Preface 2, no date (1566), Gerhard Dorn to the Reader (BP.Dorn.1567-01)
| Author: | Gerhard Dorn |
| Recipient: | Reader |
| Type: | Dedication |
| Date: | no date [1566] |
| Pages: | 9 |
| Language: | Latin |
| Quote as: | https://www.theatrum-paracelsicum.com/index.php?curid=2658 |
| Editor: | Edited by Julian Paulus |
| Source: | Gerhard Dorn, Clavis totius philosophiae chymisticae, Lyon: Jacques Giunta (héritiers) 1567, p. 127-135 [BP.Dorn.1567-01]
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| Translation: | Raw translation see below |
| Abstract: | Dorn states he has composed a key to understanding Alchemy, offering a demonstration of its stages to serve as a guide for those interested in the subject. Dorn acknowledges the criticism he might face from individuals who are resistant to new ideas, particularly those not widely taught or accepted in traditional academic environments. He argues that experience is often a more powerful teacher than formal education and that philosophical truth is not determined by polished speech or complicated arguments. Dorn emphasizes that the principles outlined in his work may have moral implications, serving to guide ethical conduct, not just physical transformations. He argues that one must progress through philosophical stages to truly understand and apply Alchemy. The preface concludes with a discussion about the misconceptions of Alchemy, explaining that the true value lies not in the mythical transmutation of metals into gold, but in its potential application in healing the human body. Using this philosophy, he argues, one can achieve divine help in treating illnesses, thus improving overall health. (generated by Chat-GPT) |
| Back to Paratexts Back to Texts by Gerhard Dorn |
[p. 127] Ad benignvm lectorem avthoris praefatio
Postqvam Chymisticæ philosophiæ clauem hoc artificio compilatam, vt quodlibet capitulum peculiarem tractatum requireret absoluissem, facere non potui quin explicationem primi capitis huius Philosophiæ studiosis amatoribus darem: vt qua facie labores nostros recepturi sunt experirer. Quod si hos illis gratos, & acceptos fore perceperim, quandoque maioravidere licebit, quam hucusque de meis lucubratiunculis processerunt: sin minus aliis hac in re suum vt experiantur ingenium, si quid vtilius excellentiusque præstare velint relinquo: [p. 128] fecisse me satis, dum cunctis per clauis traditionem, & graduum demonstratione viam aperuerim existimabo. Sat scio plurimos ex his qui nihil præterquam ea quæ vel sua sunt, aut saltem sibi cognita, vel in vniuersitatibus audita probare solent, dentes in eos acuere, qui secretiora naturæ scrutantur mysteria. Vetum hoc non admiror, cum tales animaduertam pessime habere, quod post eorum longo labroe, sumptibúsque non exiguis parta studia, quibus iam sibi canos contraxere capillos, noua sibi quædam, si non inaudita, saltem parum aut nihil intellecta prodeant in lucem suis longè præstantiora: antiquissimis etiam auctoritatibus, & experientia recenti sic probata quibusuis iudicio sanioribus, vt nullis argumen- [p. 129] tis labefactari queant. Senio confectos discere pudet, eos maximè qui docere solent alios, rustico potius quàm philosophico pudore moti. Nunquid & nos ætatis, laborum, & sumptuum in Academiis iacturam fecimus? nec veremur tamen à minoribus pedem quem in stabiliora figamus retrahere. Non propterea (vti nostra hij) spernimus ea quæ docentur in vniuersitatibus, omninóque reiicimus, tanquam nulla forent, hoc solùm dicimus, nos experientia longè meliora didicisse, quàm lectionum frequentationibus. Nec dubito multos futuros, qui dum rem ipsam carpere non poterint, occasionem vel minimam quærent, aut sermonis inculti, vel ordinis in tractatione, qua quod lacerare non valent rodant. Verùm vt pro [p. 130] vtraque responsum sit his, certum est eos qui rebus ipsis intenti sunt maximè, rerum inutiles circonstantias minimè curare, tum quòd videant ad rem verè cognoscendam hominis ætatem longissimam deficere, tum etiam in veritatis professione locum non esse pallio: veráque minus, sermonis elegantia, vel multiloquio colorari solere. Ne videar etiam alicui de physicis in meaclaue positis principiis in moralem philosophiam incidisse, doctis hoc reuelabo secretum. Ea quæ videntur physica, quandoque, licet non semper, moralia sunt philosophis, tum occulta legentibus, manifestissima sibi, quæ non minus aliis pro occultissimis reputantur. Hac arte velarunt artem