Page:Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus Vol I (IA cu31924092287121).djvu/328



[The manuscript of Paracelsus which is preserved in the Vatican Library is not the only treatise which is attributed to him under the title of Manual. The octavo volume, which has already supplied the material for the fourth appendix, contains two extensive collections of processes, the one devoted to chemistry and the other to medicine, which are respectively described as the Primum and the Secundum Manuale. The latter is wholly outside the scope of this translation, but the first, which here follows, would have assuredly deserved a position of palmary importance in its proper section if there were not grave reason to doubt its genuine character. The preface has already stated that there are no satisfactory rules for distinguishing between the authentic and forged writings which pass under the name of Paracelsus. The early date of the Basle octavo might be regarded as in favour of its contents; it contains the Archidoxies, which are themselves indisputable, and it will be seen that the Primum Manuale claims to have been printed direct from an autograph manuscript. At the same time it does not correspond in any traceable manner with what is known of the Vatican treatise, and its "demonstrative physics" would appear to belong rather to the most suspicious section of alchemical literature than to serious experimental records. While this, of course, is an individual opinion, it is based upon a somewhat wide acquaintance with the great masters of alchemy, and on the evidence of other writings contained in the present volume which are less open to question. But whatever its actual value, it would by no means be right to exclude it because it is of doubtful authenticity, or because it is not in correspondence with what is known concerning a manuscript to which few have an opportunity of access. It has been, therefore, reserved to an appendix, where it may be accepted for what it is worth. If it be really a work of Paracelsus, the veils of the great mystery have been folded very thickly, and are not of an inviting texture.]