SHORT SPEECH BY Ms. Francesco de Vieri, known as Verino Secondo, on the art of alchemy.
To the Most Serene Grand Duke Francesco Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany
If by Art one could transmute one metal into another, Most Serene Grand Duke and my lord, no other way than God and nature transmute one thing into another, that is, corporeal matter, which at one time is under one form, and at another time they remove that and introduce another; as, for example, that same substance and matter which is under the form of bread and wine, is changed into blood in the mother's womb, and a part of this then takes the form of a man, and then of a corpse, then of worms, and these are resolved into the four elements, of which other mixtures are then made; if by Art, I say, the said Alchemists, one could do the same with metals and especially with the transmutation of the less noble into the more noble, as lead into silver or gold, this art would be very marvelous for its great power; and because we use silver and gold in the acts of convertible justice of buying and selling at any moment, and princes and governors of states in distributive justice, hence it would bring the greatest convenience and benefit to the Republics; and because this could not be done without the greatest knowledge of natural things, it would deserve not only praise, but also honors, and not small ones; but even when this art is not possible to practice, or very difficult, it will be good to have that true resolution that one should have, so that expenses are not wasted by attempting to do what is closer to the impossible than to the possible, as up to now many have done, moved I do not know whether more by an extreme desire to enrich themselves or by too vain a desire that they hold for hidden things.
And even if this Alchemical art is impossible, or almost impossible, we will derive from it at least two benefits of no small importance: one is that we will know how much the art of God and Nature exceeds our art and our intellect, and so we will admire and honor it all the more; the other is that we will turn to another kind of Alchemy, with which that little gold that we have, and which is corruptible like all the other things down here, and which rarely remains in third heirs, we will convert into an ever lasting gold, and this is the virtue principally of charity towards the needy and the good, which alone makes us worthy of eternal beatitude, commendable to the will, and at peace in ourselves. It is therefore good in every way that I examine this beautiful doubt, and so desired by great and fine minds, whether the art of the Alchemists is true and possible or not; where I will proceed as follows.
First I will suppose some truths of the Arts in general, and of this one in particular which is called Alchemy, so that the title of this question may be better understood.
Secondly, I will argue in favor of those who, in all respects, deny that one metal can be transmuted into another by art. Thirdly, I will prove the contrary and respond to the reasons of those who remove it. If Your Majesty Serma thinks that I have resolved this important doubt well, and in accordance with the full knowledge and experience that you have of it, I will be able, with your kindness, to add it to my book on the Metheora, already approved and praised by Your Most Serene Highness.
And if you do not consider this dispute to be well resolved, a sacrifice can be made to Vulcan, or at least, like things badly done and that do not please, let it remain forever hidden. And Your Serenity will at least accept my grateful spirit, which is always intent on doing pleasing things and serving you in the magnanimous enterprise of Philosophy, as I have done up to now for 26 continuous years in your study in Pisa, with as much effort and diligence as I have known and been able to do, notwithstanding that I have been for many years now, and am still at present, so fiercely fought and afflicted by the envious, by poverty and by other cruel accidents, as Your Serenity knows in great part, with whose favor and help, and of the King of the universe, I hope to overcome every difficulty, and to give out to the public utility of the students of Virtues and sciences many other of my labors, both Tuscan and Latin. And among these principally will be a collection or a table of more than a thousand distinctions drawn by me over and over again from Aristotle and his best expositors, from which as philosophers we will be able to resolve in Philosophy every possible doubt to resolve. I kiss with every act of reverence the hands of Your Serene Lady and I desire from Your Majesty the goods of the soul as much more than those of the body and those of Fortune, as those of the soul exceed in value and stability every other kind of good.
The first truth, then, which must first be supposed in this place is this, that all the knowledge or professions by which in a well-ordered republic men benefit one another are of four kinds: either sciences that speculate on truth, or active and civil, or creative or instrumental.
The sciences that speculate on truth are, speaking generally, three, because either they contemplate God and intellectual natures, and this belongs to metaphysics or to theology; or they consider sensible and natural substances such as cycles, elements, meteorological effects, plants, animals and man; or thirdly they give us certain knowledge and by very strong demonstrations of quantities with lines, surfaces and bodies and numbers, and this is what mathematics and its professors do.
