Basil Valentine: Last Will & Testament (1671)

...out the way (so far as was lawful for them to do) how the ingenious may attain to the true understanding of this noble art. Such is our Basilius, who from his infancy was dedicated to the service of God and did so well improve those spiritual and natural talents he was entrusted with, that there was nothing he attempted the knowledge of that was concealed from him. Of so charitable and liberal a spirit was he that he became useful and helpful to his brethren, not only in curing their maladies, but by instructing them in the knowledge of nature's secrets. Also, he could not go to his eternal rest in peace unless he imparted to posterity the means and ways by which he attained to such great mysteries. These mysteries, and the several processes and ways of operation, you will find in this subsequent treatise, being the most principal, excellent, and plain of all his works—and I may justly say, of all the books that are extant on this subject. It is one of the greatest unhappinesses that accompanies mankind that there is such a BabelA reference to the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11), hindering the spread of knowledge. of languages that every language is not understood in every place; this alone prevents the discovery and growth of many profound mysteries. How ignorant were our predecessors of the works of Basilius, because they were wrapped up for the most part in the German language, very little thereof being in Latin, until of late years this part was translated into English—as is presumed, by one who understood not the terms of the art, given the many gross mistakes committed, such as rendering Vitrum Antimonii as the "Vitriol of Antimony"Original: "Vitrum Antimonii, the Vitriol of Antimony". The editor notes the mistranslation of "Glass of Antimony" as "Vitriol of Antimony," a common chemical error., and many others. So that, out of the love I bear to the author and to the propagating of so ingenious...