Preface, no date (1569), Adam Schröter to Petrus Gutteter (BP107)

From Theatrum Paracelsicum


Author: Adam Schröter
Recipient: Petrus Gutteter
Type: Preface
Date: no date [1569]
Language: Latin
Quote as: https://www.theatrum-paracelsicum.com/index.php?curid=1957
Editor: Edited by Julian Paulus
Source:
Paracelsus, De Præparationibus, ed. Adam Schröter, Krakau: Maciej Wirzbięta 1569, sig. A2r-D2v [BP107]
CP: Not in Kühlmann/Telle, Corpus Paracelsisticum
Translation: Raw translation see below
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[sig. A2r] Ad eccellentissimvm doctrina et pietate virum, D[ominvm] Petrvm Gvtteterum, Legum Doctorem eximium, Inclitæ vrbis Cracouiæ Senatorem amplißimum, &c. In Librum Theophrasti Paracelsi, de Præparationibus, omnibus cum Medicis, tum infirmis vtilißimum: Adami Schröteri Sylesij, Philosophi & Poëtæ Laureati, &c. Præfatio.

Quemadmodum Hippocratis ætate plures medicorum sectas atq́ue familias fuisse, ex ipsius Hippocratis scriptis constat, Amplissime Guttetere: quæ sententijs discrepantes, mutu?o primatum obtinere in medicina contendebant: Ita nostris quoq́ue temporibus, postquam Hippocratis authoritate illarum contentiones sectarum finitæ sunt: resq́ue eò deuenit, vt vnus Hippocrates capit medicinæ ab omnibus, nec immeritò, censeretur: Diuinæ id faciente erga homines miserationis dispositione, Medicorum vnitaas, in duas sectas abijt, diuisaq́ue est. Harum vna, quôd Hippocrati, vel Galeno, vel Auicennæ, alijsúe priscis scriptoribus adhæreat: nobis ob reuerentiam nominis, Hippocratica, vel saltem discriminis gra- [sig. A2v] tia, dicatur: Altera ab eo, qui non odio motus, sed languentium commiseratione ductus, Deo ipso authore ad altiorem medicinæ gradum peruenit: Theophrastica nominetur. Huic quidem illa, illi autem hæc; quia contentione quadam inuisa est, odiosaq́ue redditur: nos amore veri, & charitate proximi, commoti: quid de vtraq́ue, cuiq́ue bono, cordatoq́ue viro sentiendum sit: hac præfatione modestè pariter, ac bono iudicio, perquirere statuimus: Vt deposito parte ab vtraq́ue odio: bonum illud, quod ad humani generis conseruationem, vtriq́ue Deus donauit: ad eiusdem commodum, atq́ue integritatem, vnanimi studio ab vtraq́ue in medium conferatur. Nam perinde vt negari non potest, Hippocrati donum medicinæ diuinitus datum fuisse: Theophrasto itidem diuinitus suum: ita omnino neq́ue id quisquam negauerit, Deum cuiq́ue distribuere dona secundum mensuram pro suo arbitrio liberrimo: neq́ue hoc affirmauerit, non perfectiora illis donare, qui ampliorem sui cognitionem per gratiam in Christo Iesu consecuti sunt: quam his, qui absq́ue gratia, in gentili Deorum multitudine, ipsum ignorauerunt: maximè cum scriptura dicat, omni habenti dari, ab eo autem qui non habet, etiam id, quod habet, auferri.*[m1] Quod cùm ita sit, non immeritò forsan obijciet quispiam: Theophrastum insolentius agere: quòd Hyppocraticos omni pla- [sig. A3r] nê authoritate exutos velit, atq́ue durius insectetur: cùm debuerat in ipsis quoq́ue donum Dei, quantulumcunq́ue id fuerit, agnoscere potius: quàm tanta verborum asperitate eos perstringere: eorum ignorantiam taxare: et penitus scripta eorum respuere: sibi autem ipsi monarchiam in medica facultate vendicare. Verùm si quis primum quidem quo studio ad scribendum impulsus sit Theophrastus, consyderet: deinde verò quos insectetur, et quatenus, attendat: Postremò, quid et quomodo doceat, scribatué, intelligat: ipse protinus obiectoni huic respondebit. Reputet itaq́ue Theophrastum hunc illis temporibus floruisse: cùm: post multas bellorum et seditionum clades, et rerum publicarum perturbationes: quibus vniuersa propemodum literatura, artesq́ue omnes ad interitum vsq́ue concidissent, nisi impolita Barbarorum philosophorum obscuritas, quodammodo eis auxilio fuisset: Deus ingenia hominum velut è mortuis resurgentium, ad recuperandum, artium et totius literaturæ splendorem, excitauit. Quod igitur fuit Marsilius Ficinus, in reuocanda Hermetis Trismegisti, Aegyptiaca, Platonicaq́ue Philosophia: Quod Ioannes Reuchlinus Capnion in renouandis græcis hæbraicisq́ue studijs, adiuncta Theologia, mysterijsq́ue secretorum diuinorum: Quod Angelus Politianus: Quod Baptista Mantuanus[c1]: Ille [sig. A3v] in Aristotelica philosophia: hic in Virgiliana poësi, et Erasmus in iucunda Latini sermonis eloquentia: Idem, ne plures enumerem suæ quenq́ue professionis cultores, et veluti nouos quosdam Authores: Idem inquam, vt parua magnis, vel æqualia æqualibus conferamus: hunc quoq́ue Theophrastum in renouanda medicina fuisse non iniuria dicere possumus, et debemus. Illi enim omnes quos recensui, versores potius, et commentatores veluti veterum Authorum, qui barbarorum tumultinus in obliuionem, ignorantiamq́ue hominum venerant, quàm renouatores fuerunt: illisq́ue Cornarius, Hippocratis Græci, nostro tempore translator, rectius conferri potest, quàm hic noster Theophrastus, quem ad altiora medicinæ secreta, priscis præter Hermetem Trismegistum ignota, magno studio indaganda, Deus ipse exuscitauit. Nondum sua ætate Hippocrates, nondum Galenus totus, nondum Aëtius, cæteriq́ue Græci, medicinæ authores, latinè loquebantur: Prostabat Auivenna tanquam in Lupanari imperitorum medicorum: quo cum, quisq́ue eorum pro suæ ignorantiæ, et inscitiæ libidine, abutebatur. Idemq́ue cum alijs agebatur authoribus omnibus, quorum malè intellectas sententias, dum disputationum tricis huc atq́ue illuc apud ægros, diducunt et distrahunt medici, interea ægri miserè emoriuntur. Quod autem de [sig. A4r] Physicis Doctoribus, idem et de Chirurgiæ magistris ipsius tempore, conqueri licebat: Et certè nescio, an non nostro quoq́ue tempore idem liceat.

Quidńi: cùm etiam Hippocrates ipse idem conqueratur? Idem Iacobus Syluius, optimus author, cæteriq́ue plures etiamnum lamententur et deplorent?

Miserabilis est sanè in medicina facienda error: eoq́ue miserabilior, quòd ad tot diuersas grauissimorum morborum speties: quarum vel vnica ad delendum è viuis hominem, sufficeret: hæc quoq́ue insuper ceu fœdissima crudelissimæ carnificinæ tortura, et remanere volentis vitæ, expulsio volenta accedat.

Quod ne deinceps fieret, pietate in omnes, etiam posteros: commiseratione autem in ægros motus: cùm plurima, in vniuersa medicina diligentius excussa, desiderari cognouisset, animum ad indagandam medicinæ certitudinem appulit. Deus autem conditor naturæ, et misericors humani generis pater et amator: qui pietatis inspector est, et proximi charitate colitur: qui linum fumigans non extinguit, neq́ue stipulam aridam comminuit: sed clamantes exaudit: pulsantibus aperit: petentibus dat: et quærentibus vltrò offert: suprà captum huamni ingenij, cærtiduinem quærenti, naturæ mysteria, medicinæq́ue Arcana, ad communem humani generis vtilitatem, in qua charitatem cuiq́ue erga proximum exercere liceat, et [sig. A4v] ad gloriam nominis sui, aperuit, atq́ue manifestauit.

