M. de Buffon thinks of taking a simpler way than those who

20 The Great Art.
have preceded him, he arrives at the end; we are surprised, we finally avow that the thing is possible.
Let us conclude then, with more reason, that these Savants, these skilful Artists made their own knowledge of too much importance. Instead of following the straight, simple and smooth ways of Nature, they have attributed to her subtleties which she never possessed. Hermetic Art is, say the Philosophers, amystery hidden to those who rely too much on their own knowledge: it is a gift of God who regards favorably those who are humble, who fear Him, who place all their confidence in Him, and who, as Solomon, demand from Him with eagerness and perseverance that wisdom, who holds in her right hand length of days, and in her left hand riches,(Pvoverbs ch. ill. v. 16); that wisdom which Philosophers prefer to all honors, to all the kingdoms of the world, because she is the Tree of Life to those who lay hold upon her,( Proverbs, ch. iil. v. 18).
All Hermetic Philosophers say that, although the Azs Magna is a natural thing, both in its essence and in its operations, yet things so surprising take place in it, that they elevate the spirit of man toward the Author of his being, that they manifest His wisdom and glory, that they are much above human intelligence, and that only those comprehend them, whose eyes God deigns to open. This is sufficiently proved by the blunders and lack of success of all those artists, famous in vulgar chemistry, who in spite of all their skill in manipulations, in spite of all their pretended knowledge of Nature, have lost their time, their money, and often their health, in the search of this inestimable treasure.
How many Becchers, Homberts, Boerhaves, Geofroys and other skilled chemists, have by their indefatigable labors forced Nature to reveal to them some of her secrets? In spite of all their carefulness in watching her processes, in
Preliminary Discourse. 21
analyzing her productions, to take her in the act, they have almost always failed, because they have been the tyrants of this Nature and not her true imitators. Sufficiently enlight- ened in common chemistry, and instructed in its processes, but blind in regard to Hermetic Chemistry, and carried away by custom, they have erected sublimatory, calcinatory, distillatory furnaces, (Vovum Lumen Chemicum; Tract. 1.), They have employed an infinite number of vases and cru- cibles, unknown to simple Nature; they have summoned to their aid the fratricide of natural Fire; how could they have succeeded with such violent processes? They have abso- lutely departed from those who follow the Hermetic Philos- ophers, if we are to believe President d’Espagnet, (lermetic Arcanum, Can. 6.):
“The Alchemists who have given their minds to their “well-nigh innumerable Sublimations, Distillations, Solu- “tions, Congelations, to manifold extraction of Spirits and “Tinctures, and other operations more subtle than profitable, “and so have distracted themselves by a variety of errors, as “so many tormentors, will never be inclined again by their “own genius to the plain way of Nature and light of Truth; “from whence their industrious subtlety hath twined them, “and by twinings and turnings, as by the Lybian Quicksands, “hath drowned their entangled wits; the only hope of safety “for them remaineth in finding out a faithful guide and “master, who may make the Sun clear and conspicuous unto “them, and free their eyes from darkness.”
“A studious Tyro of a quick wit, constant mind, inflamed ‘‘with the study of Philosophy, very skilful in natural Phi- “losophy, of a pure heart, complete in manners, mightily “devoted to God, though ignorant of practical Chemistry, “may with confidence enter into the highway of Nature and “peruse the books of the best Philosophers.’’*
*Translation by Dr. W. Wynn Westcott, in Collectanea Hermetica.
22 The Great Art.
“Tf Hermes, the true father of Philosophy,” so says the “Cosmopolite (Movum lumen chemicum; Tract. J), if the “subtle Geber, the profound Raymond Lully, and other “justly celebrated chemists could return to the earth, our “alchemists would not only refuse to regard them as their “masters, but would think to confer a favor upon them by “owning them as their disciples. It is true that they would ‘not know how to make all those distillations, circulations, ‘‘calcinations, sublimations, in a word all those innumerable “operations which chemists have imagined, because they “have wrongly understood the books of the Philosophers.”
