Chapter XIII, Section 1a

CHAPTER XIII. Whence the Occult Virtues of Things Proceed . It is well known to all that there is a certain virtue in the Loadstone by which it attracts iron, and that the Diamond doth by its presence take away that virtue of the Loadstone. So also, Amber and Jet, rubbed and warmed, draw a straw to them; and the stone Asbestos, being once fired, is never or scarce extinguished. A Carbuncle shines in the dark; the stone Aetites put above the young fruit of women or plants strengthens them, but being put under, weakeneth. The Jasper stauncheth blood; the little fish Echeneis stops the ships; Rhubarb expels choler; the liver of the Chameleon, burnt, raiseth showers and thunders. The stone Heliotrope dazzles the sight, and makes him that wears it to be invisible; the stone Lyucurius takes away delusions from before the eyes, the perfume of the stone Lypparis calls forth all the beasts, the stone Synochitis brings up infernal ghosts, the stone Anachitis makes the images of the Gods appear. The Ennectis, put under them that dream, causeth oracles. There is an herb in Æthiopia with which, they report, ponds and lakes are dried up, and all things that are shut to be opened; and we read of an herb, called Latace, which the Persian kings give to their embassadors, that whithersoever they shall come they shall abound with plenty of all things. There is also a Scythian herb with which, being tasted or at least held in the mouth, they report the Scythians will endure twelve days’ hunger and thirst; and Apuleius saith that he was taught by an Oracle that there were many kinds of herbs and stones with which men might prolong their lives forever, but that it was not lawful for men to understand the knowledge of those things because, whereas they have but a short time to live, they study mischief with all their might and attempt all manner of wickedness; if they should be sure of a very long time, they would not spare the Gods themselves. But from whence these virtues are none of all these have shewed who have set forth huge volumes of the properties of things, not Hermes, not Bochus, not Aaron, not Orpheus, not Theophrastus, not Thebith, not Zenothemis, not Zoroaster, not Evax, not Dioscorides, not Isaaick the Jew, not Zacharias the Babylonian, not Albertus, not Arnoldus; and yet all these have confessed the same, that Zacharias writes to Mithridites, the great power and human destinies are couched in the virtues of Stones and Herbs. But to know from whence these come, a higher speculation is required. Alexander the peripatetic, not going any further than his senses and qualities, is of the opinion that these proceed from Elements, and their qualities, which haply might be supposed to be true, if those were of the same species; but many of the operations of the Stones agree neither in genere nor specie . Therefore Plato and his scholars attribute these virtues to Ideas , the formers of things. But Avicen reduceth these kinds of operations to Intelligence, Hermes to the Stars, Albertus to the specifical forms of things. And although these authors seem to thwart one the other, yet none of them, if they be rightly understood, goes beside the truth; since all their sayings are the same in effect in most things.