Hoc studio atq́ue animo, et quæsiuisse, et datam diuinitus medicinæ certitudinem se literis mandasse: (quamuis bona ingenia, quibus innatum est, omnia in meliorem partem accipere, ipsa per se intelligerent:) ipse Theophrastus in proæmio Magnæ Chirurgiæ testatur in hæc propemodum verba. “Tria omnino sunt, optime Volphgange, quæ me ad scribendam Chirurgiam impellunt: quorum primum est, quòd libri veterum, quos quidem nobis videre hactenus contigit, adeò imperfecti sunt, vt vnicum, quò ad naturæ vim attinet, certum præsidium in eis non inueniatur: Alterum est, miserabilis tot informorum destructio et corruptela, ex inscitia, et ineptitudine chirurgorum proueniens: Tertium est, praua et difficilima symptomata, in vulueratis ex mala curatione, contingentia: quæ nobos quotidiana experientia multipliciter cognoscenda et sananda obtulit.” An non pium hunc animum censes, qui proximi malum misertus, quem diuinitus accepit scientiæ Thesaurum, non inuidus abscondit: sed prodesse cupiens omnibus, vt omnibus impertiretur, literis mandauit: et quidem patria lingua: vt non modò ad doctiores, verùm etiam ad imperitiores idiotas, volentes tamen discere et doceri, tantæ doctrinæ communio et participatio perueniret? An tu hunc omni odio et [sig. B1r] inuidia premendum, et non potius mille modis amandum censes: qui aliquando in eadem inscitiæ, imperfectæq́ue medicinæ naue tecum considens, pluribus naufragijs factis, iamq́ue desperans de portu et salute, tandem Diuina miseratione enatauit: et ad se rediens, omnibus terris medicinæ certitudinem, in Italia, Gallia, Germania, apud Hispanos, Granatos, Lusitanos, Anglos, per Prussiam, Lithuaniam, Poloniam, Vngariam, Valachiam, Croatiam, et vltra Transylvanos ad extremos vsq́ue Getas, Indosq́ue quæsiuit: non inuentam verò, sed cœlitus tandem demissam, acceptamq́ue, tibi omni fidelitate communicauit, tibi perscripsit, tibi vtendam dedit? Quid quæso differs amare eum, qui, ne tu perires naufragio: ne tu extingueris frustra susceptæ peregrinationis periculis: ipse naufragium pertulit, ipse pericula subijt, superauit: teq́ue vt tutior esses, omnibus quæsitis bonis cumulauit, et miniuit? Nihil habet veritatis, naturæq́ue studiosus quod reprehendat in Theophrasto, si rem secum rectè perpendere velit. Nam non ita sua profert, vt aliorum omnia penitus damnet: relinquit cuiq́ue suo in loco quicquid veri certiq́ue habet: errores autem carpit, abusum vituperat, ignorantiam damnat, ignauiam in discendo et inquirendo persequitur, humanorum casuum languorumq́ue miseretur, infirmis tabescentibus compatitur, con- [sig. B1v] dolet, commoritur. Quid in hoc tali homine habes reprehensione dignum? Sed audi quæso quid dicat: "Itaq́ue cùm certò constet, Chirurgiam (intellige tu totam etiam medicinam) æque certam esse artem, aut scientiam, quàm est Architectura: vt vos ad eius amorem incitarem, hoc opus, quamuis simpliciori stylo, conscripsi vobis. Neq́ue enim curat Medicina phaleratam elocutionem. Monitos autem vos velim, ne mihi hanc scriptionem in malam vertatis partem. Noui equidem vestrum plerosq́ue in diuersis regionibus, non omnino ignaros artis: imo quosdam etiam secretorum peritos: et hunc quidem, vnum arcanum habere: alium, dimidium arcani, alium, vnum cum dimidio, alium etiam duo cognouisse, quemq́ue iuxta mensuram, plura vel pauciora. Quod quisq́ue nouit, id suum cuiq́ue esto. Meum propositum est eos docere, non qui Docti, Veri, et Experientia confirmati sunt: (his enim non opus est doctrina mea: nec de his quicquam horum intelligi volo:) sed qui his ex aduerso opponuntur." Cuperem autem vt mea scripta semper in meliorem partem acciperentur. Quid hic quæso dicitur, quod boni viri æstimationem offendat? Sed hoc plerosq́ue aduersus Theophrastum commouit, quòd acrius in Indoctos, Sophistas, Circumforaneos, et omni experientia destitutos, inuehatur. Quod tamen, si quis diligenter attendat, ferendum [sig. B2r] omnino esse, intelliget: nam immedicabile vulns, vt Poëtæ verbis vtar, ense recidendum est, ne pars syncera trahatur. Inuectus est Hippocrates ante Theophrastum in tales medicos. Inueti sunt multi post Hippocratem alij. Vt autem Hermetem maximi facit, ita modestius de Hippocrate, quàm de alijs loquitur. Minus sentit de Galeno, minus etiam de Auicenna. Quid verò mirum? cùm etiam Hippocraticorum pleriq́ue grauissimos Auicennæ errores sæpius deprehenderint, adeò vt Leonhardus Fuchsius, non postremus nostræ ætatis Hippocraticus medicus sæpius exclamet, in Arabum doctrina vniuersa nihil certi ac solidi haberi, confusa esse omnia, omnia esse incerta, eorumq́ue scripta sæpenumero medicis errandi occasionem præbere? Quicquid igitur apud Hippocratem, eiusq́ue sequaces, ex lumine naturæ, Deiq́ue dono, verum syncerumq́ue est, id omne adeò non perstringit Theophrastus, vt non pauca apud hunc, vel tanquam ab illis desumpta, vel tanquam explanata clarius, inueniantur: quod ipsum argumento est, quanta sit, in lumine naturæ et rationis, veri cum vero consonantia. Verùm si quæ sine experientia minus firmis consequentiæ nexibus per eos deducta sunt, et pro certis habita: ea conuellit, et confutat: primatumq́ue, non odio ipsorum, aut minuendi ipsos studio, eis non concedit, sed glorificandi Dei [sig. B2v] datoris scientiæ amore. Iustum siquidem est, non modo dona Dei, secundum mensuram cuiq́ue concessa agnoscere: sed etiam agnita ita prædicare: ne: dum antiquitatis ratione habita, veteres, quibus dona tributa diuinitus minora scimus: Iunioribus præferre studemus, in quos exuberantio Diuini Spiritus gratia diffusa est: impietatis in Deum, mendacijq́ue redarguamur: vtpote qui contra agnitam veritatem, dona Dei maiora, minoribus non modo postponamus: verùm etiam si quæ minoribus donis humanitus deprauatio accessit, ijs maiora perfectioraq́ue subijcientes, ea coinquinemus. Quapropter quòd veteres durius reprehendat, quòd primatum seu Monarchiam medicinæ sibi vendicet, his consideratis Theophrastus accusari iure non potest, multò minus odio dignus esse. Quanquam non paucis stomachum bilemq́ue mouet, quòd nonnulli, arrogantes, et mendaces, qui se Theophrasticos profitentur, cùm re ipsa nihil minus sint, quàm Theophrastici: tanta promittunt, tanta iactitant, quanta per ipsos fieri posse nec Theophrastus velit, nec natura admittat: sed nec Deus patiatur. Hi igitur cùm suo ipsorum mendacio sese illaqueent, non potentes efficere experientia facti, quæ linguæ fallacis mendaci iactantia pollicentur: dum stultè, bonum nomen authoris extollere volunt, turpiter lapsi, existimationem ipsius minuunt. [sig. B3r] Quò sanè sit, vt maleuolorum detractrici loquacitati, et maledicentiæ contra Theophrastum, quanquam immeritò, ansa præbeatur. Oportet siquidem sua quenq́ue errata ferre, eorumq́ue ignominiam in seipsum suscipere, non in alium innoxium deriuare: quod cum factum fuerit, hac quoq́ue in parte noster author immunis erit ab omni odio et inuidia: maximè cùm prædixerit futuros eiusmodi sycophantas qui medicinæ suæ titulo ad deceptiones et illusiones hominum vtentur, non quidem authoris vitio, sed suæ ipsorum naturæ illiberali maleficio. Restat itaq́ue vltimum, quod animos multorum à Theophrasto abalienat, in quo si ostenderimus authorem hunc nihil peccare, non dubito quin pleriq́ue Doctorum, qui ad hoc veri conuiuium inuitati simul, et electi sunt, huic adhereant, epulentur, et calicem veritatis syncerum cum eo bibant. Hoc autem est, vitium obscuritatis, quod illi obijcitur, partim ob nouitatem verborum quorundam: partim ob præparationis medicinarum ignorantiam. Verborum nouitatem excusat cùm Horatius, quod liceat nouis rebus, noua et inaudita ante vocabula imponere: tum verò ipse author, qui si quid nouum vno in volumine posuit, illud in alio, quid sit, descripsit. Præparationis autem ignorantia, quamuis non tàm Theophrasto, quàm ignaris rerum, philosophiæq́ue imputunda sit: tamen vt hac quoq́ue in cau- [sig. B3v] sa nihil iustè accusari possit: partim alijs passim in voluminibus varias præparare medicinas docuit, partim in eo opere quod De Præparationibus inscipsit, breuiter et succinctè, vt ferè in omnibus solet, annotauit. Principales autem et arcanas præparationes, in Archidoxam rettulit, quam, breui, auxilio Diuino in lucem emittere decreui. Magnum reuera, et dolendum omnibus impedimentum erat, quòd inter centum Doctores, ob ignorantiam præparationis, vix vnus Theophrasticam medicinam hactenus legerit, nedum tractauerit. Huius autem ignorantiæ initium non tàm ab ipsis Doctoribus fluxit, quàm ab his, qui cùm abusus artium emendare debuissent, nec ob ignorantiam potuissent, maluerunt artes, alioqui sanctissimas, et homine libero dignissimas, omnibus ab Vniuersitatibus prohibere et explodere, quàm tot earum per Sophistas et circulatores introductos abusus tolerare. Harum artium vna quidem, vt de alijs hoc loco taceam, est Alchimia, quam impostores nequam, et eorum causa nonnulli, rerum Domini principes, adeò inuisam aliquot ante hæc tempora annis habebant, habentq́ue nonnulli etiam hodie, vt neminem probum existiment, qui eius exercitijs naturæ secreta rimatur, sed ludibrio exceptum digito demonstrent, et adunco naso, veluti auri, argentiué fictorem, suspendant. Qua barbarie [sig. B4r] quid per hominum fidem, potest esse immanius?