All real Adepts speak with one voice and if they speak truly, one may, without taking so much trouble, without employing so many vases, without consuming so much char- coal, without ruining one’s purse and one’s health, one may, I repeat, work in concert with Nature, who, being aided, will lend herself to the desires of the Artist and will freely open to him her treasures. He will learn from her, not how to destroy the bodies which she produces, but how and from what, she composes them, and into what they resolve. She will show him that matter, that chaos from which the Supreme Being has formed the Universe. They will see Nature, as in a mirror, and her reflection will manifest to them the infinite wisdom of the Creator, who directs and guides her, in all her operations, by a simple and unique way which constitutes all the mystery of the Magnum Opus.
But that thing, called Philosopher’s Stone, Universal Medicine, Golden Panacea, does it exist in reality as well as in speculation? Why, through the ages, have so many persons, whom Heaven seemed to have favored with knowl- edge superior to that of most men, sought it in vain? But, on the other hand, so many trustworthy historians, so many wise men have attested its existence, and have left in
Preliminary Discourse. 23
enigmatical writings and allegories the method of making it, which can scarcely be doubted, when one knows how to adapt these writings to the principles of Nature.
The Hermetic Philosophers differ absolutely from the common Philosophers or Physicists. The latter have no certain system. They invent new ones daily, and the last seems to be conceived only to contradict, and destroy those that have preceded it. Briefly, if one is erected and estab- lished, it is upon the ruins of its predecessor, and it will exist only until a new one overthrows it and takes its place.
On the contrary, Hermetic Philosophers are all agreed; no one of them contradicts the principles of the other. He who wrote thirty years ago speaks as he who lived two thousand years ago. One thing which appears a little singular is that they never weary of repeating that axiom which the church (Vzxcent de Lerin. Commonit.) adopts as the most infallible mark of the truth in that which it presents to us for belief: Quod ubique quod ab omnibus, et quod semper creditum est, td firmtissimée credendum puta. Observe, say they, read, meditate on the things which have been taught in all times, and by all Philosophers; the truth is enclosed in the passages where they all agree.
What an indication, indeed, when men who have lived in ages so distant, and in countries so different in language, and, I dare to say it, in their manner of thinking, all agree on one point. What! would Egyptians, Arabs, Chinese, Greeks, Jews, Italians, Germans, Americans, French, Eng- lish, etc., have agreed, without knowing each other, without understanding each other, and without having communicated their ideas, in writing and in speaking about a chimera, an imaginary entity? without taking into account all the works on this subject, which were burned by the orders of Diocle-
a Che Great Art.
tian,* who thought thus to deprive the Egyptians of the means of making gold, and to render them unable to sustain war against him, there still remain to us, in all the languages of the world, works sufficiently numerous to justify to the incredulous what I have just advanced. The library of the King alone preserves a great number of ancient and modern manuscripts, in all languages, relating to this science.
Michel Maier said on this subject, in an Epigram, found at the beginning of his Treatise, entitled Symbola auree mens@:
Unum opus en priscis hec usque ad tempora seclis Consona diffusis gentibus ora dedit.
Let one read Hermes, Egyptian; Abraham, Isaac de Moiros, Jews, quoted by Avicenna; Democritus, Orpheus, Aristotle, (De Secretis Secretorum), Olympiodoros, Heliodorus (De rebus chemicis ad Theodostum Imperatorem), Etienne, (De magna et sacra sctentia, ad Heraclium Cesarem) and other Greeks; Synesius, Theophilus, Abugazal, etc., Africans; Avicenna, (De ve recta. Tvractatulus Chemicus. Tractatus ad Assem Philosophum. De anima artis), Rhasis, Geber, Arte- phius, Alphidius, Hamuel, surnamed the F/der, Rosinus, Arabs; Albertus Magnus,(De Alchymia, Concordantia Philos- ophorum,; De Compositione Compositi, etc.), Bernard Trévisan, Basil Valentin, Germans; Alain (Lzber Chemie), Isaac, father and son, Pontanus, Flemish or Dutch; Arnaud de Villeneuve, Nicolas Flamel, Denis Zachaire, Christophe Parisien, Gui de Montanor, d’Espagnet, French; Morien, Pierre Bon de Fer- rare, the anonymous author of the “ Marriage of the Sun and
Postquam (inquit Paulus Diac. in vita Diocletiani) Achillem Hgypiorum Ducem octomenses in Alexandria Aigypti obsessum profligasset Diocletianus omnes Chym- ice artis libros diligenti studio requisitos conflagravit, ne reparatis opibus Romanis repugnarent. Orosius says the same thing, ch. 16, B.7. Suwidas, about the word Chemia expresses himself thus: Chemia est auri et argenti confectio, cujus libros Diocletianus perquisitos exussit, eo quod Aigyptii res novas contra Diocletianum moliti fuerant, duriter atque hostiliter eos tractavit. Quo tempore etiam libros de Chemia auri et argentia veteribus conscriptos conquisivit et exussit, ne deinceps Aigyptiis divitis ex Arte illa contingerent, neve pecuniarum affluentia confisi in posterum Romanis rebellarent.