Theology contemplates divine things and adorns the intellect, the noblest part of our soul; Natural science uses the natural ones, and this uses the intellect together with the external senses. Mathematics uses quantities and is based on the intellect and the internal sense together, and especially on the imagination. The Active and Civil doctrines profess to regulate and moderate the passions of the sensitive appetite and of human actions, and these are Morality which moderates the affections and actions of a single man, Economics those of the family, and Legal Philosophy those of the whole City and all the others which belong to the Civil and Royal Faculty, such as the art of the military, that of ambassadors, painting, sculpture and the like.
Those which are productive are all the arts serving the body, as for food, agriculture and other similar ones; to clothing the wool trade, to housing the arts of manufacturers, to providing for everything else that is lacking in a city and community of people the art of merchants, and to its health the art of the doctor.
In the fourth and last place are the faculties, which the Greeks and all the more judicious call instrumental, such as Grammar, which contains the rules for speaking and writing well every concept; Logic, those for demonstrating every truth with demonstrative and necessary reasons, where the matter bothers, as happens in mathematical quantities; Dialectic, those for disputing and answering probable reasons; Sophism, those for knowing how to form sophistic reasons and knowing how to resolve them; Rhetoric, those for persuading and dissuading by moving the emotions; and Poetics, which uses the artifice of imitation and fable more.
The Art of Alchemy, which must be discussed, belongs to the arts that create and serve the body and our corporeal life. Whoever wishes to have fuller and more particular information about all four of these kinds of professions, should read the speech I have already made about them, and I dedicated it to Your Serene Highness and to the happy memory of the Most Serene Queen Joanna of Austria,most brilliant star for religious piety, for the splendor of her blood and for singular chastity, and consort of Your Excellency the Serenissima.
The second thing that must be supposed is that art is an imitator of nature, just as nature is an imitator of God, which does everything for some purpose, and proceeds to that end with excellent means, and because it does not understand, it needs to be directed to the purpose by one who understands and cannot err.
That is God, just as the arrow is directed at the target, which does not know it, by the arrow-shooter, who sees it well and understands it; and we imitate the works of nature with art because we use the senses to know and understand, and sensible things are natural things which are also imitable because they are made with Divine art, which is the very science of God, as I have shown in my book of the sun, which shines even in things that seem vile to us, as the prince of the Peripatetic philosophers shows and tells us in the first of the parts of animals to the last head. From here one can now easily understand that passage of Dante, no less a philosopher than he is a poet and theologian, where he says in this manner:
Philosophy told me what it is for
Note not only in one part:
How nature takes its course
From the divine intellect, and from its art;
And if you note your physics well,
You will find not after many pages,
That your art follows it as much as it can,
Follows: (as the master does the student),
So that your art is almost a grandson of God.
The third truth which I suppose in this place is drawn from Aristotle in the first book of natural principles, and it is this, that the arts produce their effects from some sensible matter in one of these five ways: either by transmuting it from one shape into another, as the bronze from the figure of a horse into the figure of a man or a vase; or secondly by adding other matter to the matter, as the art of those who make statues of mixed metal does; or thirdly by removing something from it with the chisel, as those who make statues of marble; or fourthly by composing the parts of the matter together with art, as architects do; or finally altering and transmuting the same matter from one substantial form into another by applying the natural agent to the patient, as the farmer does by cultivating the land well and throwing seeds into it, from which both grain and corn grow, thanks to the earth as a natural patient, and thanks to the sun and heat as similarly natural agents, and as the doctor does in preserving our bodies in health or in restoring it to them by means of natural remedies and the natural heat of our body. Similar to this art is that of the spirit or demon in tempting us by moving in us the humors or phantoms of things, which move us by means of pleasure and displeasure to err: of which spirits I have already spoken in one of my little books, as Your Serene Lady knows.