Vt vigitur omnibus Medicinæ amatoribus constet quid sit Alchimia, quisq́ue eius verus ac legitimus vsus, tùm vt quæ hoc libello De Præparationibus dicuntur, rectius intelligi valeant: pauca de ea dicamus oportet.

Est ergo Alchimia, non vt permulti idiotæ garriunt, transmutandi metalla imperfecta, in aurum vel argentum, scientia, (quamuis et hæc per artem et naturam Deo concedente cui vult, possibilis, certaq́ue eius pars est) Verùm certa ars et scientia, qua per ignem totius naturæ secreta vis elicitur, subtiliatur, perficitur, et in efficacía virtutis multiplicatur. Hac purum ab impuro separatur, grossum à leui secernitur, et deniq́ue quoduis externum à suo interno, ad manifestandum occulta, et occultandum manifesta sequestratur. Vnde ab ignis quidem fusione Alchimia, à sequestrandi verò et separandi officio Spagyrica dicitur, quæ sola creationis Diuiniæ æmulatrix est scientia. Nihil enim creatum legimus, nisi per diuisionem ex confuso cha. Diuisit Deus, inquit scriptura, lucem à tenebris, Diuisit aquas sub firmamento, ab his quæ super firmamentum, Diuisit aquas ab arida: Diuisione eductæ sunt herbæ, ligna, animalia à terra: itidem Diuisionis medio formatus homo. Sic stellæ, sic pisces, sic volatilia. Atq́ue hinc est, [sig. B4v] quòd Alchimiæ vitriusq́ue vsus latissimè patet. Duplex enim Alchimia est, quemadmodum etiam duplex ignis. Interior et naturalis: Exterior item et artificialis: hæc illam imitatur operando: illa in creatione ab ipso creatore Deo, legem, operandi virtutem sibi inditam, accepit. Hæc illam mouet et elicit: illa mouenti obediens, corpore elicita, virtutem inditam iuxta prædestinatinem suam operatur, et potenter exercet. Atq́ue ex his clarius iam agnoscitur id, quod in Definitione posuimus. Omnis creatura nihil aliud quàm Alchimiam exercet in natura.

Lapides calore mediante, è diuiso humido viscoso ab alijs aquæ partibus, nascuntur, et coagulantur. Mineræ omnes, itidem per separationem, et coagulationem ex aqua oriuntur. Herbæ et Plantæ, dum ex terra separant idoneum nutrimentum, illudq́ue in corpus ipsarum, folia, flores et semina fructusúe conuertunt, quid quæso agunt præter Alchimiam.

