The Business of Alchemy

«The voice of this book is the life of Johann Joachim Becher, spanning the last half of the seventeenth century (1635-82).» — el libro se organiza como una vida.

«At the heart of this process of change in the early modern period was a crisis of authority.» — la crisis abarca de Lutero y Tomás Moro a la *Battle of the Books* de Swift.

«the relationship between words and things» — el motivo que Smith declara recurrente en la obertura del libro y que estructura el argumento entero.

«Alchemy thus became the vehicle by which Becher spoke to the court about production and material increase.»

«alchemical transmutation-the ennoblement of metals-provided an example of fabulous material increase and the production of surplus» — por qué el lenguaje alquímico servía para hablar de comercio.

«Alchemy was thus a natural, virtuous activity within the compass of human art, and an accepted activity and language at the noble court.»

«Becher regarded alchemy as embodying and epitomizing productive knowledge» — la fórmula con que Smith define su objeto en el prefacio de 2016.

«Making and knowing are an inseparable amalgam.» — el programa que Smith declara haber desarrollado después de este libro.

«Recipes effectively capture in written form—to the extent this is possible—the essential character of making as coping with emergent phenomena.»

«the experimental method, the development of quantitative aspirations, and the use of precision instruments» — lo que la historiografía reciente reconoce como herencia alquímica.

«Alchemy became charlatanry, rather than potentiality; science became visible truth.» — el cierre de la periodización.

«An emblem thus was more real than, say, a microscopic observation, unless of course the microscope observation could be interpreted as an emblem.» — la visión multivalente del XVI y comienzos del XVII.

«Alchemy gave way to public utility, marvels and curiosities to facts, wonder to reason, andfortuna to human agency and state discipline.» — la última frase del capítulo quinto; el OCR pega «and» a «fortuna».

«Money was considered unnatural because it was a means of exchange that did not contain the seeds of its own regeneration.»

«Commerce was considered an unnatural activity, for merchants were viewed as producing nothing.»

«Artisanal culture embodied an understanding of production, creation, and working with the hands.»

«Credit, in both commercial and noble societies, was a measure of status.»

«Money was the source of a prince's authority and thus the source of his ability to keep his central place in the court hierarchy.»

«The old nobility possessed (and regulated access to) social credit.»

«Alchemy could help these outsiders in their pursuit of the emperor's favor and the power it conveyed.» — la alquimia como recurso de los recién llegados a la corte imperial.

«Lapis politicorum» — (a politicians' stone) — el término que Becher acuña, según Smith, para lo que el comercio daría al príncipe.

«believed that his politicians' stone would enoble commerce and make it regenerative» — la grafía «enoble» es la del texto.

«he attempted to transmute the count's interest in curiosities into an understanding of the goods and transactions of commerce as the sources of political power» — el uso del proyecto colonial de Hanau.

«Becher had concluded that the philosophers' stone was easier to make than the politicians' stone» — Smith lo toma de la *Psychosophia* (1705), p. 171.

«Stahl and Zincke situated Becher so thoroughly within their histories that he vanished as an independent figure.» — la tesis de Smith sobre por qué Becher desapareció de la historia de la química.

«terra pinguis» — la segunda de las tres tierras de Becher (junto a «terra lapidea» y «terra fluida»), en la nota donde Smith da también sus nombres alemanes.

«Chymia dealt with all three realms: animal, vegetable, and mineral» — la tripartición de Becher en el *Oedipus Chimicus*.

«unter-Erdisches Laboratorium» — Becher llama a la naturaleza un laboratorio subterráneo, según Smith.

«the universal spirit was more copiously present in the air of the tropics and the New World» — la doctrina que ligaba la alquimia de Becher al proyecto colonial.

«the seed first disintegrated in the nutritive matrix of the earth into its prima materia» — la generación de los metales en la teoría de Becher.

«gold was known only through its accidental qualities» — de ahí la necesidad del mercurio filosófico.

«Hermes, the legendary discoverer of chemistry was considered the inventor and articulator of both the liberal and mechanical arts» — la figura hermética tal como opera en el argumento de Becher.

«the workers in the last three chambers would ideally be unable to read and write» — el laboratorio jerárquico proyectado por Becher, donde el secreto se garantiza por aislamiento.

«Nullius in verba» — el lema de la Royal Society, que Smith pone junto al «Provando e riprovando» de la Academia del Cimento.

«The source of this maxim was Morienus, although Becher» — Smith adjudica a Morienus la máxima que Becher atribuía a Paracelso.

«Astrology and alchemy had formed a central part of human investigation of and interaction with the material world since the dawn of humankind.» — Smith abre el prefacio de 2016 situando astrología y alquimia como parte central del trato humano con la materia desde el origen, no como desvío tardío.

«Similarly, alchemy emerged out of a long-enduring human striving to transform the materials of the immediate environment into goods with greater utility or value» — Smith deriva la alquimia de un afán práctico y antiguo de convertir los materiales del entorno en bienes de más valor.

«Alchemical theory and practice are documented in China in a first-century CE text dealing with elixirs of health and longevity» — Smith fecha ahí el testimonio chino documentado, y en la misma frase remonta las ideas de transformación y longevidad al siglo IV a. C. y al pensamiento daoísta.

«While alchemy was regarded as akin to artisanal activity in its ability to produce valuable materials, it also possessed an esoteric spiritual dimension.» — Smith sostiene que las dos dimensiones —la artesanal productiva y la espiritual esotérica— conviven en la alquimia, sin que una desplace a la otra.

«Enlightenment writers and newly minted nineteenth-century scientists took up this banner and derided these fields in the name of the new rationalism and a new method—what we would come to call the method of the natural sciences.» — según Smith, la degradación de alquimia y astrología a pseudociencia es obra de la Ilustración y del siglo XIX, no del XVII.

«their vigorous campaign of ridicule suggests that these ancient areas of human activity actually represented a substantial intellectual threat to the new scientists and their method.» — Smith lee la virulencia de la burla como indicio de amenaza intelectual, no de irrelevancia.

«The full story of how these fields of knowledge became marginalized in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as pseudosciences has yet to be written, but» — Smith declara pendiente esa historia; la cita se corta donde ella pasa a la salvedad.

«According to Paracelsus and his followers, humans had to look to nature, rather than to the books of the ancients, in order to practice medical healing and to gain salvation.» — Smith resume así el giro paracelsiano: la naturaleza sustituye a los libros de los antiguos como fuente, y con ello se juega tanto la cura como la salvación.

«For Paracelsus, the principles and processes of nature were alchemical processes, and “all crafts are founded on imitating nature and experiencing the properties of nature, so that craftspeople know that in all their work they follow in the path of nature and bring out of nature what is in her.”» — según Smith, Paracelso funda todos los oficios en la imitación de la naturaleza, con lo que la alquimia deja de ser una disciplina entre otras y pasa a ser el suelo común de la producción artesanal.

«Alchemy, he said, redeemed nature through fire, for alchemy was whatever is done through fire, in the kitchen or in the furnace.» — la definición paracelsiana por el fuego, según Smith: cocina y horno quedan en el mismo plano.

«No wonder, then, that alchemical activities, laboratories, and texts grew exponentially in early modern Europe, for by this time, alchemy was viewed as a productive art, as an esoteric investigation of nature and the human place in the cosmos, and also as giving insight into the vexed subject of the relationship of matter to spirit.» — Smith explica el crecimiento por la triple utilidad de la alquimia: arte productivo, indagación esotérica y vía para pensar la relación entre materia y espíritu.

«It could be read and practiced as religious allegory, relevant to processes of spiritual transformation, even those of creation and resurrection.» — la lectura alegórica religiosa entra, según Smith, entre los usos legítimos de la alquimia, no como desviación.

«Like Galenic medicine, it was a capacious and flexible body of knowledge that touched on almost every part of human life and agency, from organic processes of the human body to the growth of plants and metals in the ground» — Smith la compara con la medicina galénica por su amplitud y su elasticidad, no por su contenido.

«It dealt with everyday processes of transformation—with fermentation and the production of bread and wine, for example—and with the transformations of matter in productive craft knowledge of all kinds; in refining and perfecting; and even with economic transformations.» — el listado con que Smith enlaza fermentación, oficios y economía bajo una misma noción de transformación.

«At the same time, both craft and alchemical knowledge was seen as potentially deceptive, an association that went back to the earliest texts that codify the making of gems, pigments, cosmetics, and other such practices of imitation (the Leiden and Stockholm papyri).» — Smith remonta la sospecha de engaño a los papiros de Leiden y Estocolmo: nace con la codificación misma de las prácticas de imitación.

«Indeed, “artifice” and “cunning” were regarded as possessing two-sided capacities—both skilled expertise and deceitful trickery.» — la ambivalencia está, según Smith, en los propios términos de artificio y astucia.

«This dual potential not only formed a component of craft self-representation, but also provided a target for the critique of art.» — el mismo doble filo servía al artesano para presentarse y al crítico para atacarlo.

«No wonder they felt it necessary to ridicule and dismiss this field.» — Smith cierra así la explicación de por qué los filósofos naturales del XVII y XVIII necesitaban ridiculizar la alquimia.

«“pseudosciences” of astrology and alchemy were not abandoned because they were proven wrong so much as because they came to be viewed, like wonders and portents, as vulgar, childish, and often effeminate.» — la tesis del abandono por descrédito social y no por refutación; Smith la formula con la reserva de *so much as*, sin negar del todo el componente epistémico.

«The new scientific rationalism of the nineteenth century brought about the reaction of romanticism, which would see a resuscitation of alchemy and the rediscovery of its Eastern roots in the counterculture of Theosophy and in the arcana of the New Age» — Smith traza la línea que va del racionalismo decimonónico al romanticismo, la teosofía y la nueva era.

«Interestingly, at the time that alchemy was viewed as thoroughly extinguished by nineteenth-century scientists, an esoteric alchemy emerged that still thrives today.» — la extinción declarada coincide, según Smith, con el nacimiento de la alquimia esotérica que sigue viva.

«Perhaps this is because an essential function of both astrology and alchemy in the past was their part in the formation of individual identity and self-knowledge—a realm that psychotherapy deals in today.» — Smith lo ofrece como conjetura —*perhaps*—: la función identitaria explicaría la supervivencia, y hoy la ocuparía la psicoterapia.

«Perhaps it should not therefore surprise us that alchemy became one of the first historiographical catalysts by which the history of science could be expanded beyond the bounds of a protoscientific story, for it had both great antiquity and a hybrid text-practice nature; once declared pseudoscience, it could be taken up as counterculture and alternative path.» — la condena a pseudociencia es, en la lectura de Smith, lo que volvió a la alquimia utilizable como palanca historiográfica.

«The historical investigation of this former “pseudoscience” has not only expanded exponentially in recent years, but has also made its influence felt in many fields outside the history of science.» — Smith mide el crecimiento del campo por su desbordamiento hacia otras disciplinas.

«As a result of this research, historians of alchemy and chemistry have reached a consensus that the empiricist attitudes and techniques of the new science, such as the experimental method, the development of quantitative aspirations, and the use of precision instruments, were very much shaped by the hands-on, empirical techniques of alchemy» — Smith lo presenta como consenso alcanzado por los historiadores, no como hallazgo propio.

«The first was that, counterintuitively to the circumstances of his life and times, Becher promoted a view that salvation could come in this world through material increase.» — la primera de las dos cosas que, según Smith, hacían de Becher un caso: la salvación se busca en este mundo y por vía del aumento material.

«The alchemical vision of Paracelsus’s reforms and his articulation of the artisans’ vernacular epistemology informed these experimental philosophers (although, of course, they distanced themselves from Paracelsus’s spiritual and social reforms), along with the interaction of these new philosophers with artisans themselves in the urban “trading zones” of Europe.» — Smith mantiene la filiación paracelsiana de los filósofos experimentales y a la vez consigna el deslinde que ellos mismos hacían de las reformas espirituales y sociales.

«We cannot yet fully appreciate this point because we do not have the language with which to talk about craft skill and expertise as “knowledge,” for craft has not been theorized over the very long term in the way that discursive and propositional knowledge has been.» — Smith atribuye la dificultad a una carencia de vocabulario teórico, no a una carencia del oficio.

«But this of course is not the case, and the secret of their work is actually practice, and the resultant “skill” that comes only through practice and experimentation.» — contra la idea de que las recetas guarden un secreto verbal, Smith sitúa el secreto en la destreza que solo da la repetición.

«Instead of seeing recipes as a frustrating and unforthcoming genre, we can understand them as a strong and flexible form to describe and transmit the essential parts of practical knowledge.» — Smith invierte el juicio corriente sobre el género de la receta.

«Recipes effectively capture in written form—to the extent this is possible in writing—the essential character of making as coping with emergent phenomena, as well as setting out a pathway for the acquisition of skill by means of which the emergent phenomena can be channeled and harnessed.» — versión completa del pasaje que esta ficha ya traía abreviado; la salvedad *to the extent this is possible in writing* y el tramo sobre la adquisición de destreza estaban fuera.

«This knowledge is embedded within, but also provides phenomenological support to systems of belief (or “theories”) about the matter, practices, and things they incorporate.» — para Smith el saber material no solo se aloja en las creencias: les da apoyo fenomenológico.

«This itinerary from materials to ideas can sometimes be traced in texts that codified practice and theory, although one often finds that the long existence of material practices underlies ephemeral appearances in texts, and the texts themselves may disappear from the historical record while the practices endure.» — Smith acota la utilidad del archivo escrito: la práctica dura más que el texto que la registra.

«Materials follow a complex itinerary as they are worked by humans: through the reciprocal engagement between humans and materials that this working entails, humans come to know the properties of materials.» — el conocimiento de las propiedades sale, según Smith, del trato recíproco con el material, no de su contemplación.

«These craftspeople were the basis of Becher’s reform, and a reservoir of information, techniques, and knowledge for the experimental philosophers of the early modern period.» — los artesanos como base doble: de la reforma de Becher y del acervo de los filósofos experimentales.

«In the intellectual realm this crisis translated into a debate about the foundations and very legitimacy of knowledge.» — así traduce Smith la crisis de autoridad al terreno intelectual.

«The proponents of this new philosophy claimed that, unlike their predecessors, they dealt with visible, tangible, material things (and we shall see it is significant that these things often had a commercially determinable value).» — Smith anota desde el prólogo el giro que sostiene el libro: esas cosas materiales tenían además precio de mercado.

«Active rather than contemplative, this new philosophy was a practice, rather than a set of theories, and it flourished in such places as laboratories, theaters of nature, and cabinets of curiosities.» — para Smith la filosofía nueva se define por sus lugares y su actividad, no por un cuerpo doctrinal.

«The practitioners of the new philosophy might dispute its precise methodology and its limits, but they knew for certain that it had to do with "things": the collection of things, the observation of things, and material, visual demonstration by use of things in place of the logical demonstration by means of words.» — según Smith, el acuerdo estaba en las cosas y el desacuerdo en el método; la demostración visual desplaza a la lógica verbal.

«This new method did not storm the citadels of knowledge, but slowly transformed habits of practice and thought as it became useful to a growing number of individuals and groups, as scholarly alliances formed around it» — Smith descarta el modelo de ruptura y describe una transformación lenta por utilidad y alianzas.

«It was patronized by courts, institutionalized in the academies, and gradually incorporated into an educational curriculum that had been based on the mastery of a corpus of words and texts.» — las tres vías de instalación del método nuevo dentro de un currículo hecho de palabras.

«The new philosophy claimed to involve not only theory and practice, but also to be as productive as art.» — Smith subraya la pretensión productiva, y la enuncia como pretensión —*claimed*—, no como logro.

«Thus the advent of the new philosophy both opened up possibilities for individuals who did not have an intensive text-based education that would have allowed them to call themselves learned in the old style, and resulted as well in the formation of an elite of natural philosophers who tried to distance themselves from rude mechanics.» — el mismo movimiento abre la puerta a los sin latín y cierra filas contra los mecánicos: Smith lo consigna como doble efecto, sin resolverlo.

«Human art not only demonstrated the progress of the modems over the ancients, but it was also productive of things in a way that neither theory nor practice had been before.» — el arte humano como prueba de la superioridad de los modernos y a la vez como productor; el troceo trae *modems* por *moderns*.

