Basil Valentine: Last Will & Testament (1671)

and covenant-breaking. I have found it necessary to describe this Declaration before my other writings and to prove it with examples, so that everyone whom God judges worthy may conceive, understand, and fathom the true beginning, the true middle, and the true end of all created things. I therefore purposed to begin with a necessary account of the origin, beginning, and existence of Minerals and Metals, from which this most noble and precious Medicine arises—the means by which a healthy, long life is procured and an abundance of riches is obtained. I explain where Minerals and Metals have their origin and how they are brought to light, so that those who search into Natural things may know the whole of Nature in her circumference before they ever lay a hand to the work. Once they acquaint themselves well with this, one thing will flow into another, one Art will produce the next, and at last, all that is sought will be overtaken with joy, and that which has been longed for will be happily enjoyed.

I divide this book into five parts, each subdivided into certain chapters and sections. As for the style used here, one should not expect anything other than what is appropriate for a Miner, in the manner of Mine-works, setting aside all rhetoric and poetic, eloquent expressions.

In the first part of my intended work, I will describe chiefly the manner, nature, and properties of Mine-works, in which Minerals and Metals grow, including their first sperm Original: sperm. Early modern chemical theory often referred to the "seed" or "sperm" of metals as their generative essence., nativity, quality, and property, as well as their exhalation and inhalation.