Animalia dum comestas herbas, naturali calore digerunt, digestas in nutrimentum et fœces diuidunt, nutrimentum itidem in ossa, carnem, sanguinem et lac, et similia conuertunt, Fœces verò in vrinam, stercora, pilos, vngues, cornuaq́ue excernunt, quid operantur nisi alchimiam? Per alchimiam Panis in homine, caro et sanguis hominis fit: in cane, caro et sanguis canis: in boue, bouis: in sue, suis etc. Idemq́ue [sig. C1r] in alijs omnibus licet intelligere. Ex quibus manifestum est, et quid sit interior alchimia, et quàm latè pateat: cuius cùm imitatrix sit exterior, quamuis meditanti per se iudicari possit, quàm in omnia sese extendat: tamen pro nostri propositi ratione, vnum hoc assumo, Sine Alchimia, nulla naturæ secreta posse elixi: nullam latentem in potentia virtutem, verè in actum produci: nullam Medicinam debitò modo præparari. Hic est verus Alchimiæ vsus, naturæ mysteria per eam indagare: occultas rerum virtutes explorare: creditam Dei omnipotentiam oculis cernere, manibus tangere. O quàm iucunda est, quàm auget fidem et amorem in Deum, et charitatem in proximum, hoc modo sobriè et diligenter tractata Alchimia. Non Tantalo, non Euclioni, non superbo, nec molli, nec Cynædo conuenit talis Alchimia: Sed contemptori diuitiarum philosopho, humili, liberali, laborioso, honesto, Dei amatori, proximi adiutori, naturæq́ue inuestigatori. O quam præclara, quàm sancta, quàm Diuina est ignis scientia. Deus ipse Ignis consumens est: Ignis inaccessibilis est: Hic Ignis mundi rerum creator et separator est. Ignis cuncta fouet creata: ignis lucem, calorem, maturitatem omnium perficit: Ignis producit fructus, animalia, metalla: ignis mutat et transmutat omnia: Ignis separat et probat, et præparat omnia: [sig. C1v] Ignis iudicat aurum, et metalla, et sæculum: Ignis purgat omnia: Ignis absumit superflua: Ignis immortalitatem affert. In igne vita æterna, lux, splendor, et beatitudo summa: In Igne mors æterna, tenebræ, stridor dentium, et damnatio æterna. In igne exultauit Henoch, Helias, Moyses. In igne cruciatus est Diues Lazari neglector. Sed quorsum me rapit cogitatio, dum admiror quid ipse ignis, quidúe Alchimia possit per ignem. Vtinam vtinam et vos amici Doctores aliquando hæc vel modico labore attingeretis, certò scio quàm ardenti studio ad amorem et studium Alchimiæ incumberetis. Tum demum vobis charus esset Theophrastus, Tum demum agnosceretis, quid valeat rectè præparata medicina. Tum demum verè in amorem Dei, Naturæ, et proximorum raperemini. Sed ne quærentes fortasse et expectantes aliquos rationem præparationum, amplius differam, ad Libelli ipsius declarationem accedam, modosq́ue præparationum, quos author nomine tantum significat tanquam artis chimiæ peritis cognitos, propter eius artis imperitos quidem, discendi tamen cupidos, quantò breuius et rectius potero, explicabo. Tanta siquidem est præparationis virtus, (vti pulcherrimè à Iacobo Syluio doctissimo Hippocraticæ Scholæ Medico dictum est) et tàm latè per omnes rerum spcies eius [sig. C2r] ratio spargitur, vt nihil à natura gignatur, augeatur, aut alio quouis modo moueatur citra præparationem: nihil artes tàm mechanicæ, quam aliæ omnes tentant non adhibita prius præparatione aliqua, per quam ars sæpe naturam vincere videtur. Præparatio enim est rei cuïusq́ue ad consequendum finem propositum adaptatio, quæ fit superfluorum ablatione, defectus supplemento, et perfectionis debitæ administratione: quod eleganter idem Syluius dixit, Medicamentorum præparationem esse, ipsa per artem vsui vel compositioni commodiora reddere, hoc est, vel mitiora, vel valentiora, vel gratiora, vel salubriora, vel magis miscibilia, et, vt paucis dicam, meliora vel ad vtendum, vel ad componendum. Absoluit autem Theophrastus vniuersam huius libelli præparationem, septemdecim modis, quorum nomina sunt hæc, Trituratio, Ablutio, Imbibitio vel nutritio, Humectatio aut Incorporatio, Putrefactio, Digestio, Dissolutio, Distillatio, Coagulatio, Exiccatio, Alkalizatio, Fusio, Additio, seu Mixtura, Straficatio, Reuerberatio, Calcinatio, et Sublimatio. Quanquam Syluius plures: Chimistæ verò pauciores modos enumerent: ille quidem omnes vel maximè communes complexus: hi autem artificiosos duntaxat, ipsisq́ue solis proprios: Nos quorum nomina posuimus, eos breuiter declarabimus. Tritu- [sig. C2v] ratio igitur est, cuiusuis rei siccæ, vel terendo in mortario, vel molendo super lapide, vel fricando, limandoúe, in puluerem facta redactio: officinis pharmacopæorum Puluerisatio dicta. Ablutio, est per aquam facta à sordibus rei emundatio. Abluuntur autem potissimum materiæ terrestres, vel minerales, vel metallicæ, postquam fuerint trituratæ et in puluerem redactæ. Aqua verò ablutionis, alias simples communisq́ue est, alias rosacea, alias alia stillatitia, nonnunquam lac mulieris lactentis. Apud Chimicos autem etiam acetum distillatum, aqua aluminis, et his similes. Imbibitio est rei cuiusuis siccæ, et puluerisatæ, humido aliquo, puta aceto, vino, succis aut aquis herbarum, aut lacte, aut oleo, sæpius iterata, post successiuas exiccationes humectatio. Metaphoricè sumptum est à bibentibus, qui absumpto haustu priore, alium imbibunt, illo quoq́ue absumpto mox alium atq́ue alium. Eadem autem est medicis Nutritio, quæ Chimicis Imbibitio, similisq́ue propemodum metaphoræ ratio. Incorporatio vel Humectatio est, cùm rei siccæ tantum liquidi affunditur, vt liquidum sicco non supernatet, sed instar pulmenti piquidioris vel spissioris contemperentur inuicem. Quòd si siccum sua vi humidum incorporatum absumat, iterumq́ue siccum maneat, et iteratò incpororetur, imbibitio vocabitur, vt dictum est. Incorporationi similis fe- [sig. C3r] rè est, quam medici vocant infusionem: cum rei siccæ tantum liquidi superfunditur, vt supra siccum emineat, et supernatet sicco ad placitum, duos vel tres digitos, pluresúe. Quadsi res sicca diutius in infusione steterit, Maceratio vocabitur: Sicca autem hoc loco vocamus quæcunq́ue vel arte siccantur, vt herbæ, radices et similia, vel natura sicca sunt, vt Terræ, Mineralia, Venæ, Metalla etc. Putrefactio Chimicis maximè nota, est cùm res vel humida, vt herbæ et stirpes omnes, etiam oleagineæ et pingues: vel sicca, vel etiam imbibita, Incorporata, aut infusa, in idoneo instrumento siue vase, reponitur ad Macerandum in magnum Fimi equini cum straminibus suis mixti aceruum, ad idonei temporis spacium, quo videlicet res ita putrificata, secundum placitum medici alteretur de qualitate in qualitatem, reddaturq́ue materia tractationi aptior, ad separationes in ea perficiendas. Alij alio modo Fimum equinum renouant sæpius, te experientia doceat quid facto opus sit. Chimici fimum equinum, methonimicè appellant ventrem equinem, continentem pro contento vsurpantes, honoris gratia. Digestio, Similis ferè est Putrefactioni, in eo quæ aptiorem reddit materiam tractationi: differt autem in eo quòd illa vt diximus alterat: hæc maturat, quare et putrefacta omnia digeri possunt. Est ergo digestio rei cuiusq́ue, caloris [sig. C3v] debiti operatione facta maturatio, et habilitas ad finem propositum, vel tractationis ad separandum, vel exhibitionis ad medicandum. Hic caloris ignisq́ue gradus obseruandi veniunt, quos nisi obseruaueris debito ac legitimo modo, nihil vnquam in omni alchimia aut Spagyrica perficies. Quatuor sunt caloris ignisq́ue gradus, Primus Lentissimus, qui sensum tactus delectat: Secundus Fortis, quem tamen sensus tanto spatio temporis ferre potest, quantum xij integri tactus absumunt. Tertius Fortior, qui sensum subitò lædit. Quartus Fortissimus, qui sensum destruit. Primi gradus sunt Fimus equinus, Nidus Formicarum, Calor radiorum Solis, Calor gallinæ incubantis, Calor aquæ tepidæ, vel Balnei mariæ.

Secundi gradus, Ignis Bullientis aquæ, ignis Cinerum: Tamen absq́ue ignitione. Tertij gradus, Ignis carbonum, Ignis arenæ cum ignitione, vel sine ignitione. Quarti gradus, Ignis flammæ, Ignitionis, Fusionis metallorum, et similes. Habet autem quilibet gradus plura puncta, quod vnico verbo significandum duxi. Digestioni itaq́ue et Putrefactioni, primus ignium gradus seruit: quanquam Digestio successu temporis aliquando etiam ad tertium gradum ascendit, in metallis autem etiam ad quartum, Sed hæc fida magistra docebit Experientia. Dissolutio est rei cuiusuis ex liquido concretæ, iterum in liquidum, [sig. C4r] per partium extenuationem, viscositatisq́ue compactæ per humectationem idoneam facta resolutio.

Soluuntur autem partim gummata, partim succi concreti, quandoq́ue Terræ, quandoq́ue Alumina, Salia, Vitriola, quandoq́ue lapides preciosi, quandoq́ue metalla, quandoq́ue Calces, quandoq́ue mineralia, et quicquid est eorum, quæ ex aqua concreta sunt. Duplex autem est solutio, vel per se, vt in aëre sub diuo, in cellario, in fimo, in vapore aquæ: Vel affusione liquidi resoluentis, vt aquæ, Vini, Aceti, et similium. Distillatio est extractio vel detractio humiditatis à re quacunq́ue, facta tenuiorum partium à grossioribus separatione, ac in vas subiectum guttatim receptione. Quatuor sunt autem Distillationum species, Vna per ascensum cum alembico: altera ad latus, vel cum alembico, vel absq́ue eo. Tertia per descensum absq́ue alembico: Quarta per linguam siue filtrum. Hæc apud Chimicos Gebro potissimm authore, copiosius traduntur. Coagulatio est, quando res quæpiam à continuitate partium concretarum, vt dictum est, resoluta, calore primi gradus iterum concrescit, non tàm humidi absumptione, quam eiusdem inspissatione. Atq́ue sic coagulantur Salia, Gumata, resinæ, Vitriola, metalla, et his similia. Exiccatio est rei imbibitæ, vel ablutæ, vel incorporatæ, vel infusæ, vel maceratæ: per detractionem humidi- [sig. C4v] tatis, vel euaporationem eiusdem, et non per inspissationem, facta siccitas. Fit autem exiccatio vt plurimum igne secundi gradus. Alkalizatio est extractio Salis ex re qualibet, cuius processus et ordo hic est vt res quælibet primum vertatur in cinerem, vel calcem: deinde cinis vel calx maceretur in infusione aquæ communis purissimæ vel distillatæ, dici vnius spacio: post detrahatur per linguam purissimè: inde apud ignem primi, vel secundi gradus euaporetur: quod manet in fundo siccum, iterum ponatur in solutionem aquæ communis, solutum tandiu ad ignem conuenientem euaporet, donec tres partes totius absumantur, reliquum locatum in frigidum, ponet suo tempore lapillos salsos, propemodum aluminis instar diaphanos, qui sunt sal alkali eius rei, cuius erant cineres. Fusio est liquefactio mineralium, vel Metallorum, per ignem terij vel quarti gradus. Funduntur enim Salia, Aluminia, Vitriola. Funduntur item Plumbum, Stannum, etc. in tigillo triangulari, igne debito, cum vel sine follibus administrato.

