing, it will establish a comparison of the dissolution of minerals with the dissolution of animals and vegetables: from this, it will explain at great length putrefaction, which belongs to animals; fermentation, which is proper to vegetables; and finally liquefaction, by which subterranean things are resolved. The sixth section will treat Mixtures in general, whether they come from mixing or from dissolution, by reviewing their types and species. The seventh section, and the last of the first book, will explain the accidents In philosophy, "accidents" are non-essential properties like color or smell that can change without changing the substance itself. and common physical properties of subterranean mixtures.

The first section of the second book will deal specifically with alkaline salt, Nitre Saltpeter, and common salt; the second with Vitriol Sulfates, often called "copperas", Alum, and Borax; the third with Sulfur, Arsenic, and Quicksilver; the fourth with Antimony, Bismuth, Zinc, Marcasite, Magnesia, and Cobalt; the fifth with Lead, Tin, Iron, Copper, Silver, and Gold; the sixth with stones, both transparent and opaque, as well as gravel, sand, mud, and earth; the seventh and final section will establish a specific and accurate practical Anatomy of Zoo-minerals Zoo-mineralia|Substances that seem to share properties of both animals and minerals, like coral and Phyto-minerals Phytho-mineralia|Substances that seem to share properties of both plants and minerals, like amber, such as Amber original: "Succini", coral, etc.; so that the first book contains the Theory, and the latter the Practice.

Indeed, the series, course, and order of Nature will defend the order of the aforementioned Sections, just as every chapter in the text will find its own starting point from the one preceding it. For although in writing any work an organized method must be observed, a lonely and sterile Dichotomy A rigid division into only two parts is not enough—especially one that arises not from Nature, but from force and a lack of material, and thus from a hollow and empty arrangement such as those of Aphthonius or Lullius Aphthonius was a Greek rhetorician known for rigid structures; Raymond Lull was a medieval logician known for complex, mechanical systems of thought.. In the most ample and fertile field of the subject matter prescribed, we will not allow our hands to be so tied, but we will flourish and range abroad into many materials—yet in such a way that by returning to the goal, this pleasant wandering will make the order all the more welcome.

A 3