«The new philosophy blurred the boundaries between what had been the separate realms of theory, practice, and art, as well as the difference that had existed between the production and manipulation of words and the production and manipulation of things.» — la borradura de fronteras que, para Smith, define la filosofía nueva.

«I argue, on the contrary, that Becher's difficulties stemmed from the fact that the structure and rationality of the court was based on a different set of practices and principles than that of the commercial world.» — Smith explica los fracasos de Becher por un choque de racionalidades, no por defecto personal.

«Becher's success, such as it was, was due to his ability to mediate between the two worlds.» — la mediación como clave del éxito, con la reserva *such as it was* incluida en la propia frase.

«This concern with the observable material world characterizes the conceptual transformation from words to things of the early modem period.» — Smith enuncia el paso de las palabras a las cosas como la transformación conceptual del periodo; el troceo trae *modem* por *modern*.

«It embodied a view that humankind was capable of productive abilities similar to those of nature, for ars imitatur naturam: human art imitated nature.» — el axioma que, según Smith, sostiene la cultura artesanal: el arte humano puede lo que puede la naturaleza porque la imita.

«Nature was productive, and, through the imitation of nature by art, the world of human beings was also viewed as potentially productive.» — la productividad humana se deriva, en esa vista, de la productividad natural.

«Such notions of generation possessed a religious dimension, and the city as the center of human art and production had a powerful spiritual significance: God gave humans the power to use their hands to create for themselves what previously had been supplied to them by bountiful nature in Paradise.» — Smith le da a la ciudad artesanal un sentido teológico: la mano suple lo que el Paraíso daba sin trabajo.

«Commerce on the other hand was an unproductive activity, indeed a parasitical one, for merchants took advantage of deficiencies in the cycle of production in the town and on the land.» — la razón concreta del reproche gremial al comercio: vive de los huecos del ciclo productivo.

«Instead they acted as middlemen, distributing goods produced by other members of society, thus profiting from the labor of others, while doing no honest work themselves.» — la figura del intermediario tal como la juzgaba la ciudad gremial, según Smith.

«Yet this barren, parasitical, and unnatural activity paradoxically provided surplus wealth-wealth that formed a source of power as great as the violence of arms and the force of noble rank.» — la paradoja que Smith pone en el centro del libro: lo condenado como estéril producía el excedente, y con él un poder equiparable al de las armas y el linaje.

«The mechanical arts-the province of the guilds-represented productive knowledge to Becher, and he attempted to capture not only the skills of individual artisans but also the productive knowledge they possessed;» — según Smith, Becher no buscaba las manos sino el saber que las guiaba.

«Merchants, while dangerous to the community because they were consuming, rather than producing, members of society, seemed nevertheless to hold a key to material increase.» — la ambivalencia del mercader en la lectura de Becher que Smith reconstruye: peligroso y a la vez depositario de la clave.

«This was especially true in Becher's theory of alchemical transmutation, which postulated that the multiplication of precious metals took place by means of consumption.» — el puente que Smith traza entre alquimia y economía: en Becher, el consumo es lo que multiplica.

«By capturing their techniques and codifying the method of artisanal reproduction, this group destroyed the guild structure and ushered in a new order in which productive knowledge and the reproduction of that knowledge was taken outside the artisanal world and brought within the sphere of the state.» — el desenlace que Smith atribuye al grupo de Becher: el saber productivo pasa del gremio al Estado.

«In attempting to carry through this material reform, Becher became an intermediary between the court and the bearers of productive knowledge, attempting to bring their skills, knowledge, and productive potential under the control of the prince.» — la definición del papel de Becher como intermediario, con el fin declarado de poner ese saber bajo el príncipe.

«Becher's identity was first of all shaped by the society of orders that defined the individual in the early modem period.» — Smith ordena las capas de identidad de Becher y pone primero la sociedad de órdenes.

«He was separated from the society of his parents' generation by the bloody caesura of the Thirty Years' War and by his own self-fashioned life at the courts of the Holy Roman Empire, where he spent almost two decades.» — las dos rupturas que, según Smith, lo apartan del mundo de sus padres: la guerra y la corte.

«The court world had a distinctive structure, hierarchy, and code of behavior, within which Becher created a space for himself and his peculiar qualifications and ideas.» — la corte como estructura con reglas propias dentro de la cual Becher se labra un lugar.

«As a court physician, Becher regarded himself as a member of the republic of letters, and this identity was not precisely congruent with his place in the society of orders nor with his place as a servant of noble princes.» — Smith registra el desajuste entre las tres pertenencias de Becher sin resolverlo en favor de ninguna.

«The republic of scholars relied upon the past for its self-definition and legitimacy in a way that in our own day is irretrievably gone (despite all the talk of the canon).» — Smith marca la distancia entre aquella república de letrados y la academia actual.

«Although Becher could only take part in public life as a courtier of the territorial ruler, he nonetheless looked to the republic of scholars as an alternative model, where learning could make possible an independent life.» — la república de las letras como modelo alternativo de vida, no solo como pertenencia.

«And he looked to the Dutch Republic as a place where money could make such a life possible.» — la segunda vía de independencia que Smith le atribuye: el dinero holandés.

«Becher also used his knowledge of nature and his adherence to the new philosophy to form his self-identity.» — el saber natural como material de construcción de la propia identidad.

«He was not alone in this project, and a group of like-minded individuals accompanied him throughout his life, alternately assisting and hindering his schemes at court.» — Smith desindividualiza el proyecto y consigna que el mismo grupo lo ayudaba y lo estorbaba.

«Their claims to legitimacy presupposed a new vision of knowledge and learning; one associated with a new type of person who had little time or training.» — Smith liga la legitimación de los nuevos filósofos naturales a un saber hecho a la medida de quien no tuvo formación larga.

«The new vision of knowledge was exemplified in the shift from polymathic and pansophic encyclopedias-arranged "systematically" with one subject flowing seamlessly into the next-to newly published tomes organized alphabetically.» — el orden alfabético como síntoma: se puede consultar sin recorrer el sistema entero.

«Thus he embraced change only within established models and always for the purpose of facilitating "order."» — Smith acota el reformismo de Becher: cambio dentro de los moldes recibidos y al servicio del orden.

«Because he led a public life, in the service of the common good, Becher concerned himself with material increase in the world around him and, in the process, began to view fortuna as controllable by human agency.» — el giro que Smith le atribuye: la fortuna deja de ser destino y pasa a ser objeto de acción.

«He not only drew from that distant past, the Holy Roman Empire's immediate political present, but also projected a vision of society (although not always seamless and coherent) onto the future.» — Smith le concede la proyección al futuro y en el mismo paréntesis le retira la coherencia.

«Ironically, Becher was entrapped within the rhetoric and the culture of the new philosophy that he himself had helped to create and propagate.» — la ironía que Smith señala: la filosofía nueva que él difundió terminó por encerrarlo.

«Until recently, the historians who recounted this progress of knowledge displaced these pursuits-sometimes even Becher himself-to the status of "mere curiosities" in a story of great men and great theories.» — el relato de grandes hombres y grandes teorías desplazó lo que no cabía en él, incluido Becher.

«The significance invested in "objectivity," "science," and "social mobility" has increased since the seventeenth century, and historians now "find" the seeds of these defining and meaningful concepts in Becher's thought.» — Smith pone *find* entre comillas: lo que se halla en Becher depende de lo que se busca.

«After his death, the new philosophy eventually relegated his projects and curiosities to the trivial and banal realm of Madame Tussaud's and the occult.» — el destino póstumo de las curiosidades de Becher: la cera y lo oculto.

«Such activities lost their meaning because the new philosophy, which took for granted the progress of knowledge, became established.» — la pérdida de sentido no es interna a esas prácticas: viene de que se impuso otra filosofía.

«While Leibniz celebrated Becher's innate cleverness, he believed that his restlessness brought down odium upon him.» — Smith glosa así la carta de Leibniz con que abre el capítulo primero: el elogio y el reproche vienen juntos.

«It was, however, sometimes used in a positive sense to signify someone curious after knowledge.» — Smith rescata el uso favorable de *polypragmon*, la palabra con que Leibniz lo calificaba.

«Becher was a man of deeds as well as of words, and, in the service of the most important princes of the German territories, he proposed and carried out many mechanical, chemical, and commercial projects.» — Smith presenta a Becher por sus obras además de por sus escritos.

«In 1664, Becher moved to the court in Munich, having been named Hofmedicus und -mathematicus to Elector Ferdinand Maria of the Wittelsbach House of Bavaria.» — el cargo con que Becher entra en la corte bávara, en su forma alemana.

«Although Becher held this position simultaneously with that of medicus and mathematicus to the Bavarian court, from 1666 he always titled himself "Advisor on Commerce to His Majesty, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.» — el título que Becher prefería para sí, por encima del que efectivamente ejercía.

«Becher drafted several works in which he so titled himself, although there is no external evidence for this appointment.» — Smith anota en nota que el nombramiento no está documentado fuera de los escritos del propio Becher.

«In 1666, while carrying out trade negotiations in Vienna, he became involved in a dispute with the imperial treasurer, Georg Ludwig von Sinzendorf, and he returned to Munich for four years.» — el primer choque con el tesorero imperial y el regreso a Múnich.

«In the same year, he spent three months in Holland negotiating for a colony in the New World from the West India Company, not, however, for the elector of Bavaria, but for Friedrich Casimir, count of Hanau.» — Smith precisa por cuenta de quién negociaba Becher la colonia, y el matiz importa para el episodio de Hanau.

«He performed this process before Elector Johann Philipp in Mainz, and it excited interest as far away as the Royal Society of London.» — el alcance que Smith le reconoce a las demostraciones de Becher.

«In Duke Gustav Adolph's service, Becher attempted to secure the discoverer of phosphorus, Henning Brand, and his process for the icy noctiluca, but Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz preempted Becher and lured the phosphorus maker away for the duke of Hannover.» — la disputa por Henning Brand, que Smith cuenta como pugna de dos cortes por un mismo secreto.

«In 1678-79, Becher raised a flurry of interest among the learned of Europe when he contracted with the States General of Holland to extract gold» — el contrato holandés para extraer oro, del que sale la polémica que ocupa el capítulo quinto.

«A small-scale assay of the process succeeded, but Becher left secretly for England before the large-scale probe could be carried out.» — Smith consigna la salida en secreto antes de la prueba mayor, sin declarar fraude ni acierto.

«In these works, Becher established for posterity his own and others' priority to ideas, inventions, and chemical recipes.» — la escritura como registro de prioridad, propia y ajena.

«Becher died at the age of forty-seven in London far from the main stage of his life's activities, but he had enjoyed a very successful career in the service of the most important political figures» — la muerte lejos de las cortes que fueron su escenario.

«And he ensured his fame after death as skillfully as he had obtained patrons in his lifetime.» — Smith le atribuye la misma destreza para la posteridad que para el mecenazgo.

«Becher's life as a practical (active) but learned (contemplative) man became exemplary soon after his death and is expressed perfectly in the title of the first biography of Becher published in 1722: Das Muster eines Nutzlich-Gelehrten in der Person Herrn Doctor Johann Joachim Bechers9 (The model of a useful scholar-in the person of Dr. Johann Joachim Becher).» — el modelo del sabio útil, ya fijado en el título de su primera biografía; el 9 pegado a *Bechers* es la llamada de nota.

«Stahl claimed to have used Becher's ideas in his own construction of a theory for the discipline of chemistry.» — Smith lo formula como reclamo de Stahl, no como deuda comprobada.

«Since Stahl wrote him into the history of chemistry, Becher has had an established place in the history of science.» — el lugar de Becher en la historia de la ciencia depende, según Smith, de que Stahl lo inscribiera en ella.

«For, as Leibniz aptly noted, Becher was a very active man. And he was active within a certain social setting, namely, the German court society.» — Smith retoma el juicio de Leibniz para fijar el marco del libro: la actividad de Becher solo se entiende dentro de la sociedad cortesana alemana.

«He has consequently been named the "father" of many inventions, from gas-lighting to the planting of sugar beets in Central Europe.» — las paternidades que se le han adjudicado después, y que Smith enumera con las comillas puestas.

«Becher provides an exemplum of history for these modem writers because throughout his life he pursued political and economic reform in a Germany severely damaged by war.» — Smith explica por qué la historiografía alemana lo tomó como ejemplo; el troceo trae *modem* por *modern*.

«while Becher's works testify that he saw no general European crisis, he did consider his immediate world, the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, to be in social and economic, moral, and intellectual crisis.» — Smith acota el alcance de la crisis que Becher percibía: el Imperio, no Europa.

«Becher's work must also be seen against the background of the power struggles between territorial princes that led up to the Thirty Years' War.» — el contexto de pugna entre príncipes territoriales como clave de lectura.

«The way Becher conducted his life must be seen against this political, economic, and intellectual backdrop.» — la regla de lectura que Smith aplica a la conducta de su personaje.

«Later historians have calculated that the German Empire lost about a third of its population in the cities and two-fifths of the population on the land.» — la cifra de la devastación que Smith recoge de la historiografía, sin hacerla suya.

«As intermediary, he proposed practical, material projects that would aid the German courts impoverished by the Thirty Years' War, but he articulated and carried out these projects in such a way that he bolstered the traditional structure and expression of power within the court society.» — la tesis central sobre Becher: proyectos nuevos formulados de modo que reforzaban el orden viejo.

«He advocated reform not by denouncing established social, intellectual, and political structures, but rather by "refurbishing" them with new connecting spaces and arrangements within their walls.» — la metáfora arquitectónica con que Smith define el reformismo de Becher: se reacondiciona el edificio, no se derriba.

«His success in obtaining court positions derived from a particular ability to speak in a language comprehensible and persuasive to the court world, and at the same time to deal effectively with the artisans necessary to carry out his projects.» — Smith cifra el éxito de Becher en una doble competencia lingüística y práctica, hacia arriba y hacia abajo.

«Becher was not an atypical figure in early modem Europe in responding to the real economic crisis in his society by projecting a scheme for ordering it.» — Smith lo inscribe en el género del proyectista, no en la excepción; el troceo trae *modem* por *modern*.

«Employing the rhetoric and observing the conventions of established power structures, Becher attempted to contruct a new constellation of power and a new discourse that embraced political, moral, and natural philosophy.» — la novedad viaja dentro de las formas viejas; el troceo trae *contruct* por *construct*.

«In order to provide for the landed ruler's need of specie, Becher sought to integrate the landed ruler into the commercial exchange economy.» — el móvil que Smith le atribuye: la necesidad de metálico del señor territorial.

«He proposed to the court a new language and vision, at the center of which stood commerce.» — el comercio puesto en el centro de un lenguaje dirigido a la corte.

«The crisis of war that enveloped much of the lives of Becher's parents reverberates in his own life and writings.» — Smith hace de la guerra un antecedente heredado, no vivido de primera mano.

«The influx of the soldiers and refugees of war also brought chaos to this closed society.» — la sociedad cerrada de la ciudad gremial descompuesta por la llegada de forasteros.

«A tension between the commonweal and self-interest, and between universalism and closed community characterized Becher's mother's realm.» — la doble tensión que Smith sitúa en el mundo materno de Becher, el de la ciudad de Espira.

«When they set off on this journey, his mother had been an established member of the community, born to a family of citizens and council members in Speyer.» — el arraigo del que la familia sale, y que da la medida de la caída posterior.

«The citizenry of Speyer, a town of middle size, was divided into fifteen guilds, ruled over by a patriciate drawn from members of these guilds.» — la estructura gremial concreta de la ciudad natal de Becher.

«Because Speyer was a seat of a bishopric and meeting place for the Reichskammergericht, the artisanal citizenry had to assert itself against representatives of the bishop and local nobles for control of the town.» — la ciudadanía artesanal definiéndose por oposición al obispo y a la nobleza local.

«The emperor granted various special privileges to the town of Speyer, and the location of the Imperial Court of Appeals in the town allied the emperor with the town citizens against the bishop and the nobility.» — la alianza entre emperador y ciudadanos que Smith usa para explicar la autonomía de la ciudad libre.