Additio seu mixtura, compositio ipsa est quarumlibet rerum, ratione virtutis, sibi mutuo conuenientium, certa proportione in vnum compositum medicamentum receptatum, vel ad præparationem requisitarum. Stratificatio, est duarum pluriumúe distinctarum rerum, distinctis ordinibus, vel stratis, [sig. D1r] alternatim vicissimq́ue facta, in idoneo instrumento positio, seu collocatio. Vt cum in tigillum primò Salis Stratum, inde Tartari, post Cupri, iterum Tartari, rursus Salis, distinctis stratorum ordinibus inuicem superponuntur. Hoc ita dispositum, Chimicis Stratum super stratum dicitur. Reuerberatio est expositio rei ad lambendum ab ignis flamma, vel à calore ignis suffocato, et ab exitu reuerberato introrsum. Calcinatio, est rei cuiusq́ue tantisper facta per ignem tertij, vel quarti gradus exustio, vel per aquas ardentes, soluentes, fortesúe continuata maceratio, donec partium continuitas dissipetur, reiq́ue corpus in puluerem subtilissimum, vel Cinerem, vel Calcem, vel squamas friabiles abeat. Sublimatio est rei ab igne fugientis et in idoneo vase collatæ tanisper subiecto igne conuenienti calefactio, et exustio, donec à fundo vasis continentis eleuata, sordibus impuris in fundo relictis, pura ipsius substantia, in forma nubis vaporosæ, vel fumi, sursum ascendat, et fuliginis in morem lateribus vasis superioribus, adhæreat.

Hæc itaq́ue est breuis eorum præparandi modorum explicatio, quorum Paracelsus noster hoc opusculo meminit: quam quidem ego, Doctissime Legum, idemq́ue optime Guttetere, non ideò huic præfationi inserui, quòd tibi aut necessaria sint, aut ignota existimem: sed vt Tyrones, aut etiam Doctores, si [sig. D1v] quos discendi cupido tenet, aliquantulam hinc notitiam referre possint. Ampliorem verò horum doctrinam primùm quidem vt ex Gebro petant suadeo, qui methodicè hæc in sua summa perfectionis, tractat: Deinde verò vt videndo, et faciendo discant, adhortor. Oportet nanq́ue discere, scireq́ue desyderantem multa et ferre, et facere: quemadmodum et ille multa tulit, fecitq́ue puer, qui Pythia cantat, abstinuitq́ue Venere, et Baccho. Etsi autem hoc opusculo non nimis argutas, nec omnino summas præparationes medicinarum perdocere videam Theophrastum, quemadmodum in libris Archidoxæ, quibus ipsa rerum omnium intima penetralia aperit, summa cum philosophiæ et totius naturæ explicatione: Tamen, cùm victus liberalitate et persuasione Illustris et Magnifici Herois Alberti à Lasko, vnici secretiorum studiorum patroni et promotoris in animo habeam, ad communem totius humani generis salutem, eos quoq́ue libros iam iam typis subijcere excudendos: non abs re fore duxi, hoc ante in lucem emittere opus, quod et intellectu sit facilius: et specimen ex eo quisq́ue capere possit, quid ex illis vtilitatis, philosophiæq́ue sperare possit, cùm videat hunc libellum nudè, practicè, absq́ue vlla philosophiæ Theoria propositum, omnibus non modò Chirurgis, verúm etiam Physicis Doctoribus medicis apprimè necessa- [sig. D2r] rium et vtilem esse, cùm in grauissimis interiorum morbis, non solùm exteriorum vulneribus, vlceribus, apostematibus, alijsq́ue malis, certa medicamina in tam paruo libello contineantur, quemadmodum id mox subsequens tabella ritè ob oculos pio lectori proponet. Sed est etiam breuitatis optima ratio habita, vt sesset veluti memoriale quoddam, aut enchiridion, quod quisq́ue quocunq́ue iter faciens, vel manu, vel sinu secum habere possit. Quamuis verò appareat, non totum opus præparationum ad meas manus peruenisse, id quod Secundi libri Tractatus primus abruptus, satis indicat: Tamen cùm Primus integer sit, cum tàm præclara habeat medicamina, nec de alijs libris adhuc quicquam constet: nolui interea dum alios expectando res differtur, hac vtilitate, tot miserabilibus morbis languentes ægros, totamq́ue piorum Medicorum Scholam, orbatam et defraudatam esse: Sed bono, pio, et syncero animo, absq́ue omni fuco et simultate, omnibus bonis, prijsq́ue communicare: atq́ue alios item, si qui cætera habent, meo exemplo ad idem faciendum prouocare. Spero autem ego, certò mihi persuadens, optime Guttetere, futurum, vt cùm tuo sub nomine, quod plane boni publici amatori conuenit, qualem et te esse huius inclytæ vrbis Senatus populusq́ue agnoscit: exiguum quidem quantiate opusculum hoc, magnum tamen v- [sig. D2v] tilitatis respectu, prodierit in lucem: omnes deposito rancore, et amaturos Theophrasticam medicinam: et Alchimiæ legitimum finem, vsumq́ue agnituros. Quod cum factum fuerit, consydera quæso, Doctor excellentissime, quanta infirmis accedet commoditas, salus, vigor corporis et animi: complectere animo, quanta ad medicos ipsos honoris accedet authoritas, quantus splendor, quanta gloria: cùm efficatia medicamina habentes, in curandis morbis mirabiles, omnibusq́ue chari, et honorati habebuntur? Accipies igitur Amplissime idemq́ue Doctissime Senator æquo animo Libellum hunc, magisq́ue publici boni emolumentum, quod te natura tua, studiorum tuorum humanitas, doctrinæ celsitudo, nomen deniq́ue ipsum beneficum, semper curare et attendere monent, facta autem tua, et conuersatio inter ciues, testantur: et offerentis animum, non modò qui erga Excellentiam tuam est, sed qui etiam erga totam communitatem hominum, consyderabis, atq́ue existimabis potius: quàm breuitatem operis. Cumq́ue quàm latè vsus eius pateat, tute ipse cognoueris, fac vt in omnium manibus te authore, versetur. Nulla siquidem optimo Senatori conuenientior cura est: nulla Guttetero magis consona beneficentia: quàm vt ea, quæ ad omnes æquè pertinent, ad omnes æquè peruenire sua authoritate efficiat. Vale.

Apparatus

Marginalia

  1. In margin: * Nihil habet qui extra Deum aliquid habet: Extra Deum habet, quicunq́ue Deum non cognoscit: non solùm sua, sed etiam diuinitus data


Corrections

  1. Mantuanus] corrected from: Mantuauus



English Raw Translation

Generated by ChatGPT on 18 March 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 most excellent man of learning and piety, Lord Peter Gutteter, an outstanding Doctor of Laws, a most noble Senator of the illustrious city of Krakow, etc. Preface to the book of Theophrastus Paracelsus, on preparations, useful for both doctors and the sick:

