Introduction to the Divine Art of Chemistry

And therefore the art of cooks is partly subalternated to the fourth book of Metaphysics, and partly to the book on the crafts of foods. And the arts of the transformations of inanimate things, such as the art of glass and artificial salts, are subalternated to alchemy. And the naval art is partly subalternated to Geometry, and partly to Astrology. And the art of building to Geometry, and music to Arithmetic. But the principle of the arts which are about the being of reason is the speculative intellect. And just as the principle of nature is intelligence, so the principle of reason is the intellect, because every art and science is with reason, therefore the principle of art and science is the intellect. And because the intellect is always of true things, therefore every art and science is of true things. If, therefore, we place alchemy in the category of arts or sciences, we shall necessarily place it as being of true things. For it is subalternated to the book of Metaphysics, or properly and per se to the book on Minerals; and the book on Minerals to the book of Metaphysics, and properly to the fourth. And if the subalternating science is true, we shall necessarily say the subalternated one is also true; for principles and prior things are always the cause of truth, and the origin of posterior things, and those that have arisen from principles, and not the other way around. For principles attest to the origin and vice versa. Similarly, those which have an order toward one another according to prior and posterior, such as the prior things are in truth and falsehood, such are the posterior ones. Therefore, whose principles and premises and prior things are true, necessarily those which follow according to order are also true; and whose are false, are false; and whose are sophistical, are sophistical. For this reason, nature is always truthful, and its principles, and its works, since it arises from intelligence, and intelligence from the divine being, in which all truth shines, and from which all truth flows, since it itself is truth.