The first printed edition of the Epistola, now very rare, was prepared by Achilles Gasser, a physician of Lindau, a man well versed in mathematics, astronomy, history and philosophy. The work was printed in Augsburg in 1558. A copy of this early print is among the treasures of the Wheeler collection in the library of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, New York. It was from this text that the translation which follows was made.
Besides the Latin edition of Gasser, 1558, there is also that of Libri in his Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques, 1838; of Bertelli, 1868, and Hellmann, 1898. Bertelli’s is a learned and exhaustive work in which the Barnabite monk, sometimes called by mistake, Barnabita, instead of Bertelli, collates and compares the readings of the two Vatican codices with other texts, adding copious references and explanatory notes. It appeared in the Bulletino di Bibliografia e di Storia delle Scienze Matematiche e Fisiche for 1868.
Of translations, we have that which Richard Eden made from Taisnier’s pirated extracts, the first dated edition appearing in 1579. Cavallo’s Treatise on Magnetism, 1800, also contains some of the more remarkable passages. The only complete English translation that we have, appeared in 1902 from the scholarly pen of Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, of London. It is an édition de luxe beautifully rubricated, but limited to 250 copies. The translation was based on the texts of Gasser and Hellmann, amended by reference to a manuscript in the author’s possession, dated 1391. We are informed that Mr. Fleury P. Mottelay, of New York, the learned translator of Gilbert’s De Magnete, possesses a manuscript version by Prof. Peirce, of Harvard, of the Paris codex, of which he made a careful study in an endeavor to decipher the illegible parts.
PART I
THE LETTER OF
PEREGRINUS
PART I
CHAPTER I
PURPOSE OF THIS WORK
Dearest of Friends:
At your earnest request, I will now make known to you, in an unpolished narrative, the undoubted though hidden virtue of the lodestone, concerning which philosophers up to the present time give us no information, because it is characteristic of good things to be hidden in darkness until they are brought to light by application to public utility. Out of affection for you, I will write in a simple style about things entirely unknown to the ordinary individual. Nevertheless I will speak only of the manifest properties of the lodestone, because this tract will form part of a work on the construction of philosophical instruments. The disclosing of the hidden properties of this stone is like the art of the sculptor by which he brings figures and seals into existence. Although I may call the matters about which you inquire evident and of inestimable value, they are considered by common folk to be illusions and mere creations of the imagination. But the things that are hidden from the multitude will become clear to astrologers and students of nature, and will constitute their delight, as they will also be of great help to those that are old and more learned.
CHAPTER II
QUALIFICATIONS OF THE EXPERIMENTER
You must know, my dear friend, that whoever wishes to experiment, should be acquainted with the nature of things, and should not be ignorant of the motion of the celestial bodies. He must also be skilful in manipulation in order that, by means of this stone, he may produce these marvelous effects. Through his own industry he can, to some extent, indeed, correct the errors that a mathematician would inevitably make if he were lacking in dexterity. Besides, in such occult experimentation, great skill is required, for very frequently without it the desired result cannot be obtained, because there are many things in the domain of reason which demand this manual dexterity.