iis, qui rident omne quod assequi non valent ingenio. [p. 131] Hinc etiam factum à me putetis, quòd post traditionem artis, eiúsque clauis, mox inde gradus, vt media proponam, quibus vestra studia de gradu in gradum ad altiora promoueantur. Impossibile foret quempiam literatum vel quantumuis doctum ad hanc artem naturæ secretissimam peruenire posse, nisi per hos gradus philosophicos omnes moraliter, vel saltem phisicæ transitum fecerit: licet vtroque modo fœlicius. Alios defuturos non puto, qui dum accusare philosophos tantalogiæ vel superfluæ repetitionis audebunt, suam in hac arte prodent ignorantiam: cùm huic philosophiæ proprium sit, ea prius obiter discurrere, quæ postea latius explicantur, & postremo recapitulatione quadam repetere, qua legentium ani- [p. 132] mi rei frequentia potius confirmentur, quàm cognatur ea multiloquio credere, quæ sibi coactè non sunt obtrusa. Philosophi omnes amore quodam studioso peruenerunt ad artem[c1] hoc etiam alios ad hanc admonent, non cogunt tamen. Nec est etiam quod existimetis hic aureos latere montes, aut tantopere iactatum illum philosophorum lapidem, qui cuncta (vt asserunt nonnulli) in aurum monetarium inferiora quæque metalla transmutare queat, sed phisicum vobis lapidem propon quærendum, quo corporis humani phisica metalla minus perfecta (morbos putato) per methaphisica perfectissima permutari valeant metalla, quæ vocantur Eleysiria, medicinæque omnium simplicissimæ. Qua de re tot locis philoso- [p. 133] phi hortantur omnes quotquot ad hæc studia se conuerterint, ne philosophorum scriptis per litteram fidem adhibeant, sed vt allegoricè potius interpretentur ea. Summas in sanitate mentis & corporis diuitias antiqui reposuerunt: ex eo patet quòd plerique horum qui hanc artem nobis tradiderunt, strictissimam paupertatem libenter obseruarunt, vt Raymundus Lullius. Alij vel mediocriter vixerunt, vt Hermes Trismegistus, vel splendide bonis quæ non ex hac arte, sed paterno successu habuerunt antea, potiti sunt, vt Geber Arabum opibus paternis rex ditissimus. Quicquid sit hoc scio, dum adhuc artis discipulus minor essem, vna cum cæteris ditari cupiens hoc magisterio, post multos labores, fœtidos, valitudiníque noxios [p. 134] halitus haustos, sumptúsque non exiguos, oleum & operam perdidisse me. Nec tamen illud animum ab ista philosophiæ parte meum retrahere potuit: imò potius, tum quòd tantorum virorum graues admodum legerem authoritates, tum quòd experiendo mirabiles viderem operationes naturales, persuasum est alio mihi nauis huius proram esse diuertendam. Et cum animaduertissem medicinas metallicas non transmutare metalla, sed tingere tantum & illustrare. De philosophicis tincturis philosophos artem scripsisse iudicaui, voluíque pariter eas quæ circa humanum corpus applicari possent, experiri tincturas: maximè quòd olim rei medicæ non hac, sed alia (quod aiunt) minerua dedissem operam. Tandem Aureoli Theo- [p. 135] phrasti Paracelsi doctrina prouectus, quicquid desiderari potest, diuino consequi posse medicum auxilio circa corporis humani curationem ex Alchymia haud amplius dubito. Hæc sunt studiose lector, quæ de meis laboribus tibi polliceri possum, nempe quæ plurimum acuent ingenium tuum ad eorum intellectum consequendum, quæ scribuntur à philosophis in arte transmutatoria. Si quæ plura tamen de hoc studio speranda putes, ab eis qui fœliciori sunt ingenio petere poteris: interim ea quæ studiosorum in vtilitatem libenter adfero, boni consule, valéque.
English Raw Translation
Generated by ChatGPT-4 on 29 June 2023. Attention: This translation is a machine translation by artificial intelligence. The translation has not been checked and should not be cited without additional human verification.
To the kind reader, the author's preface
After having completed the key to the philosophy of Alchemy in this manner, so that each chapter requires a separate treatise, I could not but give an explanation of the first chapter to those passionate about this philosophy: that I might test the reception of our efforts. If I perceive that these will be pleasing and accepted, then at some time you will see greater works than have so far emerged from my small writings. But if not, I leave it to others to try their skill in this matter if they want to offer something more useful and excellent. I will deem that I have done enough, by having opened the way to all through the transmission of the key, and the demonstration of the stages.