«A middle-sized guild town of the Holy Roman Empire had a distinctive structure and outlook that was nurtured by the balance of powers in the empire, and that resulted in the town's ability to assert its independence against the local nobility.» — la independencia urbana como efecto del equilibrio imperial de poderes, no de la fuerza propia.

«The corporate guild mentality asserted the communal good over the interest of the individual, and required that all the citizens of a city be united into corporate organizations.» — el bien común por encima del interés particular como principio de la mentalidad gremial.

«Citizenship, however, was more than a measure of economic wealth; it was also a measure of one's political position, social quality, family history, and personal dignity.» — la ciudadanía como medida de honor y no solo de patrimonio.

«Not every person residing in a town belonged, however, to its citzenry, but only those who could be corporately represented and who had been approved by their corporate body.» — el filtro corporativo de la ciudadanía; el troceo trae *citzenry* por *citizenry*.

«In particular, merchants were seen by guildsmen as disruptive competitors, for, although some small retailer guilds selling imported goods existed, the guildsman ideally sold his goods directly from his workplace.» — la venta en el propio taller como norma frente a la que el mercader aparece como intruso.

«The town was not just a society of individuals ( Gesellschaft) but a community ( Gemeinde ), or, as it was sometimes translated, a universitas.» — la distinción alemana entre sociedad y comunidad puesta a trabajar en la descripción de la ciudad gremial.

«Therefore he competed on a different level and in accordance with an entirely different set of rules that seemed to the guildsman to give him an incomparable advantage.» — Smith atribuye el agravio a una asimetría de reglas, y lo enuncia como percepción del gremio —*seemed*—.

«Merchants were not, therefore, normally part of the small-town citizenry.» — la exclusión del mercader de la ciudadanía como consecuencia, no como accidente.

«Movable goods and money were traditionally associated with risk, instability, vanity, selfishness, and private interest, but most of all, money wealth was considered suspect in the stable town world by reason of its very mobility.» — Smith reduce la sospecha sobre el dinero a una sola propiedad: su movilidad.

«By 1635 the power of the guilds that had initially enabled the cities to free themselves from territorial rule had dwindled.» — el año en que nace Becher es también, según Smith, el del ocaso del poder gremial que había hecho libres a las ciudades.

«The movement of trade away from the empire to Antwerp and finally Amsterdam and the other maritime nations reduced trade in the empire as a whole.» — el desplazamiento del comercio hacia el Atlántico como causa externa del declive imperial.

«The Thirty Years' War destroyed the cities' productivity and their markets, while war tax levies put fatal financial strain on their treasuries.» — la guerra golpea a la ciudad por dos lados: producción y fisco.

«The increasing power of the territorial rulers and their courts resulted in a greater number of hojbefreite artisans, who operated outside the guilds under direct license from a member of the nobility.» — el artesano con licencia noble como figura nueva; el troceo trae *hojbefreite* por *hofbefreite*.

«The artisan at the noble court was freed from guild constrictions and rules, and, as the residential seats of noble courts moved increasingly off the land and into the towns, these free artisans competed fiercely with the often already struggling incorporated guild artisans of the towns.» — la corte se muda a la ciudad y lleva consigo una competencia que el gremio no puede regular.

«The corporate guild structure of the towns was also eroded in the first half of the seventeenth century by the system of Verlag, a putting-out system in which a merchant supplied artisans with raw material, which they made into goods and sold back to him.» — la definición del *Verlag* y su efecto: el artesano deja de vender lo suyo.

«The town society was just one of three separate worlds that coexisted in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the seventeenth century.» — el esquema de tres mundos con que Smith organiza el capítulo.

«Outside the town walls ofthe community-centered society of the towns lay a hierarchical world of the landed territorial prince, and a mobile and individualistic world of commerce and money.» — los otros dos mundos, el del príncipe y el del dinero; el troceo pega *of* y *the*.

«Each of these worlds had its own economy, structure of power, and set of values, and each saw in the others a threat to its own stability.» — Smith los presenta como incompatibles entre sí, y ese es el terreno donde Becher tendrá que mediar.

«The community world was structured around a guild economy in which members of a reciprocally defined status worked according to a careful division of labor for a common good.» — la definición del primer mundo por su reciprocidad de estatus.

«Wealth resided in the ability of the community to sustain itself, and the status of an individual corresponded to his place in the community.» — riqueza y estatus medidos por la comunidad, no por el individuo.

«The economy of the landed household was based on the agricultural production of the land, and, in this economy, wealth was measured by land and power, and status by honor.» — las medidas del segundo mundo: tierra y honor.

«Lastly, the world of the large-scale merchant existed outside these societies of land and town, and in this world of exchange for monetary profit, wealth was measured in money, and status by credit.» — las del tercero: dinero y crédito, la pareja que da título al libro.

«Becher thus sought to extract the goal of common purpose and the cycle of economic sustenance (which he made dependent, however, upon commercial activity) from the community world and place them under the control of the territorial ruler.» — la operación de Becher según Smith: extraer el bien común de la ciudad y ponerlo bajo el príncipe, con el comercio de por medio.

«Although he drew his model of civil society from the community world, he transformed the model in significant ways.» — Smith consigna a la vez la deuda con el mundo gremial y la alteración que le hace.

«He made the commercial activity of merchants the "soul" of his self-sustaining community, and the prince, although a "servant" of the community, came, by means of Policey (government ordinances), to control the community world.» — el comercio como alma y el príncipe como servidor que manda: dos desplazamientos que Smith deja a la vista.

«He desired to retain corporate forms, such as the guilds, but to police them by requiring them to be privileged by the prince.» — conservar el gremio cambiándole la fuente de su privilegio.

«Becher left the town walls of Speyer with his mother in 1648 and became a wanderer.» — la fecha en que Becher sale del mundo gremial y empieza su vida errante.

«Becher's view of commerce as a productive and meliorative force in society did not come from within the town world.» — Smith descarta la ciudad gremial como origen de la idea que Becher defendería.

«The advent of war in the seventeenth century brought forth projects of intellectual and spiritual reform.» — la guerra como partera de los proyectos de reforma del saber.

«Commerce was a significant component in these reform projects, but it was a very different notion of commerce than Becher had learned in his mother's town world.» — dos nociones de comercio que Smith mantiene separadas: la del proyecto reformista y la del gremio.

«Becher claimed that his father could understand ten languages by the age of twenty-eight: Hebrew, Chaldean, Samaritan, Syrian, Arabic, Greek, Latin, German, Dutch, and Italian.» — Smith lo da como afirmación de Becher —*claimed*—, no como dato verificado.

«We have no other indication of the elder Becher's educational and theological views than Becher's statement that his father had mastered ten languages; however, Becher possessed several lists of books, one of which set out a course of study with a distinctly Lutheran cast.» — Smith declara el límite de su base documental sobre el padre y lo que la suple en parte.

«The ideal of a unified European Christendom had not quite faded, however, and the interest in language at this particular time was part of a scholarly effort to unify the different European languages as a first step toward the unity of peoples and the peace that was to follow on it.» — el interés por las lenguas leído como programa de paz, no como erudición.

«Becher's father belonged to the generation of reformers of learning such as Johann Heinrich Alsted and Jan Amos Comenius, from whom Becher himself would draw vocabulary and ideas while completely transforming their goals.» — la filiación con Alsted y Comenio, tomada en el vocabulario y desmentida en los fines.

«Later scholars ridiculed the dusty folio volumes that represented his life's effort, but in the lands of German tongue in the first half of the seventeenth century Alsted's reform of learning was very serious business indeed.» — Smith opone la burla posterior al peso real que la reforma de Alsted tenía en su momento.

«Andreae 's ideas for the reform of learning show a marked similarity to those of his slightly older contemporary Francis Bacon in The New Atlantis and Sylva sylvarum, but it was probably from Andreae's writings, filtered through the works of Comenius, Samuel Hartlib, and other Protestant reformers, that the ideal of natural knowledge as an integral part of religious and material reform emerged.» — Smith prefiere la vía de Andreae a la de Bacon para explicar el ideal, y lo dice con la reserva de *probably*.

«For, as Paracelsus (1493-1541) had set forth, the seeds or signatures of the things resonated with the Platonic ideas in the mind of man to bring about true understanding and knowledge of God.» — la doctrina de las signaturas atribuida a Paracelso, según Smith, como base epistemológica del método de Comenio.

«The natural philosopher or physician must "overhear" and unite with the thing under study in order to gain true, natural knowledge of the object.» — el conocimiento por unión con la cosa, no por discurso sobre ella.

«Drawing on Hermetic and Paracelsian ideas, especially as formulated by Jacob Boehme, Comenius believed that God had left his signature in all the things of nature as well as in the mind of man himself.» — Smith traza la filiación hermética y paracelsiana de Comenio pasando por Böhme.

«For this reason, Comenius formulated his celebrated method of teaching language by pictures, which finally resulted in the publication of his famous picture book, Orbis sensualium pictus (1658).» — el método de enseñar por imágenes se deriva, en esta lectura, de la doctrina de las signaturas.

«This had been the aim of Alsted's encyclopedia, but Comenius's method added millenarian components.» — Smith distingue a Comenio de Alsted por el añadido milenarista.

«He believed universalism had been furthered in the modem era by the invention of printing, the advances in navigation, and the increase in long-distance trade and exchange.» — el universalismo de Comenio apoyado en imprenta, navegación y comercio; el troceo trae *modem* por *modern*.

«But he had a quite different vision of universalism and reform than that of his father's generation.» — Smith marca la ruptura de Becher con la generación reformadora de su padre.

«Becher remained fascinated by commerce, by ships, by travel, and by universalist undertakings, but in his hands the spiritual and cosmic meaning was muted, and the material content emphasized.» — la continuidad de los temas con un cambio de acento: lo espiritual baja de volumen y sube lo material.

«The religious and millenarial significance with which these activities had been invested by Comenius and also, perhaps, by his own father continued, however, to reverberate in Becher's thought.» — Smith no da por extinguido lo religioso en Becher, y deja el papel del padre en conjetura —*perhaps*—.

«As a convert to Catholicism and a creature of the Habsburg/Catholic world, Becher manipulated the ideas of his father's world to create a new vision of the order of society.» — la conversión al catolicismo como condición del uso que Becher hace del legado luterano paterno.

«Becher states he was just thirteen years of age when his stepfather took him and his family to seek their livelihood in foreign lands in the year of the Peace of Westphalia, 1648.» — Smith atribuye la fecha al propio Becher —*states*—, sin corroborarla por otra vía.

«Perhaps his stepfather died or deserted them, for Becher said he had to become his family's sole support in foreign countries, giving lessons by day and studying at night.» — la suerte del padrastro queda en conjetura; lo documentado es lo que Becher dice de sí.

«After they left Speyer it is unlikely that Becher had any formal course of education.» — Smith sostiene el autodidactismo como probable, no como probado.

«When he had mastered this reform of language teaching (by the light of nature and by studying other Methodisten), he turned to other subjects:» — la secuencia de aprendizajes de Becher, que Smith presenta antes de citarlo.

«Becher claims to have passed from language learning, the basis of all boys' schooling, directly to theology, as the Lutheran plan in his NachlajJ advised.» — Smith lo da como reclamo de Becher y lo coteja con el plan de estudios luterano de su legado; *NachlajJ* es la corrupción de *Nachlaß* en el troceo.

«He did not tarry long, however, with his theological studies, as he moved quickly to practical concerns, and from there to politics and law.» — el paso rápido de la teología a lo práctico que define, según Smith, su formación.

«Mathematics also led him to commerce, for, from the mechanical arts, he claimed to have learned artisanal vocabulary and instruments and to have speculated about how he might produce the objects of manufacture.» — el puente entre matemáticas, artes mecánicas y comercio, atribuido a lo que Becher declara de sí.

«Petrus Ramus (1515-72) believed that "natural" or "practical" reason should be allowed to guide humankind in the acquisition of knowledge, for this was the method used by the ancients, but distorted by modem scholars.» — la razón natural de Ramus presentada como retorno a los antiguos y no como novedad; el troceo trae *modem* por *modern*.

«Mathematics was particularly important, not only for Ramus, but for other reformers of the trivium and quadrivium, such as Melanchthon and Rudolph Agricola, because it was the heart of the quadrivium and was seen as corresponding to the place of logic in the trivium.» — la matemática como bisagra entre las dos mitades del currículo, según Smith.

«For Ramus, however, it became central in his intellectual and pedagogical reform, for it represented to him a way of unifying the practices of the liberal and mechanical arts, and of theory and practice.» — en Ramus la matemática pasa de bisagra a eje: une artes liberales y mecánicas.

«Mathematics was an established part of the scholar's training that would have been learned from the subjects of the quadrivium-arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy-but mathematics was also firmly associated with the machines and workshops of artisans» — la doble pertenencia de la matemática, escolar y de taller, que Smith usa para explicar el perfil de Becher.

«While the studium mathematicum had been cultivated in Italy, it had flourished especially in Germany, and particularly in Nuremberg.» — Smith localiza en Núremberg el foco alemán de la matemática práctica.

«Ramus believed the union of scholarly mathematics and the practice of the mechanical arts by artisans would bring about great civic prosperity.» — la prosperidad cívica como fruto esperado de esa unión, según Ramus en la lectura de Smith.

«He believed Nuremberg's fame as a center of mathematical astronomy (the chosen home of the astronomer Regiomontanus), its reputation for artisanal virtuosity, and its affluence as a center of artisanal manufacture were not coincidental.» — las tres famas de Núremberg leídas como una sola causa.

«Becher's background in the guild city may well have prepared him to regard the artisanal city as a place where mathematics and the mechanical arts brought about great productivity; however, his papers and publications give no clue as to where he might have honed his mathematical and mechanical skills.» — Smith propone la hipótesis y en la misma frase declara que el archivo no la sostiene.

«Artisanal knowledge was separated from the realm of school knowledge by the fact that the mechanical arts were neither taught in the schools nor written down, and a certain unclean odor clung to them as the illiberal arts, for in antiquity they had been the work of slaves and the vulgus.» — la separación entre saber de escuela y saber de taller explicada por la transmisión y por el estigma antiguo.

«The knowledge of artisans was transmitted by doing and imitation, rather than by the study of books, and artisanal guilds and guild towns constituted the means by which their knowledge and techniques were reproduced.» — el gremio como institución de reproducción de un saber que no se escribe.

«Johann Valentin Andreae and Francis Bacon both believed that a study of the mechanical arts would yield knowledge of nature as well as knowledge useful to the state» — Smith junta a Andreae y a Bacon en la misma expectativa doble: saber de la naturaleza y utilidad para el Estado.

«By that time, however, the German war was over, the English civil war was drawing to a disappointing close for reformers like Hartlib, and a new political order was falling into place.» — el cierre del ciclo reformista inglés y alemán que enmarca la entrada de Becher.

«He claimed to have learned "by the light of Nature," from the things themselves.» — Smith lo enuncia como reclamo de Becher, y con la fórmula paracelsiana de la luz de la naturaleza.

«This new method, which was based upon active practice and was seen to yield new knowledge, would eventually transform completely the older system of education directed toward the mastery of a corpus of authorities.» — el método activo sustituyendo a la educación basada en el dominio de un corpus de autoridades.

«To pick only three examples, the "Nullius in verba" of the Royal Society of London expressed the members' loyalty to things, rather than words;» — el primero de los tres lemas con que Smith documenta el giro hacia las cosas.

«Cimento's "Provando e riprovando" declared an adherence to active trial and practice;» — el segundo lema, el de la Academia del Cimento.

«pseudonyms from the story of Jason and the Argonauts by the members of the Academia naturae curiosorum emphasized the active search for knowledge.» — el tercero: los seudónimos argonáuticos de la Academia naturae curiosorum.

«new method had its origins in the importance placed on the things of nature and on know ledge of God's Creation by authors influenced by Hermetic philosophy such as Paracelsus and Jacob Boehme.» — Smith adjudica el origen del método experimental a autores de filiación hermética; el troceo parte *knowledge* en dos.

«These authors elevated the work of the hands and the manual worker (Handwercker) above the learning of books because the artisan worked with the objects and materials of nature.» — la elevación del *Handwercker* sobre el letrado por su trato con la materia.

