Chemical Beginner

...and are to be considered impostors. But those who understand the causes and the principles of the art, and who, relying on these, can promise themselves the desired result—these men, even though they join the work of the hand to their intellect and practical operation to theoretical speculation, are to be called not mechanics original: "mechanici"; in this period, a "mechanic" was a manual laborer who worked without understanding the underlying scientific principles, but Philosophers. For that physical operation and the assistance of the hands are merely incidental to the science, as is quite evident in the case of the Physician and the Surgeon.

This art takes its beginning from nature, which the first craftsmen original: "artifices"; skilled practitioners who apply art and industry to natural materials studied to imitate with great diligence. And although in the past—just as it is now—it has been of great value in Metallurgy, its principal goal was nevertheless to serve as a handmaid to Medicine, and to extract the most wholesome remedies from minerals, plants, and animals for human use and the protection of health, as well as to provide many of life's ornaments.

I pass over in silence the description of furnaces, vessels, and various chemical apparatus, as well as the methods for controlling different types of fire, since these things are mastered more through practical experience than through written instructions.