Preliminary Discourse. 25
Moon,” Italians; Raymond Lully, Spanish; Roger Bacon, (Speculum Alchemie), Hortulain, Jean Dastin, Richard, George Ripley, Thomas Norton, Philalethes and the Cos- mopolite, English or Scotch. Finally, many anonymous authors, (Zurba Philosophorum, Seu Codex veritatis, Clangor Buccine, Scala Philosophorum, Aurora consurgens, Ludus puerorum, Thesaurus Philosophie, etc.), of all countries and of different ages: there will not be found among them one whose principles are different from those of the others. Does not this conformity of ideas and principles form, at least a presumption in favor of the truth and reality of what they teach? If all the ancient fables of Homer, of Orpheus, and of the Egyptians, are only allegories of this Art, as I claim to prove in this work, by the ground-work and origin of the fables themselves, as well as by their conformity to the allegories of almost all Philosophers, could one persuade one’s self that this science is only a vague phantom, which never had any existence among the real productions of Nature?
But if this science has a real object; if this Art has existed, and if we must believe the Philosophers, concerning the wonderful things which they relate of it, why is it so scorned, why so decried, why so discredited? Because the practice of this Art has never been clearly taught. All the Authors, ancient and modern, who treat of it, do so under the veil of Hieroglyphics, Enigmas, Allegories and Fables; so that those who have wished to study them have generally taken the wrong course, whence has arisen a kind of sect, which, through having wrongly understood and explained the writings of the philosophers, has introduced a new Chemistry, and has imagined that its system was the only real one. Many persons have become celebrated in this field. Some skilled in the principles, others extremely
26 Tbe Great Art.
dexterous in practice, especially in the experience required for the success of certain operations, they have all united against Hermetic Alchemy; they have written in a manner more easily comprehended by the multitude; they have proved their opinions by specious arguments. By making at random, mixtures of different substances, and by working blindly, without knowing what the result would be, they have seen monsters arise; and the same chance which produced them has served as a basis for the principles then established. The same mixtures, reiterated, the same work repeated, have given exactly the same result; but they have not observed that this result was monstrous, and analogous only to the abnormal productions of Nature, and not to those which result from her processes, when she confines herself to the classes peculiar to each kingdom. Always from the union of an ass and a mare results a mon- strous animal called a mule; for nature acts always in the same manner when the same materials are furnished her, whether to produce monsters, or to form beings conformable to their particular species. If mules came to us from some distant isle, and we knew nothing of their birth, we would certainly be tempted to believe that these animals form a class, which is multiplied as the others. We would not suspect that they were monsters. We are affected, in this same manner, by the results of almost all chemical opera- tions; we consider abnormal productions as productions made in the natural order of Nature. So that one might say of this kind of Chemistry, that it is the science of destroying methodically the Mixts produced by Nature, in order to form from them monsters, which have almost the same appearance and properties as the natural Mixts. Would more be necessary to conciliate the Public?
Prepossessed by these deceitful appearances; overwhelmed
Preliminary Discourse. ear |
by subtle writings; wearied by the multiplied invectives against Hermetic Alchemy, unknown even to its aggressors, is it surprising that the multitude scorns it ?
