PROSPERITY OF GERMANY

has become known to the whole world. So great a quantity of it can never be in short supply, such that it could not be applied and usurped not only for necessary use but also bringing great profit. I pass over its greatest use and greatest utility in preparing gunpowder, which no Kingdoms or Republics can be without for defending the Fatherland and repelling enemies. And if this use were lacking, that use would still be of the greatest moment which produces the greatest profit by eliciting Gold and Silver from poorer minerals that do not bear the expenses of fusions and liquations; it would, however, never provide so much Gold and Silver that it could not be for the utility of the Fatherland. Nay, if there were no need for gunpowder, nor Gold, nor Silver (which time, however, I do not see when or from where it is to come), nevertheless, we cannot labor under a lack of bread, and an abundance of wine, grain, and tree fruits, however great, is never accustomed to be too much. Grains and seeds soaked before sowing in saltpeter, and the roots of vines and trees imbued with a very little of its liquor, not only grow more copiously but also bring forth more plentiful fruits, ripening much faster and acquiring a sweeter taste than if that foul liquor of cow dung had been poured on. If, therefore, saltpeter, a subject so excellent, which we can in no way be without, is so easy and copious to prepare from wood and stones; if it makes the earth fertile everywhere above all other means; if it knows how to elicit copious and true Gold and Silver from despised sands and stones, what more would we dare to demand from it?