Thus was the cabalistic art made, which by applying particular natural agents and universal or celestial lights to the patients, made marvelous and stupendous things, whose rules they did not write down, but taught them by word of mouth to the gentle spirits and to those who by goodness of custom were able to use it well. A particle of this is called alchemy, which word comes from this Greek word χúμι, chimi, which means to melt and transmute one metal into another.
The penultimate supposition is this, that all effects which are produced by some cause and for some purpose, are of one of these three kinds: either by God and by nature alone, like the heavens, the stars, the elements, plants, animals and men; of such things the natural philosopher can only be a contemplator of their nature and of their properties, and so the prince as a philosopher, but he cannot yet make any of them, even if he wanted to make a fly or an ant; so that Your Serenity may see how small human power is in these things compared to that of God and of Nature; indeed, what the most excellent of all philosophers know or have known is almost nothing in comparison with what should be known about all the things of the universe, and in comparison with what intelligences and God know, although compared with the knowledge of idiots and the unlettered, the science of the greatest philosophers is great and marvelous. Some other effects, on the other hand, are entirely different from the first ones; for they are made only by men with their art, such as buildings, clothing, shoes, saddles, bridles, and other similar things. Finally, others participate in the condition of the first ones and of the second ones, because sometimes they are produced by God and by Nature alone, as health in bodies when the cause of the disease is slight and apt to be easily overcome by the nature of our bodies; and sometimes there is need of art, as happens in diseases in which nature and the cause of the disease fight equally: in this case nature aided by art conquers and frees itself from the disease, and thus the body becomes healthy again. When the cause of the disease far surpasses nature, so that with the help of art it cannot overcome the internal cause of the disease, in this case, in order not to discredit the remedies of art, the patient must be left with the prediction that he will die, not because of him, but because of himself, as the most excellent doctors warn us very well of this.
According to those who hold that with the art of Alchemy one metal can be transmuted into another, the metals will be of those effects that are produced by God and by Nature, and sometimes also by means of Art; and this is what I am seeking here.
Finally, and going more into detail, it must be supposed that in three principal ways one can imagine that this art (as a minister of God and of Nature) makes a new piece of metal, or rather taking enough of the four elements, which is sufficient to make that piece of metal that we intend to produce, and to make visible again to the world; and in this way it is impossible that with art any kind of metal is made; or indeed, and this is the second way, taking quicksilver and sulphur, and purifying them and with fire in the usual measure converting one metal into the other like lead into gold, which are similar in weight and softness; and in this way many of the Alchemists contrive to make gold from lead. The third way is with certain water and with gold dust mixing everything with lead, and making it in such a way that it becomes fine and true gold and not bad and false.
In these last two ways lies the dispute among natural philosophers. And they agree that in the first way only from God and from nature can any new piece of metal be made, for this reason, because only God knows how many degrees of fire, air, water and earth are needed, and under what constellation the metals are made. Therefore I also seek to see if Alchemy can transmute one metal into another in one of these two ways, that is, the one where sulphur and quicksilver enter, of which the majority of Alchemists attest, and the one where a certain water and gold dust come together, of which the same Alchemists similarly use, and have learned it from nature, which sometimes unifies things with similar dust.
Appianus of Alexandria, in the war of the Romans against Mithridates, King of Pontus and Asia, says: "Pompey, having pursued him as far as the islands of Cholchi, decided not to go any further, since it did not seem necessary to him to go around the island of Pontus, nor the Maeotis Marsh, nor to make many great preparations against those who had already fallen from the kingdom. But he visited Cholchi, where he wanted to hear the story of the Argonauts and the wanderings of the sons of Jupiter and Hercules. It is said that in that region there are many fountains that produce gold, and they come from Mount Caucasus, which have almost invisible sand, where the villagers spread out some skins in the deepest places, and with them they gather the sand, and these skins they say appear similar to the color of gold."
