Fridrichstadt Leisure, or the Chemical Tantalus

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the statement of Solomon, who is said to have philosophized from the Cedar of Lebanon down to the hyssop growing from the wall; therefore perhaps the Cedar is the most excellent of all. But in the thick volumes of herbals, mention is hardly made of the cedar, much less of its admirable virtue. But they will perhaps say, it does not grow among us; therefore, let them say, what is the most excellent of all plants? In my judgment, the plant which nourishes, the plant which at the same time heals the diseases of men, is the most excellent of all, to which the next closest is that which clothes man coming into the world and leaving the world, and covers and adorns his naked body.

The order touches upon Minerals; we will not be long-winded about them, we only commend those authors who were occupied with scrutinizing the Nature of Minerals and instituted their anatomy. And since their catalog is great, let anyone choose from them according to his own taste and pleasure. Some have examined one or another metal or mineral and have written about it, as is known, and they are worn away by the hands of all learned men. In the same way, there exist commentaries on Gems and Stones by Anselmus de Boodt, Gessner, Kentmann, and others. Concerning amber, we have Hartmann, a physician of Königsberg, an outstanding philosopher.

And since Nature has implanted such delight, that anyone may satisfy himself with it as his own pleasure draws him; and thus far the Learned have left nothing untouched. Some commit to the monuments of literature Natural History; some science, that is, Physics concerning natural bodies; some dig out Antiquities from the grayness of the ages; some teach how to form a political state; some interpret civil law and the Laws given by Princes; some are occupied with forming the morals of men; some instruct how the diseases of men are to be cured; not to say anything now of the Theologians, who are the searchers of the divine Word, to whom the better part of man, that is, the salvation of the soul, is entrusted; so that man is surrounded by all these treasures of natural things, from which he can pick what pleases his genius, and besides that, he also abounds in the abundance of those doctors who teach how one may use the works of God. I, as one who have now by the grace of God taught Physics for 43 years, have chosen as my bride chemical philosophy, of which, since I am the least of all suitors, I therefore go forth into public again, imbued with its nectar, since I have been as it were forced to spend the entire month of May of the current year in Fridrichstadt; lest