Just as in the time of Hippocrates, there were many sects and families of physicians, as is evident from the writings of Hippocrates himself, Most Noble Gutteter, who competed for supremacy in medicine with divergent opinions, so in our times, after the disputes between the sects were ended by the authority of Hippocrates, it has come to pass that Hippocrates alone is considered the father of medicine by all. This is due to God's merciful disposition towards humanity that the unity of physicians was divided into two sects. One adheres to the opinions of Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, and other ancient writers, and out of reverence for the name, let it be called Hippocratic or at least for the sake of distinction. The other, led not by hatred but by compassion for the sick, was guided by God Himself to a higher degree of medicine, and it should be called Theophrastic. Let us examine both with modesty and good judgment so that, laying aside any hatred between them, the good that God has given for the preservation of humanity may be mutually conferred for the benefit and integrity of all. For just as it cannot be denied that the gift of medicine was divinely given to Hippocrates, so it was also given to Theophrastus. It is not to be denied that God distributes gifts to each according to his own free will. Nor is it affirmed that He does not give more perfect gifts to those who have obtained greater knowledge of Him through grace in Christ Jesus than to those who have not known Him in the multitude of gentile gods. The scripture says, "To everyone who has will be given; from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away." Since this is so, someone may rightly object that Theophrastus is acting arrogantly because he wants to exclude Hippocratic authority altogether and criticizes them harshly, when he should have acknowledged the gift of God, however small it may be, in the very authors themselves, rather than condemning them with such harsh words, accusing them of ignorance and rejecting their writings altogether. He seems to claim a monopoly in the medical profession for himself. However, if someone considers first why Theophrastus was driven to write, secondly whom he criticizes and to what extent, and thirdly what and how he teaches and writes, he will immediately respond to this objection. Let us consider that Theophrastus lived in a time when, after many calamities of war and sedition and disturbances in public affairs, almost all literature and all the arts would have fallen into oblivion and ignorance, had not the unpolished obscurity of the barbarian philosophers been of some help to them. God raised the intellects of men as if from the dead to recover the splendor of the arts and all literature. What Marsilio Ficino did in recalling Hermes Trismegistus, Egyptian and Platonic Philosophy, what Johannes Reuchlinus Capnion did in renewing Greek and Hebrew studies, adding theology and mysteries of divine secrets, what Angelus Politianus and Baptista Mantuanus did in Aristotelian philosophy and Virgilian poetry, and what Erasmus did in the pleasant eloquence of Latin speech, and many other cultivators of each profession and almost new authors, we may rightly say and must say that this Theophrastus also was one who renewed medicine, in the pursuit of deep secrets of medicine that were unknown to the ancients, especially to Hermes Trismegistus. In the time of Theophrastus, Hippocrates had not yet reached his full authority, nor had Galen, Aetius, and the other Greek medical authors spoken in Latin. Avicenna was standing like a brothel for ignorant doctors, who each used it for their own ignorance and desire for lack of knowledge. The same was true of all the other authors, whose poorly understood opinions, while doctors quarrelled over them in discussions with patients, led to the patients' miserable deaths. This complaint could also be made of the medical doctors of his own time, just as it can be made of ours.

Why not? When even Hippocrates himself complains of it? The same is true of James Sylvius, an excellent author, and many others still lament and deplore it. Surely, it is miserable to make mistakes in medicine, and even more so because it leads to so many different and serious types of diseases, any one of which is enough to destroy a person's life. Moreover, this mistake can also lead to the most disgusting and cruel torture, like that of a ruthless executioner, and the expulsion of those who want to live.

In order to prevent this from happening in the future, moved by piety towards all, including future generations, and by compassion towards the sick, who realized that many things needed to be more carefully investigated in all of medicine, he set his mind to search for the certainty of medicine. But God, the creator of nature, the merciful father and lover of humanity, who watches over piety and is worshipped by love for one's neighbor, who does not extinguish smouldering flax nor crush dry reeds, but hears those who cry out, opens the door to those who knock, gives to those who ask, and offers to those who seek beyond their understanding the mysteries of nature and the secrets of medicine for the common good of humanity, in which everyone may exercise love for their neighbor and to the glory of His name.

With study and determination, and having sought and divinely received the certainty of medicine, he recorded it in his writings (although good minds, to whom it is innate to accept everything in a better light, would understand it themselves): Theophrastus himself testifies in the preamble of the Great Surgery in these almost literal words: "There are three things, dear Volphgang, that urge me to write Surgery: the first of which is that the books of the ancients, which we have had the opportunity to see so far, are so imperfect that no single certain aid for the power of nature is found in them; the second is the miserable destruction and corruption of so many deformed cases arising from the ignorance and ineptitude of surgeons; the third is the bad and difficult symptoms occurring in wounded patients due to bad treatment, which daily experience has presented to us in many ways to be learned and cured." Do you not think this is a pious spirit, who, pitying the sufferings of his fellow human beings and having received the treasure of divine knowledge, did not conceal it out of envy, but rather desired to benefit all, so that the communion and participation of such great doctrine could reach not only the learned but also the ignorant, willing to learn and be taught, in the native language? Do you think he should be suppressed with all hatred and envy, and not rather loved in a thousand ways: who, once sitting in the same ship of ignorance and imperfect medicine with you, after many shipwrecks and finally despairing of the port and safety, was mercifully saved by divine grace, and returning to himself, sought the certainty of medicine in Italy, France, Germany, among the Spanish, Granada, Portuguese, English, through Prussia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Wallachia, Croatia, and even among the Transylvanians, Getae, and Indians? He did not find it, but it was finally sent down from heaven, and he communicated it to you with all fidelity, wrote it to you, and gave it for your use. Why do you hesitate to love him, who, lest you should perish in the shipwreck, lest you should be extinguished in the dangers of the journey undertaken in vain, endured the shipwreck himself, underwent the dangers, overcame them, and made you safer by accumulating and diminishing all the goods sought? There is nothing in Theophrastus that a lover of truth and nature could condemn if he considers it carefully. For he does not present his own views in such a way as to condemn everything of others entirely: he leaves each his own place whatever is true and certain; but he criticizes errors, condemns abuse, condemns ignorance, pursues laziness in learning and inquiry, sympathizes with human diseases and suffering, sympathizes, mourns, and dies with the sick. What is there in this man worthy of criticism? But please listen to what he says: "So since it is certain that Surgery (understand also all of Medicine) is as certain an art or science as Architecture, I have written this work for you in a simpler style, to encourage you to love it. For Medicine does not care for ornamented language. I would also like to warn you not to take this writing in a bad way towards me. Indeed, I know that many of you in various regions are not completely ignorant of the art; indeed, some of you are even experts in secrets, and some know one secret, others half a secret, others one and a half, and still others two, each according to his measure, more or less. Let everyone know what he knows. My purpose is to teach those who are not learned, true, and confirmed by experience: (for they do not need my teaching, nor do I want anything of these to be understood :) but those who are opposed to them from the opposite side." I would like my writings to always be taken in a better light. What is said here that would offend the esteem of a good man? But what has moved many people against Theophrastus is that he attacks more harshly those who are unlearned, sophists, charlatans, and lacking all experience. However, if someone pays close attention, he will understand that this is completely tolerable: for an incurable wound, to use the words of the poets, must be cut with a sword, lest the healthy part be dragged away. Hippocrates attacked such doctors before Theophrastus did. Many others have attacked after Hippocrates. Just as he makes Hermetes great, so he speaks more modestly of Hippocrates than of others. He thinks less of Galen, and even less of Avicenna. What then is surprising? When even many of the Hippocratics have often discovered the most serious errors of Avicenna, so much so that Leonard Fuchs, the last Hippocratic physician of our age, often exclaims that there is nothing certain and solid in the doctrine of the Arabs, that everything is confused, everything is uncertain, and that their writings often give doctors a reason to err? Therefore, Theophrastus does not criticize everything from Hippocrates and his followers that comes from the light of nature and the gift of God as false and insincere, as so much is found in him, either taken from them or explained more clearly, which is an argument for how much harmony there is between truth and truth in the light of nature and reason. But if anything has been deduced by them without sufficient connection to experience, and considered as certain, he demolishes and refutes it. He does not grant them the primacy, not out of hatred for them or a desire to diminish them, but out of love for glorifying the giver of divine knowledge. It is just to acknowledge not only the gifts of God granted to each according to their measure, but also to proclaim them in such a way after acknowledging them, lest we be accused of impiety and falsehood towards God. For if, based on the rationale of antiquity, we prefer the elders who were known to have been granted fewer divine gifts to the younger ones who have been bestowed with the abundance of divine grace, we would be accused of impiety and falsehood against God by disregarding the acknowledged truth and preferring greater and more perfect gifts to the lesser ones, even if they have been tainted with human depravity. Therefore, Theophrastus cannot be rightfully accused, much less be worthy of hatred, for reproaching the elders harshly and claiming the primacy or monarchy of medicine for himself, given these considerations. Although it may provoke the stomach and bile of many that some arrogant and deceitful people who profess to be Theophrastians, when in fact they are anything but, make such grandiose claims and boast of achievements that not even Theophrastus or nature would allow, let alone God. Thus, while foolishly trying to elevate the good name of the author, they disgracefully diminish his reputation by falling into their own lies. Therefore, there is a need to provide a handle for detractors and slanderers of Theophrastus, albeit undeservedly, to speak ill of him. For everyone must bear their own mistakes and take the shame upon themselves, not to deflect it onto an innocent person. Once this has been done, our author will be free from all hatred and envy, especially since he predicted the emergence of such sycophants who would use the title of medicine for deceiving and deluding people, not due to the author's fault, but due to their own illiberal malfeasance. Therefore, the last thing that turns many people away from Theophrastus remains. If we can show that the author is faultless in this regard, I have no doubt that many doctors who have been invited and chosen for this feast of truth will adhere to him, dine with him, and drink from the cup of sincere truth. However, the fault of obscurity is attributed to him, partly because of the novelty of some words, and partly because of ignorance of the preparation of medicines. Horace excuses the novelty of words, saying that it is permissible to impose new and unheard-of terms on new things. Moreover, the author himself, if he put anything new in one volume, described it in another, so that readers would know what it is. As for the ignorance of preparation, although it is to be attributed not so much to Theophrastus as to those who are ignorant of things and philosophy, nothing can be justly accused in this regard, because he taught various preparations of medicines in other volumes, and briefly and succinctly described them in the work titled "De Præparationibus," as he usually did in all his works. However, he listed the principal and secret preparations in the "Archidoxa," which I decided to publish with divine help. It is truly a great and regrettable obstacle that among a hundred doctors, scarcely one has read or even studied Theophrastic medicine due to ignorance of preparation. The beginning of this ignorance did not come so much from the doctors themselves as from those who, although they should have corrected the abuses of the arts and could not do so due to ignorance, preferred to prohibit and reject these otherwise most sacred and dignified arts for free men from all universities, rather than tolerate the abuses of so many of them introduced by sophists and peddlers. One of these arts, to omit others in this place, is alchemy, which wicked impostors and, for their sake, some princes of the realm so despised some years ago, and some still do, that they consider no honest man who investigates the secrets of nature through alchemical exercises, but ridicule him with their finger and point to him with a hooked nose as a counterfeiter of gold and silver. What can be more barbaric than this breach of faith by men?