These are all those truths which I should have proposed to this dispute, so that its title might be more easily understood; and thus having proceeded from the first head, with the favor of God and then of Your Serene Highness, I come to the second, which consists in arguing in favor of the first opinion, which denies this art of the Alchemists. And their first reason is this, if by art we could make another metal from one metal, our art would be of equal strength with the art of God and Nature; but it is of lesser virtue, as Averroes well says in the physical disputes, and with great foundation, because as God and the universal causes on which Nature depends are more excellent than man, so much do their art and power surpass the art and power of men; therefore although God with the other universal causes such as the moving intelligences of the heavens and the celestial lights with other natural causes, can produce a new piece of metal, and perhaps sometimes convert a less noble piece into a more noble one, nevertheless the art of men cannot do this.
The second argument that he makes for them is this other. If the Alchemists with their art could make some piece of metal or transmute one into another, like lead or silver into gold, seeking in each mixture a certain proportion of hot, cold, moist and dry, a sign of that when this proportion of the four elements and their qualities is distempered and spoiled, that mixture is corrupted, just as when we distemper our body; and this proportion is hidden from men, therefore they cannot with their art and with their ingenuity make a metal and an effect, as is done by God and by Nature.
The third proof is formed by me in this manner. If by the Alchemists any metal is made, this is done by virtue of this fire of ours from down here; but this has the virtue of corrupting things rather than of generating them; therefore they cannot with their art make any kind of metal, but this is only of God and of Nature, who make use of the generative heat of the heavens.
Finally, in favor of this opinion one can argue as follows. If this art were true, in all the hundreds of years that the world has lasted, and with the favor and expense of the great and the rich, the true rules would have been found (as with other arts), so that always, or most of the time, when alchemists set out to transmute one metal into another, they would succeed; but up to now this art has not reached such perfection, and has not come close to it, therefore it is not true, indeed as harmful it should be banished from Republics in which public and private good are taken into account, since, in putting it into practice, one impoverishes instead of enriches; and all the arts agree in this universal end which is gain, even if they differ in their own, which is this or that good, as the health of the doctor, the victory of the captain of the armies, and so on speaking of the others.
If the athletes were so called from their miserable life, which was to tire themselves out in order never to be well, indeed to make themselves useless of the body in being able to provide themselves with the necessary things, similarly one must believe that the Alchemists were so called not because they have the virtue of transfusing and transmuting one metal into another, but because they transfuse and transmute themselves, and those who believe in them, in such a way that riches, many or few, are destroyed and converted into poverty. Other arguments could be adduced for this opinion; but to be brief, let these suffice, in which, if well resolved, they will give no less occasion to resolve all the others than to reason about this faculty to the great minds and to each other, and with the professors of this art, no less uncertain than vain and useless, as has been demonstrated by the reasons given above.
In the third and last place I proposed to argue to the contrary, and to prove with Timon, Zimarra and many other able men, that this art of Alchemy is true, and can transmute one metal into another; which must now be done by me, and at the same time resolve the arguments that were advanced for the first opinion. The first argument then is this. If the same aspect in parts can be generated by God and by Nature as fire, and also by our art, the same can be believed of every other natural effect for the same reason; but God and Nature produce fire from air, or from water, or from earth, as is demonstrated by Aristotle in the second book of Generation and Corruption, and we do the same when, striking fire with steel, we cause the air that is interposed between the two to become so thin that it is converted into fire; and with a concave mirror we burn the black cloth, just as with a bowl of water placed against the sun, in which the rays unite in such a way that, opposing them to a black cloth or tinder, they set it on fire. If therefore this element can be produced not only by God and by Nature, but also by us, then the same thing can also happen with metals.
Then by art were generated wasps and bees, cows and horses quickly put to putrefaction, and they are mixed with the soul, therefore all the more easily could the Alchemists make metals that have no soul. Furthermore, steel, which is a kind of very fine iron, is produced not only by God and by Nature, but also by art by means of fire, removing the more earthly crusts and with often burning fire consuming the moisture and thus making it harder and converting it into steel, as the blacksmiths experiment; but they rarely do it because, in doing so, the iron is consumed and it is to their own detriment, as Aristotle confesses in the fourth book of his Metheore; so lead, repeatedly melted by fire, is purged of scum and finally becomes tin, as Albertus Magnus confesses in his book On Metals and Precious Stones; if therefore lead purged by fire is converted into tin, this likewise by fire will be changed into copper, and then into silver, and finally into gold; and this will be a fourth way of making one metal into another.