«The Handwerker was more closely attuned to nature, because by his art, he imitated nature (ars imitatur naturam), which yielded knowledge of nature and ultimately formed a path to the understanding of God's Creation.» — el axioma de la imitación convertido en vía de conocimiento de la Creación.

«Medicine and alchemy, above all other arts, carried out in microcosm the macrocosmic process of human redemption after the Fall.» — medicina y alquimia como réplica en pequeño del proceso de redención, según Smith.

«The manual labor of refining nature for human needs, common to all Handwerck and thought by Paracelsus to be exemplified in the refining processes of alchemy, brought about the reformation and ultimately the redemption of the world and humankind.» — el refinado como operación a la vez técnica y salvífica, atribuida a Paracelso por Smith.

«Becher notes that he too "did many trials, and labored much," and his first published work was one of alchemical medicine.» — Smith enlaza la fórmula del ensayo con el hecho editorial: su primer libro fue de medicina alquímica.

«He claimed to have been acquainted with many of the most famous members of the republic of scholars of his day, but the facts of his claim are less important than investigating the group of scholars with whom he chose to ally himself.» — Smith deja de lado la verificación del dato y se queda con la elección de compañía, que es lo que su análisis usa.

«In 1678, when he claimed to be retiring from court life, he counted up his famous acquaintances and found they included a small number of Jesuits, several professors at the university at Leiden, and all the most stellar names of Queen Christina's erudite court, most of whom had also spent time at Leiden.» — la nómina que Becher se atribuye, con Leiden como punto común.

«Becher may have studied at Leiden, although he did not formally matriculate.» — Smith deja la estancia en Leiden en probabilidad, y consigna el dato negativo de la matrícula.

«While there, he probably came in contact with Cartesian ideas, which he seems to have rejected,74 as well as with the late humanist Stoicism of Justus Lipsius and the wave of practical, political literature Lipsius left in his wake in the Netherlands and throughout Europe.» — Smith apunta el contacto y el rechazo con dos reservas seguidas —*probably*, *seems*—; el 74 es la llamada de nota.

«Becher used his references to Paracelsus, rather, to connect himself with a figure who personified the method of philosophizing practiced outside the schools and based in the experience of natural things.» — Smith lee las citas de Paracelso en Becher como afiliación de método, no como adhesión doctrinal.

«In describing his education, Becher was careful to balance the experience, assaying and laboring of his early life with reading, speculation, and conversation with scholars ("bin auch mit viel gelehrten Leute umgangen").» — el equilibrio calculado entre taller y erudición en el autorretrato de Becher, con el alemán original entre paréntesis.

«Thinkers as diverse as Thomas Hobbes and Justus Lipsius claimed that the body politic was dead without a prince to hold it together.» — Smith reúne a dos autores distantes en una misma exigencia de príncipe.

«Becher almost never referred to the Aristotelians and their theories of state structure.» — un dato negativo que Smith consigna: la teoría aristotélica del Estado casi no aparece en Becher.

«Becher viewed Descartes as a materialist-someone who investigated spiritual matters by a method meant only for corporeal things» — el reproche de Becher a Descartes, según Smith, que lo toma de la *Psychosophia* de 1705.

«Becher would lament that at court a person was regarded for his born worth and name, rather than for his capabilities.» — la queja del recién llegado ante una corte que mide por nacimiento, según Smith.

«Their goal was the worldly and urbane experience of the courtier (or Stoic) that brought with it an ability to act prudently, to distinguish between reality and appearance, and, most important, to develop the virtue that would permit personal triumph over fortuna.» — el programa neoestoico de los letrados cortesanos, con el dominio de la fortuna como meta última.

«The political writings of these men focused on the development of self-knowledge and Stoic self-control.» — el desplazamiento de la escritura política hacia el gobierno de uno mismo.

«They often lamented their position at court, and the tension they felt between court privileges and the life of the mind was palpable in their work.» — Smith lee la queja cortesana como tensión estructural, no como pose literaria.

«The scholars of the seventeenth century, displaced and held by the golden chain of servitude, seeing their value at court calculated upon a different scale than that current in the republic of letters, clung to the freedom of will and mind that Stoicism offered.» — el estoicismo como recurso de quienes ven su valor medido con una vara ajena.

«The significance and potential of this sort of knowledge was exemplified for Becher, as it had been for Paracelsus, in alchemy, and was epitomized in the alchemical anecdote evoked by the tag (often quoted by Becher), "Solve mihi hunc syllogismum" (solve for me this syllogism).» — la anécdota del alquimista que transmuta ante el profesor, condensada en una fórmula que Becher repetía.

«This anecdote (or emblem) indicates the distance between practice and theory and between their methods in the seventeenth century.» — Smith la trata como emblema de una distancia de métodos, no como chiste de escuela.

«The professor is stranded without a method, without principles and proofs, without even the possibility of continuing speech when confronted by the creative, productive action of raw ars.» — el arte productivo deja sin palabra a la teoría: ésa es, para Smith, la carga del emblema.

«Advicesfrom Parnassus, by Trajano Boccalini, was first published after Boccalini died in 1613, and went through numerous editions and translations from the Italian over the next two centuries.» — el libro que Becher llevaba en sus viajes, con su fortuna editorial; el troceo pega *Advices* y *from*.

«One of the many issues Boccalini addressed in Advices was the relation of contemplation and action, and of theory and practice.» — Smith aísla del libro de Boccalini el tema que le sirve: contemplación frente a acción.

«Becher probably obtained his education from precisely such works as Boccalini's, and out of them, he formed an understanding of the issues of his world and of the sphere and scope of knowledge, as well as an image of himself as an actor in the republic of letters.» — Smith propone la sátira política como fuente de la formación de Becher, y lo hace con la reserva de *probably*.

«He would carry this understanding into his positions at the noble courts of the German Empire and use it to establish himself there.» — lo aprendido en esos libros convertido en recurso de carrera.

«In this inventive bit of news from Parnassus, Boccalini alluded to the hazards for the scholar at the noble court but, more significantly, to the idea that the knowledge and books of scholars were useless to the man of politics.» — Smith jerarquiza las dos lecturas de la sátira y se queda con la segunda.

«The man of affairs needed knowledge born of the experience of practice.» — la clase de saber que la política reclama, según la lectura de Smith.

«rule making and system building of the scholars was wholly irrelevant to political practice, for philosophical precepts did not provide knowledge that could assist the person engaged in the active life of the forum.» — la irrelevancia del sistema erudito para la vida activa, según Smith.

«Each sphere of life had its own end, type of knowledge, and degree of certainty.» — el principio aristotélico con que Smith organiza la distinción de saberes.

«The result of contemplation was epistemic or theoretical knowledge about the immutable objects of nature; things that existed by necessity and contained within themselves the source of their change.» — la definición del saber teórico por su objeto inmutable.

«Practical knowledge, or praxis, on the other hand, concerned mutable affairs that could be directed and intervened in by humans.» — la praxis definida por la intervención humana en lo mudable.

«Prudence could not be called a science, and was not of absolute certainty, for it could not be proved by demonstration based on certain principles, or, as Boccalini's bellicose princes said, it could not be "form'd into a System.» — Smith enlaza la definición aristotélica de prudencia con la burla de los príncipes de Boccalini.

«Prudence might never be certain, but it could be used as the basis for action if it were based on experiences, or particular facts.» — la incertidumbre no invalida la prudencia si se apoya en hechos particulares.

«The practical knowledge concerning "things made" was techne, or art.» — la tercera especie de saber, la que produce cosas.

«Art did not deal with things that already existed or had come into existence of necessity; rather, art itself brought its objects into existence.» — el arte distinguido por traer a la existencia su propio objeto.

«Art was the only one of the three types of knowledge that was productive, for the efficient cause of its objects lay in the maker and not in the objects themselves.» — la causa eficiente en el hacedor: ahí sitúa Smith la singularidad del arte entre los tres saberes.

«Science, prudence, and art were different types of knowledge for Aristotle, and his distinctions continued to be observed in the course of European thought.» — la tripartición aristotélica como esquema vigente todavía en el XVII, según Smith.

«The Roman concern with political life in the forum focused the sphere of practical knowledge on "things done," and praxis came to refer to the type of knowledge necessary for a life in the service of the respublica.» — el desplazamiento romano de la praxis hacia lo público.

«the practitioners of the mechanical arts, organized in guilds, took on increasing economic importance and political power in public life.» — el ascenso económico y político del gremio como trasfondo del cambio de valor de las artes mecánicas.

«The humanist reform of know ledge, reacting against the life of contemplation as exemplified for the humanists in the medieval universities, renewed the Roman perception of the value of the active life and, as Boccalini has shown us, developed a rhetorical strategy that set the life of contemplation and theory against the life of political activity and practice.» — Smith presenta la oposición entre vida activa y contemplativa como estrategia retórica humanista, no como hecho dado; el troceo parte *knowledge* en dos.

«By the seventeenth century, praxis still referred to the type of knowledge needed by the man of affairs, but frequently it was used to mean the activity of the maker of things.» — el corrimiento de sentido que interesa al libro: de la política al taller.

«As a practitioner claiming access to theory, Becher had a stake in this union, as did the inspector of mines, who in 1690proclaimed that the modems were superior to the ancients because for the ancients there "was no theory to go along with the praxis» — Smith señala el interés de parte que Becher tenía en unir teoría y práctica; el troceo pega *1690* con *proclaimed* y trae *modems* por *moderns*.

«In his rise from mechanic to scholar, Becher would take advantage of the changing relationship between theory and practice, and he would answer the anonymous stranger's syllogism by asserting that the union between theory and practice would make knowledge productive.» — la respuesta que Smith le atribuye al emblema del alquimista anónimo: no elegir bando, sino unir los dos.

«The alchemist's "Solve mihi hunc syllogismum" pointed up not only the active nature of art, but also the productive potential of art.» — Smith extrae del emblema dos rasgos del arte: que actúa y que produce.

«Alchemy, however, also involved theoretical contemplation of immutable nature, for, as one alchemical writer expressed it, Hermes, the discoverer of alchemy, was also the inventor of all the arts and sciences:» — Smith reclama para la alquimia también el lado contemplativo, y lo apoya en la figura de Hermes.

«His totting up of these most famous members of the republic of scholars in a list at a much later date betrays his desire to show that he was part of this world from early on, although it does not prove any real converse with these scholars.» — Smith separa el deseo de pertenencia del trato efectivo, y deja el segundo sin acreditar.

«He claims to have met learned men on his travels not only in Sweden, but also in Germany, Holland, and Italy.» — la nómina de países que Becher se atribuye, marcada por Smith como reclamo.

«Becher seems to have spent time in Stockholm where he claims to have met many of the learned philologues and philosophers at the court of Queen Christina.» — dos reservas encadenadas: *seems* para la estancia y *claims* para los encuentros.

«He specifically mentions Mersenne, who died on his way back from Sweden in 1648, and Descartes, who died in Stockholm in 1650, as well as many other scholars who were in the queen's service between 1648 and 1652.» — Smith fecha las muertes de Mersenne y Descartes junto al reclamo de Becher, dejando al lector la aritmética.

«Becher remembered ReuBner later as someone who had lost a bet and been ridiculed when he failed to draw water up through a lead syphon over the Briickenberg in Stockholm.» — el recuerdo del sifón fallido; el troceo trae *ReuBner* por *Reußner* y *Briickenberg* por *Brückenberg*, y ninguno de los dos se coteja aquí con el facsímil.

«Becher attempted to construct a model of human society on the example of the guild town, when one realizes that even after his mother had left the closed community, she continued to carry the town world with her, as part of her baggage, in the form of letters of biirgerlich credit.» — el crédito burgués viajando en el equipaje de la madre como origen concreto del modelo; el troceo trae *biirgerlich* por *bürgerlich*.

«His mother wrote letters to him from Breslau, and it is likely that she died there.» — Smith cierra el rastro de la madre con una probabilidad, no con un dato.

«Becher often quoted Paracelsus's celebrated maxim, "Qui omnia secum portat, non indiget alieno auxilio" (he who carries all things with him needs not the aid of others).» — la máxima con su traducción; en la nota siguiente Smith la devuelve a Morienus.

«Becher used Palingenius's words and authority constantly. Book 10 of the Zodiacus, entitled Capricorn, had become a locus classicus of sorts for alchemical writers, for it was here that Palingenius discussed the philosophers' stone and mercury.» — Smith identifica el libro X del *Zodiacus vitae* como lugar común de los alquimistas y como cantera de Becher.

«Palingenius defined a rich man not as one who has real property or a hoard of gold-the popular definition of wealth-but one who is learned in both wisdom and art, and is upstanding and virtuous.» — la riqueza redefinida como saber y virtud, según Smith.

«The philosophers' stone, made from changeable mercury, was similar to learning and virtue for it brought and sustained happiness, wherever the storms of fortuna might toss a man:» — la analogía que interesa al libro: la piedra, hecha de mercurio mudable, equiparada al saber por su portabilidad.

«Wealth of learning and virtue was more valuable than property because it allowed mobility:» — la movilidad como criterio de valor, que es el que Becher aplicará a sí mismo.

«Becher was himself much tossed about by Fortune, and mobility (perhaps restlessness), as Leibniz noted, was an essential mark of his life.» — Smith enlaza la doctrina con la biografía y vuelve al *polypragmon* de Leibniz.

«Becher would, however, use his own peculiar education, experience, and mobility to define a place for himself at the centers of power in the Holy Roman» — la formación irregular convertida en credencial; la cita se corta donde el troceo cambia de plana.

«The received sense of personal identity, seen as founded on God-given attributes such as birth, was slowly giving way to the more modem notion that the individual creates himself by his own actions.» — el desplazamiento de la identidad heredada a la identidad hecha, que Smith describe como lento; el troceo trae *modem* por *modern*.

«Becher grasped opportunities and ideas as they came to him-from the books of authorities, from newspapers, 117 from the evidence of his own senses, and from the concepts and structures of the world of his mother and father -and created out of them both an identity for himself and a vision of society and reform.» — la lista de materiales con que Becher se construye, periódicos incluidos; el 117 es la llamada de nota.

«Becher achieved a status from which, with his particular skills, his inelegant (even incorrect) Latin, and his precociousness in res chymicas, he could take part in active public life.» — Smith enumera lo que Becher tenía y lo que le faltaba, y no disimula el latín defectuoso.

«He consolidated his position within the republic of letters-the locus of theoria-by taking on the title and duties of the profession of medicine.» — la medicina como puerta de entrada al lado teórico de la república de las letras.

«Becher became an interpreter of social forms existing outside the court, an intermediary between the court and artisans, and an articulator of artisanal knowledge for the state.» — los tres oficios superpuestos con que Smith define la posición de Becher.

«He developed a new means of discourse to talk to his patrons at court about the subjects of the mechanical arts and trade-subjects that did not fit into the structure and rhetorical conventions of courtly life.» — la invención de un lenguaje para asuntos que la retórica cortesana no admitía.

«Becher proposed to draw the productive knowledge of material things into the realm of politics and words.» — la fórmula más breve del proyecto de Becher según Smith.

«This would not only confirm his own position and livelihood at court and carry wealth and reputation to his patrons, but would also bring power, prosperity, indeed a material restoration to the Holy Roman Empire.» — Smith pone en la misma frase el interés personal y el argumento imperial, sin jerarquizarlos.

«Becher was a purveyor of choice secrets, especially of an alchemical sort.» — el trato con secretos como oficio, y la alquimia como su mercancía principal.

«Becher seems to have been fond of making lists of his inventions, and many survive from these years.» — Smith apoya el rasgo en el material conservado.

«They illustrate his interest in mills, long-burning fire, and any sort of perpetual motion machines.» — el contenido concreto de esas listas de invenciones.

«Becher copied out this list again in German, modeling his vernacular copy on a list of the inventions of a hojbefreite artisan from Augsburg in the employ ofFerdinand Ill, Daniel Neuberger.» — el modelo que Becher copia es el de un artesano privilegiado; el troceo trae *hojbefreite* por *hofbefreite*, pega *of* con *Ferdinand* y da *Ill* por *III*.