So that it may be clear to all lovers of Medicine what Alchemy is, and what is its true and legitimate use, and so that what is said in this book "De Præparationibus" may be better understood, we must say a few things about it.

Alchemy, therefore, is not, as many idiots prattle, the science of transmuting imperfect metals into gold or silver (although this is also possible by art and nature with God's permission), but a certain art and science by which the secret power of all nature is elicited, refined, perfected, and multiplied by fire. In this process, the pure is separated from the impure, the coarse from the fine, and finally, anything external from its internal essence, in order to reveal the hidden and conceal the manifest. Thus, Alchemy is called from the fusion by fire, and Spagyric from the function of separating and distinguishing, which is the only science that emulates the divine act of creation. For we read in Scripture that nothing created exists except through division from chaos. God divided the light from the darkness, the waters under the firmament from those above it, the waters from the dry land, and so on. Everything was created by division. Thus, stars, fish, and birds were also created. This is why the use of Alchemy and glassware is so widespread.

There are two kinds of Alchemy, just as there are two kinds of fire: internal and natural, and external and artificial. The latter imitates the former by its operation, but the former received from God, the Creator Himself, the law and the power to operate. The external Alchemy moves and elicits the internal Alchemy, which operates with power and according to its predetermined purpose. From this, it is now clear what we have stated in the definition. Every creature exercises nothing but Alchemy in nature.

Stones are born and coagulate through the action of heat, separating the viscous and humid from other parts of the water. Likewise, all minerals originate from water through separation and coagulation. Plants and herbs, by separating suitable nutrients from the earth, transform them into the substance of their bodies, leaves, flowers, seeds, and fruits. What else, pray, do they do except Alchemy?

When animals eat plants, they digest them with natural heat, turning them into nutrients and waste. The nutrients are converted into bones, meat, blood, milk, and the like. The waste is excreted as urine, feces, hair, nails, and horns. What are they doing if not practicing alchemy? Through alchemy, bread is turned into human flesh and blood in humans, into dog flesh and blood in dogs, into ox flesh and blood in oxen, into pig flesh and blood in pigs, and so on with all other animals. The same can be understood in all other things. From this, it is clear what interior alchemy is and how extensive it is. While exterior alchemy can be judged by meditating on how far it extends, for our purposes, I assume only one thing: Without alchemy, no secrets of nature can be extracted, no potential power can be truly realized, and no medicine can be properly prepared. This is the true use of alchemy, to explore the mysteries of nature, to explore the hidden virtues of things, to see the omnipotence of God with one's own eyes and touch it with one's own hands. Oh, how joyful and how it increases faith and love for God and charity towards one's neighbor when alchemy is soberly and diligently practiced in this way. Such alchemy is not suitable for Tantalus, Euclydes, the proud, the soft, or the Cynics, but for the philosopher who despises wealth, who is humble, generous, hardworking, honest, a lover of God, a helper of his neighbor, and an investigator of nature. Oh, how glorious, how holy, how divine is the science of fire. God himself is a consuming fire, an inaccessible fire. This fire is the creator and separator of the world's things. Fire nurtures all created things, perfects the light, warmth, and maturity of all things, produces fruits, animals, and metals. Fire changes and transforms everything, separates and tests, and prepares everything. Fire judges gold, metals, and the world, purifies everything, consumes excess, and brings immortality. In the fire, there is eternal life, light, splendor, and supreme happiness. In the fire, there is eternal death, darkness, the gnashing of teeth, and eternal damnation. Enoch, Elijah, and Moses rejoiced in the fire. The rich man who neglected Lazarus suffered in the fire. But where does my thought lead me while I admire what fire and alchemy can do through fire? I wish you, my friends, doctors, could someday grasp this with even a little effort. I am certain that you would be passionately devoted to the love and study of alchemy. Then, and only then, would Theophrastus be dear to you, then only would you recognize the true value of properly prepared medicine, and only then would you be truly swept away by love for God, nature, and your neighbors.

But in case some may be seeking and expecting an explanation of the preparations, I will delay no longer and proceed to the declaration of the booklet itself, and I will explain the modes of preparation, which the author designates by name only as known to experts in the art of chemistry, for the benefit of those inexperienced in this art but eager to learn, in as brief and accurate a manner as possible. Such is the power of preparation (as the most learned physician of the Hippocratic School, Jacobus Sylvius, has beautifully said) and its principles are spread so widely throughout all things, that nothing is produced, increased, or moved in any way by nature without preparation. No mechanical or other arts attempt to achieve their goals without prior preparation, by which the art often seems to surpass nature. Preparation is, in fact, the adaptation of anything to achieve the proposed end, which is achieved by removing excess, supplementing deficiencies, and providing the necessary administration of perfection. This was elegantly expressed by the same Sylvius, who said that the preparation of medicines is to make them more suitable for use or composition through art itself, that is, either milder, stronger, more pleasing, healthier, more easily mixed, and, to put it briefly, better for use or composition. Theophrastus concludes the entire preparation of this booklet with seventeen modes, whose names are as follows: Trituration, Abution, Imbibition or Nutrition, Humectation or Incorporation, Putrefaction, Digestion, Dissolution, Distillation, Coagulation, Drying, Alkalization, Fusion, Addition or Mixture, Stratifaction, Reverberation, Calcination, and Sublimation. Although Sylvius lists more, and chemists enumerate fewer modes, he has included all the most common ones, while the others are only peculiar to the artists themselves. We will briefly explain the names of the modes we have listed. Trituration, therefore, is the reduction of any dry substance to powder by pounding in a mortar, grinding on a stone, rubbing, filing, and scraping. This is called Pulverization in the pharmacies of pharmacists. Abution is the purification of a substance from dirt by water. Terrestrial, mineral, or metallic materials are mainly washed after they have been ground and reduced to powder. The water used for washing is sometimes simple and common, sometimes rose, sometimes another distillate, sometimes milk from a lactating woman. However, chemists also use distilled vinegar, alum water, and the like. Imbibition is the moistening of any dry and powdered substance with some liquid, such as vinegar, wine, herb juices, water, milk, or oil, often repeated after successive dryings. Metaphorically, it is taken from drinkers who drink another after consuming the previous drink, and so on. Nutrition is the same as Imbibition for physicians, which is almost a metaphorical equivalent for chemists. Incorporation or Humectation occurs when only enough liquid is added to a dry substance to make the liquid not float on the dry substance, but rather to blend together like a thicker or denser porridge.