I know well that many of those who approve of nothing other than what is their own, or at least known to them, or heard in universities, sharpen their teeth against those who delve into the deeper mysteries of nature. But I do not marvel at this, as I observe that such people are sorely aggrieved that after their long labour, and no small expense, their studies, which have turned their hair grey, are far surpassed by new, if not unheard-of, at least little understood ideas. These ideas are upheld by the most ancient authorities, and by recent experience, and are so proven to the soundest judgement that they cannot be shaken by any arguments.
Those worn out by age are ashamed to learn, especially those who usually teach others, motivated more by rustic than philosophical shame. Did we also not expend our youth, labour, and resources in Academies? Yet we do not fear to draw back our foot to more stable ground. Therefore, we do not despise what is taught in universities and reject it completely, as if it were nothing. We only say that we have learned far better things through experience than through the frequentation of lectures.
I have no doubt that there will be many who, while they cannot criticize the matter itself, will look for the slightest opportunity to criticize, whether it be the unpolished speech, or the order of the treatment, and gnaw at what they cannot tear apart. But to answer these, it is certain that those who are most intent on the matters themselves care least for useless circumstances. This is because they see that a man's life is too short to truly know a thing, and also that in the profession of truth there is no place for a cloak. The truth is colored less by elegant speech or verbosity.
So as not to seem to have strayed from the physical principles set out in my key to moral philosophy, I will reveal this secret to the learned. That which seems physical, sometimes, though not always, is moral to philosophers, being clear to them when reading hidden things, which are considered just as hidden by others. By this art, they veil the art from those who laugh at everything they cannot attain through intelligence.
You might also think that this is why, after transmitting the art and its key, I propose the stages as a means to promote your studies from one level to the next. It would be impossible for anyone, no matter how literate or educated, to reach this most secret art of nature, unless they have made the transition through these philosophical stages, morally, or at least physically, although both ways are more successful.
I do not think others will be lacking, who, while daring to accuse philosophers of tautology or superfluous repetition, will reveal their ignorance in this art. Since it is characteristic of this philosophy to first run over the things that are later explained in more detail, and finally to repeat them in a kind of recapitulation, so that the minds of readers may be more firmly confirmed by the repetition of the matter, rather than believe in
verbosity, which is not imposed upon them.
All philosophers have reached the art with a kind of eager love, and they also admonish others to this, although they do not force them. Nor should you think that here lie hidden gold mines, or the much-vaunted philosopher's stone, which can (as some assert) transmute all lower metals into coin gold, but I propose for you to seek the physical stone, by which the human body's less perfect physical metals (consider them diseases) can be transmuted into the most perfect metaphysical metals, which are called Elysian, and the simplest of all medicines. On this matter, philosophers urge all those who have turned to these studies, not to take the writings of philosophers literally, but rather to interpret them allegorically.
The ancients placed the greatest wealth in mental and bodily health. From this it is clear that most of those who passed on this art to us gladly observed strict poverty, like Raymond Lull. Others lived moderately, like Hermes Trismegistus, or enjoyed goods not from this art, but from parental succession, like Geber, the richest king of the Arabs by his father's wealth. Whatever the case, I know that when I was still a minor disciple of the art, wanting to get rich with the others from this teaching, after much labor, foul and harmful vapors inhaled, and no small expenses, I found that I had wasted my oil and effort.
However, this could not deter my spirit from this part of philosophy. Rather, both because I had read the very serious authorities of great men, and because I had seen wonderful natural operations by experimenting, I was convinced that I should steer the prow of this ship elsewhere. And when I noticed that metallic medicines do not transmute metals, but only color and illuminate them, I judged that philosophers had written about the art of philosophical tinctures, and I also wanted to test the tinctures that could be applied to the human body. Especially since I had devoted myself not to this medical matter, but to another (as they say) Athena.
Finally, advanced by the doctrine of Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus, I no longer doubt that whatever can be desired, a doctor can obtain divine help in healing the human body from Alchemy. These are the things, dear reader, that I can promise from my labors, namely those that will sharpen your mind the most to achieve the understanding of what the philosophers write in the transmutative art. If you think you can hope for more from this study, you can ask those who are more fortunate in their intelligence. In the meantime, consider for the better the things I willingly bring for the benefit of students, and fare well.
