They are arts in so far as they require an operator; but they are natural in so far as they are based upon facts of Nature. Such is the Art of Alchemy
THE NEW PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
Being a Concordance of the Sages on the Great Treasure, the Stone of the Philosophers, the Arcanum, the Secret of all Secrets, and the Gift of God. By PETER BONUS, of Ferrara.
BOTH among ancients and moderns the question whether Alchemy be a real Art or a mere imposture has exercised many heads and pens ; nor is it possible for us entirely to ignore the existence of such a dispute.
A multiplicity of arguments has been advanced against the truth of our Art;
but men like Geber and Morienus, who were best fitted to come forward in its defence, have disdained to answer the cavilling attacks of the vulgar.
They have not, as a matter of fact, furnished us with anything beyond the bare assertion that the truth of it.
Alchemy is exalted beyond the reach of doubt.
We will not follow their example, but, in order to get at the foundation of the matter, we will pass in review the arguments which have been, or may be, set forth on both sides of the question.
In the case of a science which is familiarly known to a great body of learned men, the mere fact that they all believe in it supersedes the necessity of proof.
But this rule does not apply to the Art of Alchemy, whose pretensions, therefore, need to be carefully and jealously sifted.
The arguments which make against the justice of those claims must be fairly stated, and it will be for the professors of the Art to turn back the edge of all adverse reasoning.
Every ordinary art (as we learn in the second book of the Physics) is either
dispositive of substance, or productive of form, or it teaches the use of something.
Our Art, however, does not belong to any one of these categories; it may be described indeed as both dispositive and productive, but it does not teach the use of anything.
It truly instructs us how to know the one substance exclusively designed by Nature
for a certain purpose, and it also acquaints us with the natural method of
treating and manipulating this substance, a knowledge which may be either practically or speculatively present in the mind of the master.
There are other crafts which are not artificial, but natural, such as the arts of medicine, of horticulture, and glass-blowing.
They are arts in so far as they require an operator; but they are natural in so far as they are based upon facts of Nature.
Such is the Art of Alchemy.
Some arts systematise the creations of the human mind, as, for instance, those of grammar, logic, and rhetoric ; but Alchemy does not belong to this class.
Yet Alchemy resembles other arts in the following respect, that its practice must be preceded by theory ;and investigation; for before we can know how to do a thing-, we must understand all the conditions and circumstances under which it is produced.
If we rightly apprehend the cause or causes of a thing (for there often is a multiplicity or complication of causes), we also know how to produce that thing.
But it must further be considered that no one can claim to be heard in regard to the truth or falsity of this Art who does not clearly understand the matter at issue; and we may lay it down as a rule that those who set up as judges of this question without a clear insight into the conditions of the controversy should be regarded as persons who are talking wildly and at random. ~Peter Bonus, of Ferrara,The New Pearl of Great Price, Page 49-52
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