THE PREFACE TO THE READER. _That the Art of =Chymistry= is very useful and highly serviceable in Physick, Chyrurgery, Husbandry, and Mechanick Arts, is long since evinced by the Excellent Mr. =Boyl= (the Honour both of our Age and Country) in his Experimental Philosophy, or Philosophick Essays; who in =Essay I. and II.= shews that the Examination of the Juices of Human Bodies, by the Art of =Chymistry=, may illustrate their Use and Nature. And that by it may be Explicated the Nature of our several Digestions, and their Aberrations. And afterwards =Cap. VIII. pag 194.= speaking of the advantages that =Chymistry= affords to the =Therapeutick= or =Curative= part of Physick, (which is the chief and principal), and to which all the other parts are subservient) is pleased to express himself thus_: I cannot but think that if _Chymistry_ did no more than assist us, by the resolution of Bodies, to extricate their more active parts, and partly by such Resolutions, and partly by associating Bodies together, to alter the former Texture of Natures productions, or present us with new Concretes of new Textures; by this very means, if Men want not Curiosity and Industry, to vary and prosecute Experiments, there must necessarily arise such a store of new and active Medicines, that in all probability, many of them will be found endow’d with such vertue as have not been (at least in that degree) met with, in the usual Medicines, whether Simple or Compound, to be bought in Apothecarys Shops; and consequently, even without any notable discovery, or improvement of Principles, Chymists (even as Matters now stand with them) may considerably add to the Pharmaceutical part of Physick. But if the Operations of _Chymistry_ were seriously enquired into, and throughly understood, I make little doubt, but by a skilful Application of them, and especially by a series of them, in a Rational and Orderly way succeeding one another, there may be found out a great many preparations of Remedies, both very different from the common Ones, and far more Noble than they. _And presently after he adds._ That if we had but a few Potent Menstruums to dissolve and unlock Bodies with, I scarce know what might not be done in _Chymistry_. _Then further in that =Essay= where he treats of the usefulness of =Chymistry= to the Empire of Man over the Inferiour Works of Nature; he proceeds to shew that =Chymistry= is very serviceable to Husbandry in all its parts, and to other professions that serve to provide Men with Food or Raiment, or do otherwise minister to the Necessities or Accomodations of Life, as =Bakers=, =Brewers=, =Dyers=, &c._