Furthermore, the physician (as well as nature and God) restores health and life to men, and the farmer with the art of grafting makes it so that on the same trunk there are different species of plants producing different fruits, as on a pear tree different species of pears, on a lemon tree lemons, cedars and oranges. Albertus Magnus tells, in his commentary on Porphyry, that, taking crow eggs, and placing them under the ash that is heated outside by the sun, and wrapped in quicksilver, crow with white feathers grows. And the Conciliator on the problems of Aristotle tells that with art one can have peaches without stones by passing a small peach branch through a willow or willow branch, and tying it tightly enough that it sticks, and then cutting and detaching the said scion from the peach tree. If then the arts can produce these marvelous effects, the Alchemist will also be able to change one metal into another.
This second opinion seems to me to be closer to the truth, not so much for the reasons given, which have more of the probable than the necessary, but much more because to deny Alchemy is to deny the virtue of the natural agents applied by art to matter, and even in agriculture and medicine it is seen that they operate; and because if Alchemy were in every way false, and never changed one metal into another, it would not have remained in the minds of men throughout the ages as it has; therefore, since it is famous, it has the certainty that experience is the teacher of truth.
And finally I think that this art is in some part true, otherwise it would be to deny that in men there was not that manner of art by which, although rarely, one metal is changed into another. Just as some are arts which always achieve their goal with very firm rules, such as the art of manufacturing, of wool, of the carpenter, of the blacksmith and many others, and some obtain what they intend to do, not always, but most of the time, such as the farmer the harvest of grain, wine, corn and other similar things, the doctor health, and the master of the ship the desired port. Moved therefore principally by these three foundations, I think that Alchemy is an art which participates in the truth, and all the more marvelous than useful, the more rarely it obtains its intent; and by the republics it should rather be admired than put into practice.
To the reasons to the contrary, therefore, one must answer, and first of all to the first, by saying that if Alchemy were to transmute one metal into another, it would be superior to Nature and God, who do not do this, or the same as if the Alchemists were to do it by themselves, and not as ministers of nature and of God, as they do; and when some craftsmen make some things that art cannot do, such as a house, a stool, a bridle, a saddle, they are not therefore superior to God and Nature, both because they use natural things as material, and because they go in some way imitating the works of God and of Nature, such as building houses with different rooms from bees, weaving and weaving spiders from cobwebs, the use of cristian from the stork, the art of providing necessary things for the winter from the ant, and so on.
As for the second, it must be said that although the degrees of the four elements and of the heat which unites and digests them are not known, so that some metal can be made from them, and thus it is proved that a metal cannot be made immediately from the first four elements, it is not however the case that from a metal already made, and in many conditions similar to another, this other cannot be made either by means of sulphur, quicksilver and fire, or of water and gold dust, or thirdly by purifying one metal with fire so much that it is converted into the other, which is a fourth way of saying, as was said above, that from iron one makes steel and from lead tin.
To the penultimate argument it can be said that the fire which the Alchemists use, insofar as they use it with a certain measure and proportion, is in conformity with celestial heat, and thus contributes to the generation of metals and not to their destruction, just as the heat of our body when it is moderate converts food and drink well into excellent nourishment, but when it is out of moderation or too little or too much, it does the opposite.
To the last argument the Alchemists answer that their art is true, but in so many years it has never come to perfection because of the excessive expense that is incurred in making the experiment until the rules are learned precisely; because seeing the rich consume their substance before they have capital, rather than making the purchase of goods, they withdraw from the enterprise before they come to the end of it; and so this argument more quickly concludes a great difficulty of this art than its impossibility.
This is what I (having no experience whatsoever of this sort of alchemy) have judged, basing myself solely on the reasoning, instruments of philosophers, to be determined about this art, more to do something pleasing to Your Serene Highness and to the scholars of the doctrine of meteorology, than because I think I have discussed it fully and profoundly, leaving this to those who profess natural philosophy and alchemy together more than I do, and whose minds are freer from any annoyance than I have.
The end.