Friedrichstadt Leisure or the Chemical Tantalus

the frequency of which we owe to the munificence of Kings and Princes, and we estimate their labors, works, and days with great merit. Oh, would that some Prince might institute a College of such a kind, in which nothing but Chemical matters were treated, and to him a reward of labor, as the Academy of Bordeaux is accustomed, who would find the best of all chemical medicines for patients of diverse kinds, whose experiment could be instituted in Hospitals or otherwise, would be counted, or an annual stipend would be paid. Such an institution would stimulate and impel curious minds so that they would no longer elaborate those vulgar things according to the Chemistry reduced into the form of an art. Why, I ask, do they not follow the preparations of Basilius Valentinus, which he teaches how to prepare from Antimony in his Triumph of Antimony? Why do they not follow the compositions of Goes Vreswick and take them to hand? Not that the Chemical works of Glauber are to be despised, but they deserve their own praise. Yet the labors of these men require a most experienced Chemist. The learned world is obliged to the most glorious Louis XIV, King of France, because he instituted the Parisian Academy, in which, besides other things, such Chemical matters are published annually which sustain a most illustrious fame. And as it is evident, they are not the minions of Chemical art reduced into the form of an art. If we choose this path, medicines will respond much better to the vow of the patient. Regarding the L. P. B., to add this also, I will be no one's author and persuader to direct his mind to its elaboration, for it is with its elaboration as it is with the structure of the tower of Babel, so that there languages were confounded, so that they did not understand each other, and what was requested by this or that language they did not attain. Such a confusion is also in the descriptions of the L. P. B., so that no one, unless God opens his eyes and a faithful friend informs him, could attain the true sense from writers of that kind, or reach this Corinth. Nay, they see the Sun obscured by many clouds; through the condensation of clouds and the agglomeration of vapors, Phoebus cannot shine through. And thus many writers of the L. P. B. obscure the sun, so that it remains in Cimmerian darkness, and there is no way to emerge from them. In which Cimmerian darkness, not rarely also, the will-o'-the-wisp of the sophists leads one into labyrinths and seduces. These are the things which I wished to give to You, most Excellent Chemiatrists of our Europe, on this occasion; you decide what is to be done and how you can succor the miserable state of Chemistry into which it has been reduced by the form of an art. Farewell! Favor me! Your T. T. Nestor II. Friedrichstadt, May 22, Saturday, at the tenth hour in the morning.