«Although Becher seems to have modeled himself on Neuberger at the beginning of his career, he would go on to create a new place at court for himself» — el punto de partida artesanal y la desviación posterior; la cita se corta al cambiar de plana.

«In time Becher would become an agent for Neuberger's works and, more significantly, would call himself a natural philosopher.» — el cambio de nombre propio como marca del cambio de posición.

«By 1657 Becher styled himself mathematician to the emperor, 7 and had converted to Catholicism.» — dos movimientos simultáneos de posicionamiento, el título y la confesión; el 7 es la llamada de nota.

«It has always been assumed that Becher converted to Catholicism in Mainz (after 1660), but it is clear from a manuscript draft» — Smith corrige la fecha recibida de la conversión con un borrador manuscrito de 1656; la cita se corta antes del título del documento.

«Schonbom and Boineburg shared a curiosity about natural things, which sprang from a desire to bring about the religious unification and the material regeneration of the Holy Roman Empire (and indeed of European Christendom) that at times bordered on the millenarian.» — la curiosidad de los mecenas de Maguncia explicada por un proyecto de unificación religiosa; el troceo trae *Schonbom* por *Schönborn*.

«It is not unlikely that Becher was brought to Johann Philipp's court by Johann Christian von Boineburg» — Smith lo formula en doble negación, sin darlo por probado.

«Becher's reputation as ingenious artisan and purveyor of novelties becomes clear from the regular letters written by Henry Oldenburg, later secretary to the Royal Society of London, to Samuel Hartlib describing the curiosi he met traveling through the empire and France.» — Smith declara la fuente de esa reputación: la correspondencia de Oldenburg con Hartlib.

«His strategy in the letter is obvious: he sketched for Becher the intense interest aroused in England by news of his mechanical inventions, but tempered this picture by mentioning that some virtuosi were skeptical and all were eagerly awaiting the further explication of his works.» — Smith describe la carta de Oldenburg como maniobra: interés y escepticismo dosificados para que Becher revele el secreto.

«Oldenburg notified Becher that Dr. Rupp claimed his perpetual motion scheme to be purely mechanical rather than depending on an unexplained force or spirit.» — el pleito sobre si el móvil perpetuo era mecánico o dependía de un espíritu, tal como Smith lo recoge.

«Becher, however, had no means with which to lavish the liberal entertainments on his artisans, as Oldenburg, who was in noble service, could expend on Becher.» — la asimetría de recursos que Smith señala: la misma táctica de sonsacar exigía un dinero que Becher no tenía.

«Oldenburg regarded Becher as one of a number of inquisitive and ingenious people who, though in need of some cajoling, might be valuable to the reform of knowledge and society.» — el lugar de Becher en el cálculo de Oldenburg, según Smith.

«Although the negotiations between the two men did not in the end bear fruit, they do make clear Becher's concern to find a patron, as well as the form which negotiations for patronage could take.» — Smith aprovecha un intercambio fallido para describir la forma del mecenazgo.

«In the late 1650s Becher not only searched for a patron for his mechanical abilities, but also developed a notion of the wider significance and scope of his alchemical and mechanical projects in order to draw them more firmly into the sphere of politics.» — el paso del invento suelto al proyecto político, fechado por Smith a fines de los años cincuenta.

«Becher's immediate search came to an end in 1660, when on 28 June the elector and archbishop of Mainz, Johann Philipp von Schonbom, appointed Becher Hofmedicus und -mathematicus (court physician and mathematician).» — el nombramiento de Maguncia con su fecha exacta; el troceo trae *Schonbom* por *Schönborn*.

«Becher's mechanical inventions, which had tantalized Oldenburg both as curiosities and as components of a much larger reform of knowledge, probably attracted the Catholic reformer Johann Philipp in much the same way, and Becher continued his perpetual motion and mechanical projects in Mainz.» — Smith supone el mismo motivo en el mecenas católico que en Oldenburg, y lo marca con *probably*.

«Becher announced in 1662 to Elector Johann Philipp that he had found a "new and very useful manner of bringing into methodical tables different sciences that have never before been contained in tables.» — el proyecto de tabular los saberes, ofrecido al elector como novedad.

«He considered his interests and abilities in alchemy and mechanics to be associated with three larger areas of knowledge: oeconomia, medicine, and mathematics.» — el mapa con que Becher acomoda alquimia y mecánica dentro de saberes reconocidos.

«He was responsible for every aspect of the running of the household, watching over the material, physical, and spiritual welfare of the members of his house; a "kleiner Konig" in his own house and lands.» — el amo de casa como rey pequeño, figura de la que sale la *oeconomia* de Becher; el troceo trae *Konig* por *König*.

«These tables may well have been intended as memory schemes; one is particularly reminded of the Lullian memory charts arranged in the form of branching trees.» — Smith emparenta las tablas de Becher con los árboles lulianos, y lo propone como conjetura.

«The importance of memory schemes as a means to organize a single subject or all of knowledge continued in significance in court culture, where oral presentation and spoken wit was important (especially to the projector presenting his schemes before the prince).» — la memoria artificial explicada por la situación: quien proyecta ante el príncipe habla, no lee.

«Becher's desire to comprehend personally all four parts of knowledge is made clear in his placement of his initials under each of the four columns in the table: J.J.B.S., Johannes Joachim Becher Spirensis.» — Smith lee las iniciales al pie de las cuatro columnas como firma de una ambición enciclopédica.

«Theological practice consisted in meditation on the true theology, the teachings of right theology, the correct prayers, and the means of avoiding sin.» — la primera de las cuatro prácticas del cuadro de Becher.

«Medicine consisted in understanding the three kingdoms of nature-animal, vegetable, and mineral-and in knowing how to distill medicines from these three realms.» — la medicina definida por los tres reinos y por la destilación, que es donde entra la alquimia.

«Becher, however, did not publish this projected work, for by 1662 he had changed his tack and moved to a more conventional strategy of establishing himself at court, a strategy that he perhaps perceived to be more relevant to the environment of the noble court at which he resided: he became a doctor of medicine.» — el abandono del proyecto enciclopédico por una credencial reconocible; Smith deja el motivo en conjetura.

«Medicine had always included an element of practice, but after Paracelsus had elevated the status of the barber-surgeon's practice, all manner of practitioners began to call themselves doctors of medicine, and medicine became more than ever associated with practice.» — Smith explica por qué el título de médico era accesible a alguien como Becher.

«Becher's house is no longer a self-sufficient agrarian whole, but takes account of the market of the city also.» — el desplazamiento decisivo dentro del género del *Hausvaterbuch*: la casa deja de bastarse.

«Becher believed that theory and practice were inextricably linked; however, because theory was the fundament of practice, it must precede practical activity.» — Smith precisa la jerarquía: unión sí, pero con la teoría primero.

«In the same year, he published an (al)chemical work that he claimed was not simply another book of chemical recipes but rather an integrated work of theory and practice» — el reclamo de Becher contra el mero recetario, según Smith.

«In this work he established his notion of the precedence of theory over practice.» — el lugar donde queda fijada esa precedencia.

«These two works began twenty-one years of polymathic publications in which Becher was always careful to unite theory to practice, as well as to assert the primacy of theory over practice.» — Smith describe una constante de veintiún años de publicaciones.

«He gave medicine a place after philology, mathematics, physica and chymica, but before oeconomia, commercia, cameralia, politica, and moralia.» — el orden de los saberes en el esquema de Becher, con la medicina en la bisagra.

«In his chemical and political works Becher returned again and again to the importance of unifying theory and practice.» — la unión de teoría y práctica como tema recurrente de toda la obra, química y política.

«The Physica Subterranea was a work of theory in which the principles of subterranean processes (in the laboratory of nature) were explicated, and his three supplements (1671, 1675, 1680) were the practical demonstration of these processes in the chemical laboratory.» — la arquitectura de la obra química de Becher: un tratado teórico y tres suplementos de laboratorio.

«Becher's favored position at the elector's court must have been as important to the university faculty of medicine as the scholarly position on the faculty was important to Becher's consolidation of his own authority.» — Smith lee el nombramiento como intercambio en dos direcciones entre corte y facultad.

«In 1663 Becher took over his father-in-law's position as Professor publicus et ordinarius on a temporary basis.» — la cátedra heredada del suegro, y con carácter interino.

«Becher meanwhile, having established his right to speak both within the realm of theory and of practice, turned back to the problem of his activities' relevance to the sphere of politics.» — asegurados teoría y práctica, queda pendiente la política: así ordena Smith los pasos de Becher.

«In one of his first lectures as professor of medicine, he took pains to establish that medicine was a necessary part of statecraft.» — la medicina presentada desde la cátedra como pieza del arte de gobernar.

«Becher transferred the commonplace "salus populi suprema lex esto" from politics to his profession as medical doctor and the concern he must have for the health (salus) of his patients.» — el primer traslado del adagio, de la política a la medicina.

«He then transferred the adage back to the political sphere and, in this way, justified his political concerns with the welfare of the body politic.» — y el traslado de vuelta, que es donde la operación rinde: la política queda autorizada por el médico.

«Becher's medical degree and position within a medical faculty gave him authority in the republic of scholars and improved his position asH ofmedicus at court.» — el título rindiendo a la vez en la república de las letras y en la corte; el troceo desplaza el espacio y da *asH ofmedicus* por *as Hofmedicus*.

«Medicine also made possible and justified his entry into the world of praxis and the political concerns of his patron, and his ability to enter into this sphere carried him along in his venture to become indispensable to the holders of power.» — la medicina como llave de la praxis política y de la indispensabilidad buscada.

«After 1661, Becher needed this improved status at court in order to carry out a new order of activities, one that was within the sphere of praxis but without precedent at the court in Mainz.» — el estatus como condición para hacer algo que la corte no había visto antes.

«Becher began to enter into the transactions of commerce, not as a participant, but as a director:» — la distinción que salva el decoro: dirigir el comercio no es comerciar.

«The purpose and guiding idea of this company was to be "Salus civium suprema lex esto.» — el adagio político convertido en lema de una compañía comercial.

«Treasury officials would regard such an attempt with skepticism, and Becher would resort even to alchemy to bring about his plans.» — Smith anuncia aquí el resorte del libro: la alquimia entra cuando la hacienda se resiste.

«An agreement was not reached, but Becher printed two documents concerned with these negotiations» — Smith consigna el fracaso de la negociación con el elector palatino y el rastro impreso que dejó.

«Becher composed at least one contract between the elector and a certain Monsieur Colonel Boon for an augmentation process that was to increase four thousand ducats worth of gold by 5 percent weekly.» — el contrato de aumentación con sus cifras: cuatro mil ducados creciendo un cinco por ciento por semana.

«Boon claimed that he could produce such a profit on the gold through "true alchemical augmentation," and the four thousand ducats worth of gold, although continually recoined, would never decrease.» — la promesa del alquimista tal como Smith la recoge, con la reacuñación indefinida incluida.

«Becher's activity appears to be much closer to industrial espionage than to the gift exchanges of natural philosophers» — Smith sitúa la recolección de secretos de Becher fuera de la economía del don de la república de las letras.

«Becher made a number of contracts with artisans and produced a list of his activities with notes on the ingenious machines and processes he saw in Holland.» — el viaje a Holanda documentado por sus propios contratos y apuntes.

«He contracted with a Jacob Godfried of Amsterdam to teach the representative of the elector of Mainz (i.e., himself) the art and science of making saltpeter, 53 with a bellmaker to make a "Zymbalwerk" of several different-sized bells,54 and with a "Plaats-Snyder" to print Becher's description and illustration of his perpetuum mobile.» — tres contratos concretos del viaje; el 53 y el 54 son llamadas de nota, y el paréntesis con *himself* es aclaración de Smith.

«Becher also met with Johann RudolfGlauber, a German chemist and apothecary living in Amsterdam, and obtained the preparation for his sal mirabile and a process for separating gold and silver from copper by means of a "spiritus salis Urina."» — el encuentro con Glauber y los dos procesos que Becher se lleva; el troceo pega *Rudolf* y *Glauber*.

«He looked up an Italian glassmaker on the way through Mainz, met with his publisher in Frankfurt, bought Virginian tobacco, and visited a gunsmith in Utrecht.» — el itinerario menudo del viaje, que Smith conserva para mostrar la mezcla de oficios y mercancías.

«He reports that he had heard no one was being allowed into Brabant, but decided nevertheless to head first for Antwerp.» — el detalle de un diario de viaje que Smith usa como fuente.

«Becher instructed Crafft that he would find the individual with the secret, a lackey, in a particular tavern where he would be waiting under the assumed name of Nicolaus Veit.» — la compra de secretos con nombre supuesto y cita en taberna, documentada por Smith.

«If the secret turned out to be useless or false, he was to return the one hundred ducats (in cash!), but if it was successful, Veit was personally to communicate it to the elector, for which he would be rewarded.» — el mecanismo de garantía del trato; la exclamación entre paréntesis es de Smith.

«Becher established himself as an indispensable intermediary at court, and during this time he also transformed traditional court posts into positions from which his own program could be carried out.» — la doble operación que Smith le atribuye: hacerse imprescindible y reformar desde dentro los cargos.

«Becher extended the duties of a weekly correspondent to the court, Joannes Miiller of Antorff in Holland, to cover the collection of commercial information, in addition to the traditional political events.» — el corresponsal político convertido en informante comercial; el troceo trae *Miiller* por *Müller*.

«Becher helped Miiller write a petition to the elector of Bavaria in which Miiller asked that his position of weekly correspondent and intelligence gatherer for the elector be made official and titled "Factor" (agent).» — Becher redactando la petición que institucionaliza el cargo que él mismo había ampliado.

«The court intelligencer has here been transformed into a commercial agent.» — la fórmula con que Smith resume el cambio de oficio.

«By the mid-1660s, when he had moved to the court in Bavaria, Becher called himself a Commissarius, modeling his position on that of the independent adjudicator called in to advise the ruler.» — el título que Becher se da y el modelo del que lo toma.

«Such a position, Becher asserted, brought him great ill will.» — el costo del cargo según el propio Becher, recogido por Smith.

«Becher claimed to have examined the universal language scheme of Bengt Skytte, a Swede who arrived in Munich (Politischer Discurs, 2d ed., p. 1104), and a chemical process from Johann Rudolph Glauber.» — Smith lo da como reclamo de Becher y remite a la edición del *Politischer Discurs* donde consta.

«Becher collected recipes and processes at the Habsburg court, possibly in preparation for setting up his Kunst- und WerckhauB.» — la recolección de recetas leída como preparativo, con la reserva de *possibly*; el troceo trae *WerckhauB* por *Werckhauß*.

«He should take note of new or unusual animals such as sheep, goats, birds, and particularly of the Gloucester oysters and the silken, long-haired goats.» — el encargo de espionaje descendiendo al detalle de ostras y cabras.

«He encloses a written document that he claims will establish his innocence and persuade the elector to remain his patron.» — Smith describe la maniobra epistolar de Becher ante la sospecha.

«He notes the artisan's desire to withhold information to ensure that he receives recompense.» — la retención del saber como estrategia del artesano, no como manía.

«Since the nineteenth century, this word has come to apply only to the clientele, custom, and patronage of a merchant, but earlier it had also connoted the goodwill, information, and scouting that must go into building up such a clientele.» — Smith restituye el sentido antiguo de *Kundtschafft*, que el uso decimonónico estrechó.

«For Becher, constructing a network of contacts involved Kundtschafft in all its multivalent connotations, not least of which was information about the enemy gained secretly in wartime by espionage.» — la red de contactos leída con el espionaje incluido en el término mismo.

«Paracelsus used the word Kuntschaift to denote the physician philosopher's comprehension, or experientia.» — el uso paracelsiano del término, según Smith; el troceo trae *Kuntschaift* por *Kundtschafft*.

«Experientia constitutes the only true knowledge of objects, and it is gained by testing the scientia of the object.» — la definición paracelsiana de experiencia como prueba de la virtud del objeto.

«Paracelsus turned the traditional relationship between scientia and experientia on its head, as well as shifting the sphere of Kundschaft.» — la inversión que Smith atribuye a Paracelso, y que arrastra consigo el campo semántico del término.