If it takes in moisture by its own power and becomes moist, and then again becomes dry, and if it is incorporated repeatedly, this process is called imbibition, as has been said. Incorporation is similar to what doctors call infusion: when only a little liquid is poured over a dry substance, so that it remains dry and the excess liquid floats on top, the amount can be two or three digits, or even more. If the dry substance is left in the infusion for a longer period of time, it is called maceration. By "dry substance" we mean anything that is either dried by art, such as herbs, roots and the like, or naturally dry, such as earth, minerals, veins, metals, etc. Putrefaction is best known to chemists, when a substance, whether moist, such as all herbs and plants, even oily and fatty ones, or dry, or even incorporated or infused, is placed in a suitable instrument or vessel to macerate in a large heap of horse manure mixed with straw for a suitable period of time, during which the substance thus putrefied is altered according to the doctor's wishes from one quality to another, and thus made more suitable for handling and for the separations to be made in it. Others renew horse manure in a different way, as experience teaches them what needs to be done. Chemists metaphorically call horse manure the horse's belly, and use it to mean "content". Digestion is similar to putrefaction in that it makes the material more suitable for handling, but differs in that it alters it, as we have said. Therefore, digestion of any substance is the operation of heat necessary to mature it and make it suitable for the intended purpose, whether for separation or for use as medicine. It is here that the degrees of heat and fire must be observed, without which nothing can ever be achieved in alchemy or spagyrics. There are four degrees of heat and fire: the first is the slowest, which delights the sense of touch; the second is strong, which the sense can endure for as long as twelve full touches; the third is stronger, which suddenly injures the sense; and the fourth is the strongest, which destroys the sense. The first degree includes horse manure, ant nests, the heat of the sun's rays, the heat of a brooding hen, warm water or a bath.

The second degree includes the fire of boiling water, the fire of ashes, but without ignition. The third degree includes the fire of coals, the fire of sand with or without ignition. The fourth degree includes the fire of flame, the fire of ignition, the fusion of metals, and similar processes. Each degree of fire has multiple points, which I have chosen to express with a single word. For digestion and putrefaction, the first degree of fire is used, although in time, digestion can sometimes ascend to the third degree, and in metals, even the fourth degree. However, experience is the reliable teacher of these things. Dissolution is the process of resolving any solid substance into a liquid state through the thinning of its parts and the breaking down of its viscosity by the proper use of moisture.

Some substances that can be dissolved include gums, congealed juices, earth, alumina, salts, vitriols, precious stones, metals, calcined substances, minerals, and anything else that has been solidified by water. There are two types of dissolution: self-dissolution, as in the open air, in a cellar, in manure, or in water vapor, or dissolution by the pouring of a dissolving liquid, such as water, wine, vinegar, or similar substances. Distillation is the process of extracting or removing moisture from any substance through the separation of its finer particles from the coarser ones, and the gradual collection of the extracted substance in a vessel. There are four types of distillation: one by ascending distillation with an alembic, one by lateral distillation with or without an alembic, one by descending distillation without an alembic, and one by tongue or filter. These are more thoroughly explained in the works of the chemist Gebro.

Coagulation is the process by which a substance that has been resolved into separate particles through the use of heat in the first degree solidifies again, not so much by the absorption of moisture as by its own thickening. This is how salts, gums, resins, vitriols, metals, and similar substances are coagulated. Desiccation is the process of drying a substance that has been soaked, washed, incorporated, infused, or macerated by removing its moisture through evaporation or other means, not through thickening. This process is usually done using the fire of the second degree. Alkalization is the process of extracting salt from any substance. The process and order is as follows: first, the substance is turned into ash or lime, then the ash or lime is soaked in pure or distilled water for a period of one day, after which it is strained through a filter. Then it is evaporated over a fire of the first or second degree until what remains at the bottom is dry. This dry residue is then placed in a solution of pure water, and evaporated over a suitable fire until three parts of the whole have been consumed. The remaining substance is placed in a cool place and eventually forms small, nearly transparent salt crystals, similar to alum, which are the alkaline salt of the substance whose ashes were used. Fusion is the process of liquefying minerals or metals through the use of the third or fourth degree of fire. This is how salts, alumina, and vitriols are fused, as well as lead, tin, and other substances in a triangular crucible with or without bellows, using the appropriate fire.

Addition or mixture is the composition of any substances, with the proportion of their mutually compatible powers, into one medicinal compound, or for the preparation of other required substances. Stratification is the placing or arrangement of two or more distinct substances in separate layers or strata, in an appropriate vessel, alternately and in distinct orders. For example, when a layer of salt is placed first in a crucible, then tartar, followed by copper, then tartar again, and salt once more, with each distinct layer being placed on top of the other in order. This arrangement is called "layer upon layer" by chemists. Reverberation is the exposure of a substance to the licking flame or suffocating heat of a fire, with the resulting reflection inward and outward. Calcination is the prolonged burning of any substance through the fire of the third or fourth degree, or through the use of strong solvents or continuous maceration, until the continuity of its parts is destroyed, and the body of the substance turns into the finest powder, or into ashes, lime, or friable scales. Sublimation is the heating and burning of a substance, which is placed in an appropriate vessel and exposed to a suitable fire until it is elevated from the bottom of the containing vessel, leaving impure sediments behind. The pure substance rises upward in the form of a vaporous cloud or smoke, and adheres to the upper sides of the vessel, while its smoke adheres to the upper parts of the vessel's sides like soot.

This is a brief explanation of the methods of preparation that our Paracelsus mentions in this little work. I, the most learned in law and also the excellent Gutteter, have not included it in this preface because I believe that you either need it or find it unknown. Rather, it is so that novices or even doctors who have a desire to learn may gain some knowledge from it. I recommend that they seek further instruction from Gebro, who methodically explains this in his Summa Perfectionis. And then, I urge them to learn by seeing and doing. For one must learn, know, and desire much in order to achieve greatness, just as he who sings Pythian songs as a child abstained from Venus and Bacchus. Although in this little work I do not see Theophrastus teaching very complex preparations for medicines, as he does in the books of Archidoxa, where he opens up the deepest secrets of all things, along with a full explanation of philosophy and nature. However, having been encouraged by the generosity and persuasion of the illustrious and magnificent hero Albert of Lasko, the only patron and promoter of secret studies, with the intention of promoting the common good of all mankind, I have in mind to have those books printed soon. Therefore, I thought it would not be out of place to publish this work beforehand, which is easily understandable and practical, without any philosophical theory, and which contains certain remedies for all not only for surgeons, but also for medical doctors in the most serious internal diseases, as well as external wounds, ulcers, abscesses, and other ailments, as the following table will properly present before the eyes of the pious reader. Moreover, brevity has been considered the best approach, so that it might serve as a sort of memorial or handbook that anyone traveling could carry in their hand or pocket. However, it appears that the entire work of preparations did not come into my hands, which the fact that the first section of the second book was cut off indicates. Nevertheless, since the first book is complete and has such excellent remedies, and nothing has yet been established about the other books, I did not want to postpone this benefit and leave so many suffering and sick people and the entire school of pious doctors without help. Therefore, with good, pious, and sincere intentions, without any deceit or malice, I share this with all the good and honorable, and encourage others who have other things to do the same, following my example.

I hope, and I am certain, dear Gutteter, that this small work, which is great in terms of its usefulness, will be published under your name, which befits a lover of the public good, as the Senate and people of this illustrious city recognize you to be. All bitterness will be set aside, and those who love Theophrastic medicine and the legitimate purpose of alchemy will recognize its great value. When this has been accomplished, please consider, most excellent Doctor, what benefits will accrue to the sick - health, strength of body and mind. Consider, too, the great honor and authority that will accrue to the physicians who have these effective medicines, who will be highly regarded and honored for their ability to cure miraculous diseases. Therefore, my most distinguished and learned Senator, receive this book with equanimity, as it will bring great benefit to the public. Your nature, kindness, high learning, and benevolent name always encourage you to care and attend to public welfare, as your actions and conduct among your fellow citizens testify. You will consider the mind of the person offering this work not only towards your excellence, but also towards the entire community of humanity, and you will value the usefulness of the work more than its brevity. As you know how widely its use will spread, make sure that it is circulated widely under your name. There is no more fitting concern for a good Senator, and no more appropriate benevolence for Gutteter, than to use his authority to ensure that what belongs to everyone is equally accessible to everyone. Farewell.