Basil Valentin, ( Azoth des Philosophes), compares the “souffleurs’”’ to the Pharisees, who were in honor and au- thority with the Public, because of their affectation of religion and piety. They were, said he, hypocrites, attached only to the earth and their own interests; who would abuse the confidence and credulity of the people, ever ready to be taken by appearances; because their sight is not keen enough to pierce the exterior of things. Yet, let not one imagine that by such a discourse I intend to injure the chemistry of our days. One has found means of rendering it useful; and too much praise cannot be given to those who make an assiduous study of it. The curious experiments which most chemists have made can only satisfy the public. Medicine derives so many advantages from Chemistry, that to decry it would to be hostile to the good of the People. It has contributed not a little to the commodities of life by the means which it has furnished of perfecting Metallurgy and other arts. Porcelain, faience are fruits of chemistry. It furnishes materials for tinctures, for glass-making, etc. But because its utility is recognized, must we conclude that it is the only true chemistry? And must Hermetic Chemistry be rejected and scorned for this? It is true, that many people claim to be Philosophers, and take advantage of the credulity of the foolish. But is Hermetic Science to be blamed for this? Do not the Philosophers cry loud enough to be heard by all, and to warn against the snares laid by this class of people. There is not one of them who does not say that the matter of this Art is of low price, and even that it costs nothing; that the fire, necessary to work it does not cost more; that only one vase, or at most two, is necessary
28 The Great Art.
for the whole course of work. Let us hear d’Espagnet, (Caz. 35): “Philosophical work demands more time and labor than “expense; for there remains very little to be done when one “has the required Matter. Those who demand great sums to “attain this object, have more confidence in riches of others ‘than in the science of this Art. Therefore, let the amateur “be on his guard, and not fall into the snares which rogues “set for him, rogues who wish for his purse even while they “promise him mountains of gold. They demand the Sun to “guide them in the operations of this Art, because they do not ‘see in the least.” Thus it is not necessary to lay the blame on Hermetic Chemistry, which is no more responsible than is honesty for knavery. A stream may become foul and ill- smelling from the dirt which it collects in its course, without its source being the less pure, the less beautiful, the less clear.
Those who still decry Hermetic Science are those bastards of alchemy commonly known as souffleurs and seekers of the Philosopher’s Stone. They are idolaters of Hermetic Philos- ophy. All the receipts presented to them are for them as so many gods before whom they bend the knee. Many of this class are instructed in the operations of common chemistry; they have even much skill in manipulations; but they are not instructed in the principles of Hermetic Philosophy, and will never succeed. Others are ignorant even of the principles of common chemistry, and these are, properly speaking, the souffieurs. To them we may apply the proverb: Alchemza est ars, cujus initium laborare, medium mentiri, finis mendicare.
Most of the Artists, skilful in common Chemistry, do not deny the possibility of the Philosopher’s Stone; the result of many of their operations is a sufficient proof of this. But they are slaves to human opinion; they would not dare to openly avow that they recognize it as possible, because they
Preliminary Discourse. 29
fear to expose themselves to the ridicule of the ignorant, and of pretended savants, blinded by prejudice. In public, they jest about it, or at least speak of it with so much indif- ference, that one suspects that they do not regard it as real, while the tests which they make, in private, tend to its quest. After having passed many years in the midst of their furnaces, without having succeeded, their vanity is offended; they are ashamed of having failed; then, they seek to indemnify themselves, to avenge themselves, by speaking evil of that which they have been unable to obtain. These are the people who had no equals in the theory and practice of Chemistry; they have assumed to be such; they have proved it as well as they could, but by repeating it or causing it to be heralded by others, they have caused people to believe it. When, at the end of their life, they think advis- able to decry Hermetic Philosophy, the multitude will not examine and see if they do it wrongly; the reputation which they have acquired gives them the right, and one would not dare but to applaud them. Yes, they say, if the thing had been feasible, it could not have escaped the science, the penetration, the dexterity of such a skilful man. These impressions are insensibly strengthened; a second one, not having succeeded better than the former, has been disap- pointed in his hope and his work; he adds his voice to that of the others; he even cries louder if he can; he makes him- self heard; the prejudice grows, until finally one reaches the point of saying with them, that Hermetic Philosophy is a chimera, and what is more, they are convinced without any knowledge of the subject. Those to whom experience has proved the contrary, content with their fate, do not envy them the applause of the ignorant. Sapzentiam et doctrinam stultt desciptunt, Proverbs, ch. 1).
Some have written to undeceive them—(Beccher, Stahl,
30 The Great Art.