«As he made clear to the Hofkammer in Vienna, he could hardly be expected to comport himself in a manner less elegant as representative of the emperor than he had previously as servant to the electors of Bavaria and Mainz.» — el argumento del gasto: la representación obliga, y Becher lo alega ante la cámara imperial.

«In 1670 Becher called the network of merchants that can attest to the credit worthiness of a borrower "Kundtschafft" (Politischer Discurs, 2d ed., p. 709).» — el mismo término aplicado a la red que garantiza el crédito, con la referencia exacta que Smith da.

«Becher's transit from alchemical purveyor to man of theory was assisted by the new notion of knowledge and action that developed out of Paracelsus's elevation of sense observation and experience in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.» — Smith explica el ascenso de Becher por un cambio en la idea misma de conocimiento.

«To succeed, however, Becher had to mediate effectively between the court and artisans.» — la condición práctica de todo lo anterior.

«Becher's Kundtschafft brought him personal power and social status and, if his projects were successful, also gave his patrons reputation and power, which made his own position at court even securer.» — el circuito de reputación entre cliente y mecenas, condicionado al éxito de los proyectos.

«Becher considered the use of Latin to characterize a learned person, whereas the failure to learn Latin indicated a vocation in the mechanical arts:» — el latín como línea divisoria entre erudito y mecánico, en el propio Becher.

«Becher, however, had his own particular definition of each of these activities, which was peculiarly material.» — Smith advierte que Becher usa el vocabulario pedagógico corriente con un sentido material propio.

«Becher's method would not only teach the words of a language, but also give knowledge of the things to which they referred, as well as indicating the relations between objects.» — el método de lenguas planteado como método de cosas.

«According to Becher, Judicium was one of the three essentially human activities of discourse, judgment, and practice: "reden, urtheilen, und thun.» — la tríada alemana con que Becher ordena lo humano.

«For example, "thun" was not exercise of reason through logic, but simply the sum of external human activities, such as taking up a profession, the courtly exercises of fencing, dancing, singing, the exercise of the mechanical arts, and the "Apparatus Eruditionis, Pansophiae" of the universities.» — Smith muestra con un ejemplo cuán externa y material es la definición de Becher.

«He believed that language teaching had never been undertaken properly, for previous authors had not set forth a natural order; rather, they had advocated the unnatural means of learning vocabulary by alphabetical order, topics, or the loci communi.» — el reproche de Becher a los métodos alfabéticos y de lugares comunes por artificiales.

«Becher claims that his method will pay attention to the "organic and physical speech in a language" ("Organischen und Physischen Reden in einer Sprach") and will present a "living grammar" ("Grammatica viva").» — los términos propios de Becher, con su alemán y su latín, tal como Smith los conserva.

«Language must be learned from things and life, rather than words; even the picture books of Comenius and Johannes Buno cause a multiplication of entities that hinders the memory of the learning child.» — Becher extiende su reproche hasta los libros ilustrados de Comenio, que eran la vanguardia del momento.

«Becher is claiming here that the image or representation of a cat does not bring know ledge of the living cat.» — Smith desglosa la anécdota del gato en su tesis epistemológica; el troceo parte *knowledge* en dos.

«Comenius, searching for a new basis of understanding and action, believed humankind could only be moved to right action by things, and so used images that represented things in his pedagogical program.» — la posición de Comenio, que Smith expone antes de contrastarla.

«Becher in turn believed that only the objects themselves or three-dimensional copies could move human beings to right understanding and action.» — el desacuerdo con Comenio queda en la naturaleza del sustituto admisible: el objeto o su copia en volumen.

«Representation of things by images was no longer close enough to life for Becher; only the things themselves could display and make clear their own nature.» — Smith fija en la cercanía a la vida el criterio con que Becher descalifica la imagen.

«Becher located understanding completely in the material world and in humankind's sensory perception of it.» — la formulación más neta del materialismo epistemológico que Smith atribuye a Becher.

«His solution was characteristically material. He proposed a "Theatrum Naturae & Artis" in which "alle Naturalia, und Artefacta lnstrumenten und Manufacturen" would be arranged.» — el museo como respuesta pedagógica; el troceo trae *lnstrumenten* con ele por *Instrumenten*.

«He desired that the prince not only consider it as a place of learning, but also of diversion, and even of pecuniary profit:» — los tres argumentos con que el museo se vende al príncipe, y el tercero es el dinero.

«The necessity of selling his project to a prince, and of making it a perpetual source of revenue, compelled Becher to envisage and propose ideas to his noble patron as objects of property that could be physically displayed» — Smith deriva la forma misma de las ideas de Becher de la necesidad de venderlas: han de poder exhibirse y poseerse.

«The spectacle created around the object would redound to the credit of the prince and to his territory.» — Smith explica la demanda cortesana de objetos espectaculares por el crédito que devuelven al príncipe.

«The child trained in Becher's Theatrum, in the process of memorizing words and their relationships to each other, would learn a complete system of nature.» — el museo pensado como método: memorizar relaciones equivale a aprender el sistema de la naturaleza.

«Becher meant his new method of discourse to be natural; it was based on material things, rather than words, and it was stripped of all ornament.» — los tres rasgos del método de discurso de Becher, y el tercero es la supresión del ornato.

«Becher did not however advocate the attempt to indoctrinate the student into an entire philosophy, an attempt he attributed to the "Pansophien" and "Polymathien."» — Smith marca la distancia con los pansofistas, que era el bando del padre de Becher.

«He is in effect claiming that knowledge of things can be unmediated and unordered, and can capture nature directly.» — Smith formula la pretensión de Becher en su forma más fuerte, y con *in effect* señala que es lectura suya.

«A decade later, he would develop this method more explicitly, and at that time he would construe judgment itself as a material process.» — el juicio entendido como proceso material, no como operación lógica.

«Becher's new means of discourse and method of judging would be of particular use to the court person, for it would divest objects and relationships of a meaningless overlay of words that had accumulated through improper thinking, learning, and discourse.» — el método vendido como utilidad cortesana: desnuda las cosas de la capa verbal que las cubre.

«Nowhere was the meaningless overlay thicker than among the ornaments at court, and nowhere was there more need of judgment, virtue, and prudence.» — la corte como el lugar donde el ornato verbal es más espeso y el juicio más necesario.

«He tells of a French orator, chiromancer and fortune-teller who made his living from the "artem Lullianam extempore perorandi."» — el rival del episodio vive del arte luliano de perorar de improviso.

«He was given a trivial subject that lay close at hand on the table: salt.» — el objeto del duelo oratorio, tomado de la mesa.

«Becher tells us that the orator spoke for a quarter of an hour on the moral, physical, theological, and historical significance of salt, embellishing his speech with rhetorical ornaments.» — la actuación del orador francés en los cuatro registros del sentido tradicional.

«When he finished he was applauded, and Becher,jealous of the applause and scornful of the orator's performance, announced that he could better this French orator.» — Smith no le ahorra a Becher el motivo de la envidia; el troceo pega la coma a *Becher*.

«Becher warned that his speech would not be rhetorically pretty but instead would speak purely and physically from the things themselves.» — el aviso previo con que Becher cambia las reglas del duelo.

«He reported that he spoke for a good hour and was just about to make a digression about the silversmith when he was given a sign by the restless dinner guests to stop talking.» — el desenlace que Smith conserva: el método material aburre a la mesa.

«The unproductive overlay of ornamental words that had accumulated in conventional court discourse not only hid the real relations of objects, but could even be dangerous to human society.» — el ornato verbal no solo estorba al conocimiento: para Becher amenaza a la sociedad.

«Becher first attracted the attention of the court at Mainz with his perpetual motion machine, and he earned the title of mathematicus for his mechanical abilities.» — el móvil perpetuo como carta de presentación en Maguncia.

«In the position of court mathematician, Becher could have been expected to direct fortification building and repair, or to conduct surveying activities, but instead Becher saw the sphere of mathematician as associated with an entirely different set of activities.» — Smith contrasta lo que el cargo esperaba con lo que Becher hizo de él.

«When he described the development of his vocation, he noted that he had first studied mathematics and mechanical subjects, from which he learned artisanal techniques, their mechanical skills, and technical vocabulary.» — el vocabulario técnico entre lo aprendido: para Smith es la clave de su papel de traductor.

«Thus, through mathematics, he came to a scientz of commerce.» — el itinerario que lleva de la matemática a una ciencia del comercio; el troceo trae *scientz* por *scientia*.

«Weigel considered the practice of the mechanical arts capable of yielding a new kind of knowledge that would reform philosophy.» — la posición de Erhard Weigel, que Smith pone como antecedente intelectual de Becher.

«Before the Fall, humans had known the secrets of God and nature, but afterward these things were obscured from sight, and humankind had to rely on its own power of creation to supply its daily needs.» — el arte derivado de la Caída: según Weigel, se fabrica porque ya no se sabe.

«The goal of the liberal arts, which arose naturally out of the movements of the body, such as speech and discourse, .was understanding.» — las artes liberales derivadas también del cuerpo, con la comprensión por fin; el punto suelto antes de *was* es del troceo.

«Weigel believed every university student should complete a propaedeutic course in the mechanical arts, and he recommended making practical mathematics, as the most important part of philosophy, a separate professional faculty in the university that would join medicine and jurisprudence.» — la propuesta institucional de Weigel: una facultad de artes mecánicas junto a medicina y derecho.

«The faculty of the mechanical arts would pursue a new sort of knowledge, which he called "Rea/- Weisheit" (knowledge of things or realia).» — el nombre que Weigel da al saber de las cosas; el troceo trae una barra donde el impreso lleva ele.

«Weigel expected this new materially productive knowledge to usher in a reign of peace and prosperity that would stand in contrast to the past of war and confusion, which had resulted from an education grounded in disputation and words.» — la guerra atribuida a una educación de palabras, y la paz esperada de una educación de cosas.

«He advocated that a director of the mechanical arts be placed in all cities on the model of a Stadtphysikus, and that laboratories be opened where those learned in mechanics could make "Proben/ experimenta und Erfindungen."» — el proyecto de Weigel descendiendo a cargos municipales y laboratorios.

«Weigel believed that this power of reckoning must be instilled in young minds in order that they become active seekers and creators of common good.» — el cálculo como virtud cívica que se inculca desde niño.

«Again, Weigel makes practical mathematics the basis of a creative, material power that will bring about reform.» — Smith subraya la constancia del argumento en Weigel.

«The proper pedagogical method, grounded in material things, would produce personal virtue, societal harmony, trade, wealth, welfare, and power-in short, a reform founded in material increase.» — la cadena que va del método pedagógico al poder del Estado, resumida en el aumento material.

«Becher sought to capture this practice and knowledge for the court.» — el destino de todo ese saber en el proyecto de Becher: la corte.

«Becher spoke to the court about ornamental objects in the speech of things instead of wordy ornaments, and he tried to make clear that material increase depended on practice and the knowledge of things.» — Smith juega con la doble acepción del ornato: los objetos ornamentales dichos sin ornato verbal.

«His mechanical abilitites made him Hofmathematicus and his chemical abilities brought him the title of Hofmedicus and professor of medi» — las dos destrezas y los dos cargos que de ellas salen; el troceo trae *abilitites* y corta *medicine* al cambiar de renglón.

«Becher sought to capture the productive knowledge of ars for his commercial projects and draw it into the sphere of governing, where it would bring wealth, power, and reputation to the prince and, via the increased prosperity of the prince, to his own meager person.» — el circuito completo del proyecto, con el interés propio dicho por Smith sin eufemismo.

«Theory alone was sterile, and practice by itself was confused and self-serving, but the unification of the two areas of knowledge and their incorporation into the human sphere of praxis would bring about a new world replete with "biirgerliche Nahrung" and civil harmony.» — la unión de teoría y práctica como programa social, con el sustento burgués por resultado; el troceo trae *biirgerliche* por *bürgerliche*.

«If he did so, Becher believed that all productive knowledge could become a materia status, both a material foundation of the state and a matter of state.» — el juego latino de *materia status* que Smith conserva por su doble sentido.

«Becher criticized his predecessors in chemistry for two sins. The first was that of remaining solely in the realm of theory, which was completely sterile and unproductive, for the contemplative knowledge of tradition rested only "on the empty word"» — el primero de los dos reproches de Becher a la química recibida, con la fórmula alemana *auf blose Worte* que Smith cita en la misma nota.

«The second was that of staying solely in the realm of art, which resulted in only random techniques, because it was undirected by the moral imperatives and certainties of theoretical knowledge» — el segundo reproche, simétrico: la práctica sin teoría da técnicas al azar y sin dirección moral.

«In contrast to his predecessors, Becher claimed his chemistry would unite these two in order to form productive knowledge that was directed to the common good.» — Smith lo presenta como reclamo de Becher, con el bien común por destino declarado.

«The Bavarian court, however, was larger and Becher's projects took on a broader scope there.» — el salto de escala al pasar de Maguncia a Múnich.

«All of the projects Becher undertook while in Munich were at one and the same time attempts to increase the income of the Bavarian elector, steps in the careful cultivation of his own career, and elements in a broader political agenda of drawing the noble, landed territorial ruler into a commercial society.» — Smith se niega a elegir entre los tres móviles y los sostiene simultáneos.

«When Becher came to Bavaria in 1664, he encountered a particular structure of power within which he formulated and articulated his political ideas.» — las ideas políticas de Becher entendidas como respuesta a una estructura dada.

«In expressing these ideas he had to appeal to a certain constellation of power holders within an established hierarchy who acted within a particular form of comportment and understood a certain idiom.» — la forma del discurso impuesta por el auditorio: jerarquía, cortesía y una lengua propia.

«In his long reign (1597-1651) as duke and then elector, Maximilian I had secured a great leap in rank for himself and his heirs within the German Empire, and as territorial ruler had brought order into the finances of his territory, enforced religious homogeneity, and greatly reduced the legal and economic powers and privileges of his nobility, thereby increasing his own power.» — el balance del reinado de Maximiliano I, con la merma de la nobleza como contrapartida de su poder.

«He reanimated the legend that Charlemagne was the Stammvater of the Wittelsbach house and kept alive the memory of the single Wittelsbach emperor, Ludwig IV.» — la genealogía carolingia como instrumento político, no como creencia.

«Maximilian's rule set an example that was difficult for his heir, Ferdinand Maria (reigned in minority 1651-54, in majority 1654-79), to match.» — el peso del antecesor sobre el elector con quien Becher tratará.

«Ferdinand Maria was not the warrior-prince that Maximilian had been during the Thirty Years' War; his advisers regarded him as somewhat dim and his wife considered him physically deficient.» — Smith recoge los juicios de consejeros y esposa sin suavizarlos ni hacerlos suyos.

«But the office of ruler in the German territory of the seventeenth century was maintained more by the manipulation of symbols than by the physical prowess of its occupant, and Ferdinand 's father had made certain that his position as elector would endure no matter what the mental or physical strength of his son.» — la tesis que salva al elector mediocre: el cargo se sostiene por símbolos.

«Thus, despite his personal liabilities, Ferdinand Maria stepped into an already established persona.» — el papel precede a la persona que lo ocupa.

«He attempted to increase the number of titles and amount of wealth of the house, and was always conscious of his hereditary prerogatives and claims and defended them vigorously.» — la política dinástica de acumulación de títulos y derechos.

«He sued for Wildfangrecht in the Palatinate (the right to make serfs of all children born out of wedlock) and for the Palatinate's traditional right to the position of Reichsvikar (who assumed power upon an emperor's death in the absence of an elected Roman king).» — dos derechos concretos que Smith glosa entre paréntesis para el lector.

«In order to increase the wealth of his house, Ferdinand Maria continued Maximilian's policy of wresting power over the finances of his territory from the hands of the Estates.» — la centralización fiscal como continuidad, y como el terreno donde entrará Becher.

«He treated the direct taxes (Contribution) traditionally collected and administered by the Landstiinde (composed in Bavaria of prelates, knights, nobles, and the representatives of towns and market towns) as his own income by right, as were the landesherrliche Kammergiiter (territorial revenues) such as regalian rights, tolls, fines, coining of money, and other revenues.» — el detalle fiscal con sus términos alemanes; el troceo trae *Landstiinde* y *Kammergiiter* por *Landstände* y *Kammergüter*.

