64: NOVUM OROANUM 



would soon cease to admire and rather pity the human lot 

 on account of its vast want and dearth of things and discov 

 eries for so many ages. Yet even the discoveries we have 

 mentioned were more ancient than philosophy and the intel 

 lectual arts; so that (to say the truth) when contemplation 

 and doctrinal science began, the discovery of useful works 

 ceased. 



But if any one turn from the manufactories to libraries, 

 and be inclined to admire the immense variety of books 

 offered to our view, let him but examine and diligently in 

 spect the matter and contents of these books, and his aston 

 ishment will certainly change its object: for when he finds 

 no end of repetitions, and how much men do and speak the 

 same thing over again, he will pass from admiration of this 

 variety to astonishment at the poverty and scarcity of mat 

 ter, which has hitherto possessed and filled men s minds. 



But if any one should condescend to consider such sci 

 ences as are deemed rather curious than sound, and take a 

 full view of the operations of the alchemists or magii, he 

 will perhaps hesitate whether he ought rather to laugh or 

 to weep. For the alchemist cherishes eternal hope, and 

 when his labors succeed not, accuses his own mistakes, 

 deeming, in his self-accusation, that he has not properly 

 understood the words of art or of his authors; upon which 

 he listens to tradition and vague whispers, or imagines there 

 is some slight unsteadiness in the minute details of hia 

 practice, and then has recourse to an endless repetition of 

 experiments: and in the meantime, when, in his casual ex 

 periments, he falls upon something in appearance new, or 

 of some degree of utility, he consoles himself with such an 

 earnest, and ostentatiously publishes them, keeping up his 

 hope of the final result. Nor can it be denied that the alche- 



