these men! what care do they take of the sick! Wo, wo to them!
in the day of Judgement they will find the fruit of their
Ignorance and Rashness, then they will see him whom they
pierced, when they neglected their Neighbor, sought after
money and nothing else; whereas were they cordial in their
profession, they would spend Nights and Days in Labour that
they might become more learned in their Art, whence more
certain health would accrew to the sick with their estimation
and greater glory to themselves. But since Labour is tedious
to them they commit the matter to chance, and being secure of
their Honour, and content with their Fame, they (like
Brawlers) defend themselves with a certain garrulity, without
any respect had to Confidence or Truth."

Perhaps one of the reasons why Valentine's book has been of such
enduring interest is that it is written in an eminently human vein and
out of a lively imagination. It is full of figures relating to many
other things besides chemistry, which serve to show how deeply this
investigating observer was attentive to all the problems of life around
him. For instance, when he wants to describe the affinity that exists
between many substances in chemistry, and which makes it impossible for
them not to be attracted to one another, he takes a figure from the
attractions that he sees exist among men and women. It is curious to
find affinities discussed in our modern sense so long ago. There are
some paragraphs with regard to the influence of the passion of love that
one might think rather a quotation from an old-time sermon than from a
great ground-breaking book in the science of chemistry.

"Love leaves nothing entire or sound in man; it impedes his
sleep, he cannot rest either day or night; it takes off his
appetite that he hath no disposition either to meat or drink
by reason of the continual torments of his heart and mind. It
deprives him of all Providence, hence he neglects his affairs,
vocation, and business. He minds neither study, labor, nor
prayer; casts away all thoughts of anything but the body
beloved; this is his study, this his most vain occupation. If
to lovers the success be not answerable to their wish, or so
soon and prosperously as they desire, how many melancholies
henceforth arise, with griefs and sadness, with which they
pine away and wax so le