«When Maximilian came to power the ducal debts amounted to I ,450,000 gulden. By 1608 the debts had been repaid, and by 1629 Maximilian had built up a surplus of 2,070,000 gulden.» — el saneamiento de la hacienda bávara en cifras; el troceo trae *I* por *1* y separa el millar.

«Wealth and power went together, and both Maximilian and Ferdinand Maria were not only concerned with the wealth of the Wittelsbach house, but also their own political authority within the territory.» — riqueza y autoridad como una sola cosa en la política de los Wittelsbach.

«The formal organization of these governing and advisory bodies should not be overestimated, for, although they were regularized to a certain extent under Maximilian and Ferdinand Maria, they continued to reflect their history as bodies that had evolved rather than been created by governmental fiat.» — Smith advierte contra leer como burocracia moderna unos órganos que crecieron por sedimentación.

«Maximilian continued both the bureaucratization and the policy of drawing power away from the local nobility.» — las dos líneas de la política de Maximiliano, que van juntas.

«A Hofkammer (treasury) had been formed in the 1560s, itself a sign of the lessening control of the LandsUinde over the administration of the finances of the ruler and the territory, IS and other governing organs-a Hofrat and a Kriegsrat-were also formed in the sixteenth century.» — la creación de la cámara de hacienda leída como síntoma de la pérdida de control de los Estados; el troceo trae *LandsUinde* por *Landstände* y *IS* por la llamada de nota 15.

«Ferdinand Maria continued this practice by forming a Geheime Konferenz out of a select group of counselors from the existing Hofrat.» — el consejo secreto como destilado del consejo áulico.

«the elector declared that this new office had as its purpose the protection of the inhabitants of the territory from exploitation by city officials and the local nobility.» — la razón declarada de la nueva oficina.

«While this was no doubt sincerely intended, the move effectively put the subjects of the territory under his direct control, eliminating the previously existing layers of authority and undermining their power.» — Smith concede la sinceridad del motivo y separa de ella el efecto.

«Thus, the foremost theorist of natural law in the seventeenth century, Samuel Pufendorf (163294 ), declared that the legitimate powers of the sovereign cut across all military, legislative, punitive, judicial, and economic areas.» — Pufendorf como respaldo doctrinal de la concentración de poderes; el troceo pega las fechas en *163294*.

«While princes drew political power away from the Estates throughout the German Empire in the seventeenth century, this was especially marked in Bavaria.» — Smith sitúa a Baviera en el extremo de una tendencia general.

«In spite of this decrease in constitutional power and effectiveness, the Bavarian nobility did not by any means disappear from the scene of this increasingly centralized, "absoluiist" territory.» — Smith matiza el relato absolutista: la nobleza pierde competencias y no desaparece; el troceo trae *absoluiist* por *absolutist*.

«On the contrary, the elector needed his "old" nobility in order to justify his own central and noble place in the ancient scheme of things and his "new" nobility to provide him with money and credit.» — el elector necesita a las dos noblezas por razones distintas: legitimidad de una, crédito de la otra.

«The new nobility, on the other hand, made up of rich townspeople, military officers, and courtiers had money (often having profited from the war) but lesser status.» — la composición de la nobleza nueva y su desajuste entre dinero y rango.

«This class did not have, nor did it ever attain the Edelmansfreiheit, which gave jurisdiction in certain court cases, rights to demand statute labor, and hunting rights.» — el privilegio concreto que separaba a las dos noblezas.

«The new nobility sought to buy up the old nobility's land and reestablish its cultivation-something that the elector encouraged on the one hand, as it meant revenues for his Hofkammer, but something, on the other hand, that he monitored closely, for if nobility and status came to depend on the power of money alone, the position of the ruler himself would be undermined.» — el dilema del elector, que es el mismo que estructura el libro: el dinero paga, y a la vez amenaza el orden que lo justifica.

«Naturally this education had to be standesgemiijJ (corresponding to their rank), hence the call for a different and courtly course of education.» — la educación como marca de rango, con su término alemán; el troceo trae *standesgemiijJ* por *standesgemäß*.

«The new nobles also benefited from such a course; through it they acquired the overlay of courtly manners they needed to smooth their transition to a higher social sta» — los modales cortesanos como capa adquirible que facilita el ascenso; la cita se corta al cambiar de renglón.

«The towns of Bavaria had little economic power and could not compete commercially with the free imperial cities of Augsburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg, and Frankfurt.» — la debilidad comercial bávara frente a las ciudades libres, que es el problema al que Becher responde.

«The artisanal guilds in the towns complained that even the peasants bought foreign goods and that artisans in Munich could obtain no foundlings as apprentices, as too many of them were becoming court servants or joining religious orders.» — la queja gremial concreta: mercancía extranjera y aprendices que se van a la corte o al claustro.

«The religious foundations, on the contrary, were the largest holders of capital in Bavaria, presiding over large tracts of land (about 50 percent of the total cultivated land in Bavaria), much of it granted by the ruler, and administering many charitable endowments.» — la Iglesia como mayor tenedora de capital del territorio, con la cifra que Smith da.

«In the new commerce of material wealth, however, the new nobility possessed access to (money) credit, and the old nobles could do nothing but shore up their hierarchy, display the symbols of their power, and keep a vigilant watch that this sort of credit did not undermine their own.» — los dos créditos enfrentados: el del dinero y el del rango; el paréntesis con *money* es de Smith.

«Becher's promotion of commerce can only be understood within the context of these tensions, for he would attempt to reconcile the conflicting values that lay behind the rivalry between the old and new nobility and between social and financial credit.» — Smith fija aquí la clave de lectura de todo el capítulo: Becher como conciliador de dos sistemas de crédito.

«The gain of power by the territorial ruler over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was accelerated in Germany by the abrupt decrease in agricultural incomes and in the value of land occasioned by the loss of population in the Thirty Years' War.» — la despoblación como motor del poder territorial.

«Although this economic development weakened the standing of the old nobility and the town governments, enabling the prince to take over many of their functions in the territory, it also decreased the income the prince himself received.» — el mismo proceso da poder al príncipe y le quita ingresos: de ahí la urgencia de metálico.

«Although "ordinary" revenues (Contribution and the income of the landesherrliche Kammergiiter) were increasingly under the sole control of the territorial ruler, these taxes decreased with the drop in population and the lower prices for agricultural products.» — más control sobre unas rentas que menguan; el troceo trae *Kammergiiter* por *Kammergüter*.

«Money was necessary not only to secure the borders of the territory from the neighboring powers, but also to display and secure the power of the prince within his own territory and among his Estates.» — el dinero necesario para la guerra y para el espectáculo, que es también forma de poder.

«Neither of these sources was permanent or self-sustaining, or involved the territorial ruler in a cycle of production that would insure a continued flow of cash.» — la falla que Becher se ofrecerá a resolver: ninguna fuente de ingreso metía al príncipe en un ciclo productivo.

«When this match did not eventuate, she consoled herself in the infinitely lesser position of electoress of Bavaria by bringing French court ritual and dress and large numbers of Italian artists, musicians, workmen, and architects to Munich in her entourage.» — la entrada del ritual francés y de los artistas italianos en Múnich, con la ironía de Smith sobre el consuelo.

«While he reigned, Ferdinand Maria sought to endow his house, his court, and the city of his residence with a reputation equal to the rank of elector and second power of the empire.» — el gasto suntuario explicado por una deuda de reputación con el propio rango.

«Unlike many other territorial rulers, Ferdinand Maria could rely upon his monopoly on salt and Weizenbier to provide him with revenue, but he was able to leave a surplus to his heir only by drawing on two time-honored methods for a prince to obtain extraordinary income: subsidies and loans from foreign powers.» — el monopolio de la sal y la cerveza no bastaba: el superávit venía de subsidios y préstamos extranjeros.

«While specie was quite obviously central to the sovereign's exercise of power, it was excluded as a determinant of social rank.» — la contradicción que Smith persigue en todo el capítulo: el metálico manda y no cuenta.

«The possession of money and the ability to obtain financial credit were by themselves no measure of social credit, as is clear from the social gap that separated the new and old nobility in Bavaria.» — los dos créditos son inconvertibles, y Smith lo argumenta con la brecha entre las dos noblezas.

«Money within a landed court had less an intrinsic value than the value it gave to display rank and status and to create reputation.» — en la corte el dinero vale por lo que exhibe, no por lo que es.

«The spendthrift conduct of the old nobility in building palaces that broke them and entertaining guests on borrowed funds was thus "rational" behavior within the court context.» — Smith rehabilita como racional lo que la mirada económica llamaría despilfarro, y pone la palabra entre comillas.

«For money was to be consumed, not saved and counted as it was by the urban merchant.» — las dos economías del dinero, la del noble y la del mercader, enunciadas en una línea.

«The disjunction between the values of the court world and the market economy-of which the court had become an inextricable part-became especially acute in the late seventeenth century as the need for money at court became absolute, but its production and acceptance lay outside the noble sphere.» — la corte depende de un mercado cuyos valores rechaza: ahí sitúa Smith la tensión que Becher explota.

«For despite the economic changes that had occurred around the court, the structure of the court hierarchy, the scale of values on which rank at court was measured, and the symbols of noble power remained agricultural and feudal.» — la economía cambia y el sistema de valores no: de ahí el desfase.

«In the framework of rank and power that prevailed at the Bavarian court, Becher was a homo novus, armed only with his title asH ofmedicus und -mathematicus, his Kundtschafft, and his commercial projects.» — el inventario de recursos del recién llegado; el troceo desplaza el espacio y da *asH ofmedicus* por *as Hofmedicus*.

«Becher was constrained by the particular structure of power and the rules of comportment resulting from the dynamics of power at work within this structure.» — Smith insiste en la restricción estructural antes de contar los fracasos.

«The elector was the source of a fluid current of power in the territory.» — la metáfora hidráulica con que Smith describe la circulación del poder cortesano.

«These people constituted smaller vortices of external power, sometimes creating disturbances in the flow of power down the court hierarchy and sometimes joining into it.» — los poderes externos como remolinos que a veces estorban la corriente y a veces se suman a ella.

«At the wide and muddy mouth of this stream of power were those, like Becher, who had very little official power and who depended upon the patronage of an official or upon acts of favor from the prince.» — el lugar de Becher en esa hidráulica: la desembocadura, donde el poder llega turbio y por favor.

«Becher never received an actual increase of salary in his six years» — el dato que Smith opone a la fama de proyectista favorecido.

«In 1666, Becher was appointed Commerzien-Rath (commercial advisor) to the emperor with a yearly salary of I ,000 Reichsthaler, a position he held concurrently with the position in Bavaria.» — los dos empleos simultáneos y su remuneración; el troceo trae *I* por *1*.

«This treatise listed fifteen "Mercantilische Reguln und axiomata" (mercantile rules and axioms), which advocated that money be kept and drawn into the territory of the elector» — las quince reglas mercantiles con su título alemán y su principio rector.

«He was not simply named commercial advisor because, as he himself noted, this position had not existed previously in Munich, and so would require the establishment of an entirely new center of power.» — el cargo no existía: crearlo era crear poder, y ahí empieza el conflicto.

«However, because this de facto position involved Becher in activities that fell outside the normal compass of a court physician, he needed a protector at court to introduce him, to intercede for him with the elector, and to arrange audiences with the elector.» — la mecánica del patronazgo cortesano: sin protector no hay audiencia.

«Becher found such a protector in Herman Egon von Fiirstenberg, Obersthofmeister at the Bavarian court.» — el protector con nombre y cargo; el troceo trae *Fiirstenberg* por *Fürstenberg*.

«Thus instead of giving Becher the emperor's testimonial, Sinzendorf supplied him with a letter to the elector inquiring into the truth of the rumor that Becher was out of credit in Munich.» — la carta que debía acreditarlo se convierte en una averiguación sobre su descrédito.

«Becher writes that the elector should have a commercial advisory board: "akin to that which is well known in the Hansa cities and has now been organized in the Electorate of Saxony and by the Duke of Wiirtemberg.» — la propuesta apoyada en precedentes existentes, que es la forma en que Becher hace pasar lo nuevo; el troceo trae *Wiirtemberg* por *Württemberg*.

«court officials with whom Becher clashed was Caspar von Schmid, Vize-Kanzler, then Kanzler to the elector.» — el principal adversario de Becher en la corte bávara.

«He claimed that these documents proved his actions had been directed by his concern for the common interest (i.e., the interest of his prince), while the actions of his detractors were driven only by self-interest.» — Smith lo enuncia como reclamo de Becher y aclara entre paréntesis a qué llamaba él interés común.

«Becher accused Caspar von Schmid of self-interest, calling him "der Schwiibische Frantzose" (the Swabian Frenchman), thereby doubly impugning von Schmid's ability to devote himself to Bavarian interests: once for his place of birth and again for his friendly policy to the French.» — el insulto desglosado por Smith en sus dos filos; el troceo trae *Schwiibische* por *Schwäbische*.

«Becher asserted that von Schmid acted as a pawn of the Munich merchants, hindering him from completing many useful and ingenious projects.» — la acusación de Becher: el canciller como peón de los mercaderes de Múnich.

«on Schmid once argued in a meeting of the Geheime Konferenz that the prince should not become a merchant, for where this happens, the subjects will be ruined.» — el argumento de fondo del adversario, que Smith consigna sin arbitrar; la cita empieza donde el troceo parte *Von*.

«There are other ways, von Schmid claimed, for a prince to increase the income of his land without lowering himself to the place of a merchant.» — la alternativa que oponía von Schmid, con el rebajamiento del príncipe como objeción central.

«Becher would later maintain that the artfulness required of the treasury official was that of understanding and capturing the creative and regenerative principles of nature.» — el oficial de hacienda redefinido en términos de filosofía natural: ahí se enlazan alquimia y fisco.

«Becher admonished the officials of German territories to follow the example of Holland, a country that made of commerce a duty of state (a materia status) rather than making a matter of commerce of their duties-that is, lining their own pockets in an act of supreme self-interest.» — el juego de palabras entre hacer del comercio asunto de Estado y hacer negocio del cargo, con Holanda por modelo.

«Becher claimed that for the sake of their own private interests, the merchants sabotaged every effort he made to further the common good.» — la versión de Becher del conflicto, marcada por Smith como reclamo suyo.

«The merchants for their part claimed that Becher as a medical doctor knew nothing about commerce.» — la réplica de los mercaderes, que Smith pone en el mismo plano sin arbitrar.

«even if a thousand doctors like Becher came to Antwerp carrying documents and testimonials, they would not be trusted on the strength of their status at the noble court alone, for it was credit and contacts that made a successful merchant.» — el crédito mercantil no se transfiere desde la corte: es el punto que los mercaderes le oponen.

«Becher had a questionnaire sent to cities and villages in Bavaria that would, he claimed, yield information about the productive capability of the territory:» — la encuesta como instrumento de gobierno, y a la vez como reclamo de Becher.

«But the merchants, Becher reported, thought "Your Highness the Elector wanted to pull all trade to himself and make a monopoly, exactly like that with the Weissbier, so from this false assumption, they brought together a faction of merchants.» — el recelo del monopolio, con el precedente de la cerveza blanca como prueba a la vista de todos.

«Becher concluded that the results could not be considered reliable.» — el propio Becher descarta su encuesta, según Smith.

«Becher called their accusation closed-minded, self-interested, and typical of Munich:» — Smith conserva la calificación antes de citar el pasaje.

«Becher continued, that the townspeople attacked the foreigners' reputation, persecuted them, charged them higher prices, and even beat them to death, as had been demonstrated in a recent case involving a French hatmaker.» — la hostilidad al forastero llevada hasta el homicidio, en el relato de Becher.

«Becher attempted to convince the elector that these groups needed to be regulated and controlled, and, in his political writings, he would argue that the groups owing loyalty to corporate bodies independent of the court be reorganized under the direct authority of the prince.» — el conflicto con los gremios resuelto, en la propuesta de Becher, por absorción bajo el príncipe.

«They not only competed with one another for this favor but also came into conflict with the established bureaucracy because they bypassed normal routes to the elector's favor.» — el proyectista choca dos veces: con sus pares y con la burocracia que se salta.

