CHAPTER TWO.

That the arcana of nature are primarily of such a kind as the German Fraternity has confessed.

THERE are indeed powers or properties in natural things which do not occur to the eyes or the senses unless they are manifested by experience, as is most openly apparent in the magnet, whose double virtue—of turning itself toward the pole of the world or the place nearest to it, and of attracting iron to itself—would have been known to no man had it not shown itself by the very act. For reason alone, even of the most clear-sighted man, could not have foreseen or indicated it, although it would have known how to judge most excellently once it was discovered. Therefore, by experience, arts are found to have their most certain effects if they are perfected by the aid of reason. If they proceed from reason alone or from imagination, they are usually believed to be empty of fruit, although they may appear beautiful.