The Chemical Theatre, Vol. IV

THEORY.

A 3

[...of the craftsmen] The Latin text begins with "Arum," likely the end of "Artificum" (of the craftsmen) continuing from the previous page's catchword. labors to determine a noble temperament through the instrument of prudent wisdom. For those considerations that do not concern temperament must in no way be applied to this matter. Indeed, they are foreign and distant from the will and considerations of the craftsman, and through this, such a thinker is exiled from the entire good purpose, much like one who is a stranger and alienated by his own superfluous work and the fantasies he has investigated.

Nevertheless, temperament is acquired through the ingenuity of nature, or by the master's will within the ferment original: "fermento"; in alchemy, the "ferment" is a substance that transforms the base matter into the nature of the ferment itself, much like leaven in bread through the intellect, toward the unification of things pertaining to and capable of being mixed by the science and the informative art; in medicine, this constitutes a single habit habit: a stable condition or disposition of a substance's nature or several. Because temperament is the perfection of action, it is not more clearly known, nor more rightly preserved or discovered, than through the aforementioned science. Whether it be one habit or several, there is always but one single limit and mode of preserving the correct bounds to produce that end called temperament, which we wish to signify by the letter C.

Imbalance original: "Intemperamentum", or the lack of temperament, is an unnatural and corruptible disposition. it arises through elemental dissolution, by which the actions of individual things and of nature are immediately corrupted, through the distancing or the instability of their temperament—which had previously come about through the continuity and binding together of its composite parts...

This circular diagram represents the relationships between the states of matter in Lullian philosophy. At the center is Matter, the root of all things, while the outer ring shows the various conditions it can inhabit, from the natural to the contrary-to-nature.

• A: Matter original: "Materia" (The central point)
• B: Nature original: "Natura"
• D: Unnatural original: "Innaturalis"
• F: Contrary to Nature original: "Contranatura"
• J: Temperament original: "Temperamentu"
• E: Neutrality original: "Neutralitas"
• G: Imbalance original: "Intemperamenti"