«Becher had once described Elers as "a very clever man of commerce, who professes to know the arcana in this subject," but within a year, Elers and Becher were vying fiercely for the elector's favor, and Becher was calling him an "insolent fool.» — el elogio y el insulto separados por un año, en el mismo expediente.

«Elers received a reply from Becher saying that he had delivered the letters, but that the elector had responded so unfavorably that Elers must understand that he no longer had any credit at court.» — el crédito cortesano usado como arma entre proyectistas.

«He alleged that Becher had never delivered his letters to the elector71 and demanded that his protector at court force Becher to deliver the letters.» — la versión contraria de Elers, que Smith consigna junto a la de Becher; el 71 es la llamada de nota.

«Becher claimed that commerce and mathematics were related, for it was through the study of mathematics that one came to knowledge of commerce.» — la genealogía con que Becher se autoriza a hablar de comercio desde su cargo de matemático.

«Becher defended his own treatment of an area of knowledge-cameral matters-that lay outside the professional competence of a medical doctor:» — el problema de competencia que Becher tiene que resolver antes de opinar.

«Becher also appealed to the similarities between the duties of a doctor and the duties of a political advisor.» — la analogía médico-consejero como segunda vía de legitimación.

«Becher also responded to the opposition of the court officials in claiming that he was as qualified as they (if not more so) in advising the prince, and called on natural law to support his qualifications.» — el derecho natural invocado contra el privilegio del cargo.

«A homo honestus ("ehrlicher Mann''), even though a homo novus, who concerned himself with the common interest was better qualified to advise the prince than the most powerful but self-interested advisor.» — la cualificación desplazada del rango a la intención; el troceo cierra la comilla alemana con dos apóstrofos.

«Becher here asserted the ethics of his own mobility against those of the closed world of the townspeople.» — Smith lee la defensa de Becher como choque de dos éticas, la del que se mueve y la de la comunidad cerrada.

«Becher sought to establish authority for himself in the schemes and rivalry of the court, which would legitimate his commercial projects and, through them, his program to draw productive knowledge into the court.» — la cadena de legitimaciones encajadas: autoridad, proyectos, programa.

«Becher claimed to have already constructed a model of the silk manufactory, as well as models of the spinning wheel to be employed in it, and to have established a small workshop.» — los modelos a escala como prueba material del proyecto, dichos por él mismo.

«Becher noted that he was waiting on the elector's permission to purchase materials and instruments for the laboratory in order to make a start on his experiments, as well as awaiting the return of the ubiquitous Johann Daniel Crafft to help him in this work.» — el laboratorio pendiente de permiso y de la llegada de Crafft.

«Court expenditures on mining exploration do in fact rise in 1665 and 1666.» — Smith coteja el dicho de Becher con las cuentas de la corte, y en este punto coinciden.

«Becher was busy on this trip in his own interest, with the result that on 4 February 1666 the emperor appointed Becher imperial commercial advisor (Commercien-Rath) with a salary of one thousand Reichsthaler.» — el viaje por cuenta del elector rindiendo un cargo imperial para sí.

«Nevertheless, a few weeks later, Becher returned to Vienna to negotiate a joint East India Company for Bavaria and the Habsburg Austrian territory, and to set up a spinnery on the lands of the president of the Hofkammer with workers from the Munich silk company.» — el trasiego de proyectos y de obreros entre Múnich y Viena.

«In 1669 he spent another three months in Holland, and, on this trip, although he was still in the service of Bavaria, he obtained a colony from the Dutch West India Company for Friedrich Casimir, count of Hanau.» — Smith subraya la doble lealtad: sirve a Baviera y negocia para Hanau.

«Becher's proposed canals were not completed until the nineteenth century.» — el destino a largo plazo de uno de sus proyectos de infraestructura.

«The hurried pace of Becher's proposals and projects continued in his second year in Munich, when he traveled again to the Netherlands in the employ of the elector, and, in the last month of 1665, when he went to Vienna to obtain an imperial privilege for the Bavarian silk company and to conduct negotiations about the salt treaties between Bavaria and Austria.» — el ritmo de los proyectos como rasgo, no como anécdota.

«His apology for the single-minded emphasis was rendered in language clearly meant for court ears: "they [in this case, the Habsburg court] would become so powerful from this alone, that no lord on earth would be their equal in riches, money, and population.» — Smith señala el destinatario del argumento antes de citarlo; el corchete es aclaración suya.

«Becher claimed to have written a book of use to the officials of the Hofkammer, containing "Materia Camera/is" sure to be familiar to them, but he expected that its single focus on commerce would surprise them.» — la novedad declarada del libro no está en la materia sino en el foco; el troceo trae una barra donde el impreso lleva ele.

«Although back in Munich by this time, Becher's sights were still oriented toward the emperor and the Viennese court, as is clear from the fact that he addressed the dedication to Count Georg Ludwig von Sinzendorf, the president of the Habsburg Hofkammer.» — Smith lee la dedicatoria como indicio de hacia dónde miraba Becher.

«Becher's political theory, which informed all of his projects, was contained in the Politischer Discurs von den eigentlichen Ursachen deft Auf- und Abnehmensl der Stiidt/ Liinder und Republicken (Political discourse about the true causes of the rise and fall of cities, territories and republics), published in 1668 on his return to Munich from Vienna.» — el título completo de la obra política de Becher con su traducción; el troceo corrompe varias palabras alemanas del título.

«However, Mss. var. 1(2), fol. 625r, is a contract dated Venice 1670 between Becher and a certain Carlo Astore in which Astore promises to come to Munich to set up a sugar refinery in return for payment for the trip to Munich, free lodging, and firewood once he is there and twenty Venetian ducats per month.» — el contrato de la refinería de azúcar con su signatura de archivo y sus condiciones.

«Becher developed the view of society as a tightly bound whole in his Politischer Discurs, but in his alchemical works he stressed the mobility that alchemy made possible.» — Smith señala la tensión entre las dos obras sin resolverla en favor de ninguna.

«Only once did he confront this contradiction, in his 1678 Psychosophia, pp. 130-31, where he stated that although alchemical transmutation was possible, it should not be pursued by all members of society, for alchemy could disrupt the fabric of society by making individuals independent of one another, thus breaking the system of interlocking links.» — la solución de Becher es reservar la transmutación a unos pocos: no la niega, la restringe.

«If everyone could make gold, no one would make shoes or bread.» — la formulación más escueta del peligro social de la alquimia universal, según Smith.

«The servants of the community were composed from the Obrigkeit, Geistliche, Gelehrte, and Soldaten.» — los cuatro cuerpos que Becher pone al servicio de la comunidad, en su alemán.

«Becher called the peasants, the largest of the three Stiinde, the fundament of the community, for without them society would not exist.» — el campesinado como base del edificio social; el troceo trae *Stiinde* por *Stände*.

«The merchants, the smallest Stand, were the animating principle of the community, for they facilitated the transactions-commercewithin the society, and brought money into the cycle.» — el mercader, el menor de los estamentos, convertido en principio animador: ésa es la inversión del libro; el troceo pega *commerce* con *within*.

«By such a reversal, however, Becher sought to portray commerce as natural and productive rather than unnatural and parasitical.» — Smith nombra la operación: invertir el juicio gremial sobre el comercio.

«Consumption is the sole bond that binds and fastens the estates to one another and makes them sustain each other.» — el consumo como único vínculo entre estamentos, que es la pieza que enlaza esta teoría con la alquimia de Becher.

«The division of humankind into rulers and subjects was instituted by God after the Fall, and its function was to restrain humankind within the "Stand der Menschheit" (estate of humanity) and within the "Gesetze der Natur" (laws of nature).» — la jerarquía política derivada de la Caída y sostenida por ley natural.

«Becher believed the government that administered the laws of human society should be a mixed rule, composed of elements of each of Aristotle's three sorts of government» — el gobierno mixto como forma preferida de Becher, apoyada en la tripartición aristotélica.

«Mixed rule was a means to avoid the excesses of any single form of government and was, according to Becher, best exemplified by what he called a republic:» — Smith conserva el uso peculiar que Becher hace de *república*.

«Becher considered the organization of society in a republic to be the most productive of material and social well-being.» — el criterio con que Becher juzga las formas de gobierno es la productividad, no la justicia.

«In his view, the inhabitants of society (or the city) depended on each other in a self-renewing act of mutual, interlocking aid.» — la sociedad como ciclo que se renueva a sí mismo, figura que Becher comparte con su alquimia.

«Thus the exchange of goods and services involved not simply an economic transaction, but a moral and political one as well.» — el intercambio cargado de sentido moral y político: ahí está la apuesta del libro.

«Becher's cycle of sustenance resembled that of Althusius, he nowhere drew explicitly from Bodin or Althusius.» — Smith registra el parecido y a la vez niega la filiación documentada.

«Becher's only citation of Pieter and Jan de la Court is in reference to the disadvantages of a state governed by a pope or other religious leader, an odd choice of citation on Becher's part» — Smith señala como rara la única cita explícita, siendo Becher converso al catolicismo.

«The brothers Jan and Pieter de la Court wrote in support of the Ratspensionar, Jan de Witt, in his struggle against the House of Orange.» — la posición política de los hermanos de la Court, que Smith sitúa antes de usarlos.

«They drew on the republican tradition, but their concept of the republic was not one based on free, landowning citizens, but instead on the unhindered practice of commerce.» — la república fundada en el comercio y no en la propiedad de la tierra: el desplazamiento que interesa al libro.

«Because a civil society in Holland simply could not be physically achieved by means of landownership and agriculture, they maintained that the Dutch had been compelled to find other sources of revenue.» — la doctrina derivada de una limitación física del territorio.

«For the de la Courts, it was commerce, not agriculture, that made possible the large population of Holland, and as a consequence, the great majority of the people of Holland were not bound to the land.» — comercio y población enlazados, con la desvinculación de la tierra por consecuencia.

«The nobility, however, was bound to the land because its traditional seat of power was a specific piece of land and this connection to land sustained its office.» — la nobleza atada a la tierra por la naturaleza misma de su poder.

«For this reason members of the nobility fought tenaciously to control their subjects and keep them in a state of servitude, bound to the land.» — la servidumbre explicada como necesidad estructural de la nobleza, no como crueldad.

«In their books published after 1660, the de la Courts vigorously advocated popular rule over aristocratic, monarchical, or mixed government in a republic, and their works were openly hostile to monarchy.» — la hostilidad a la monarquía en la fuente de la que Becher toma su vocabulario, y que él sirve a un príncipe.

«Nowhere is this more evident than when he employed the de la Courts' statement that popular rule was more desirable than aristocratic or monarchic rule because when a democracy follows the maxim, "Salus suprema lex populi," it acts in accordance with its own welfare.» — Becher usando en una corte principesca un argumento republicano contra la monarquía.

«Becher repeated this sentiment when he asked "why the republics and imperial cities always flourish better than the provincial cities that are subject to a monarchical government," and gave the surprising answer that "a republic has only one interest, but a territory has two, namely its own and its lord's.» — Smith califica de sorprendente la respuesta, dicha por un asalariado del señor.

«Becher was compelled to make this translation explicit because the de la Courts and the Bavarian nobility considered the values of the land-bound nobility to be opposed to the interests of the commercial republic.» — la traducción del adagio republicano al idioma del príncipe se vuelve necesaria porque las dos partes daban por incompatibles esos valores.

«Becher's political theory sought to impose the common goal of a town community on the territorial prince's court, and simultaneously to convince the prince that his traditional governing duties in society could be maintained by commercial revenues.» — la doble operación: llevar el bien común de la ciudad a la corte y financiar con comercio los deberes viejos.

«The free imperial cities were a model easily understood by the German nobility, for these large centers combined artisanal and commercial activity to generate enough surplus to finance the Habsburg dynasty's rise to vast imperial power in the sixteenth century under Charles V.» — el precedente que hacía inteligible la propuesta: el imperio de Carlos V lo pagaron las ciudades libres.

«While earlier political writers, such as Georg Obrecht and Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, had also seen the possibilities of commerce for the state, Becher does not cite them.» — Smith consigna la omisión sin resolver si es ignorancia o estrategia.

«Becher's program of commerce, which began at the Bavarian electoral court and culminated at the imperial court, thus had a threefold aim: it sought to integrate the prince into the community cycle by identifying the prince's interest with that of the productive community, and attempted to place the prince in the position of overseer and governor of the community cycle.» — el programa entero de Becher condensado por Smith en un solo enunciado.

«To suggest that the prince should take up the activities of a merchant, not to say take on the character of a merchant, as Becher did, brought objections from Caspar von Schmid, who argued that society would be destroyed when a prince became a merchant.» — el desacuerdo queda consignado con nombre y con su razón.

«Commerce, money, and merchants did not enjoy a high reputation either at court or within the town world.» — el descrédito del comercio era común a los dos mundos, no privativo de la nobleza.

«In the Bavarian court world, rank and status depended on land, a natural, regenerating, safe, and immovable wealth.» — los cuatro atributos de la tierra que el dinero no tenía.

«Moreover, possession of money led easily to vanity, striving above one's station, and endangerment of personal salvation.» — la objeción moral y no solo social contra el dinero.

«Becher portrayed commercial activity as part of the productive town cycle, thus capable of providing a "natural," regenerative source of territorial revenues.» — la maniobra decisiva: hacer natural y regenerativo lo que se tenía por estéril; Smith pone *natural* entre comillas.

«Von Schmid considered the natural wealth of. the elector's agricultural lands the basis of state income.» — la posición contraria, la de la tierra, dicha con el nombre de quien la sostenía; el punto suelto es del troceo.

«Commerce, the merchants associated with it, and the exchange economy which it fostered were part of a different world from that of the court at which Becher was employed, and from that of the town he had left as a child.» — Smith recuerda que el comercio era ajeno a los dos mundos que Becher conocía.

«Becher presented commerce as an entirely new source of income that would not constitute a tax on anyone but, instead, would be part of a natural, productive cycle that resulted in material increase in the form of money.» — el argumento que hace irresistible la propuesta: renta sin impuesto.

«It would, moreover, strengthen the traditional relationship between prince and peasant, while increasing the material welfare of both.» — la novedad vendida como refuerzo del vínculo antiguo.

«The goal of commerce, according to Becher, was to enable the peasant to change his natural agricultural products into money; to "versilbem" them.» — el verbo alemán de *hacer plata* aplicado a la cosecha; el troceo trae *versilbem* por *versilbern*.

«Becher thus portrayed the cycle of commerce not only as a natural source of material increase and profit, but also as the means of cohesion in a Christian society.» — el comercio con función a la vez económica y religiosa en el argumento de Becher.

«The cycle enabled the peasant to pay his rents in money, rather than in natural goods, which brought specie to the ruler at the center.» — el mecanismo concreto por el que el metálico llega al príncipe.

«Becher also portrayed commerce as fitting to the social status of the prince.» — el segundo frente del argumento, el del decoro.

«Becher assured the elector and his advisors that commerce was a way to make a territory stronger and richer.» — la promesa en su forma más simple, dirigida al elector y a sus consejeros.

«Becher defended money wealth by connecting the representation of power with the sustenance (Nahrung) and money wealth (Gelt-reich) possessed by a territory:» — Smith conserva los términos alemanes del argumento con que Becher liga poder y dinero.

«Becher advised that the prince's hereditary lands-the source of ordinary income-be well looked after and that he not make extraordinary taxes into ordinary income.» — el consejo fiscal conservador que Becher da junto a sus proyectos nuevos.

«Becher maintained that the cash was more useful than the jewels, however, for jewels and trinkets could only be used "mehr zum luxu & ostentatione," while gold and silver could be minted as cash and then recast into ornaments when the need for money was past.» — la preferencia por el metal amonedable sobre la joya, por reversible.

«He argued that the merchant was the soul of the cycle of production, the most valuable Stand within the productive city community.» — el mercader elevado de parásito a alma del ciclo.

«Becher called the merchant who carried out commerce in his model society the "VerHiger" (the putting-out merchant).» — el nombre técnico del mercader en su modelo; el troceo trae *VerHiger* por *Verleger*.

«For Becher, this merchant was the "Grundsiiul[ e] der Gemeinde" (foundation stone of the community).» — la piedra angular de la comunidad, con el corchete de restitución de Smith; el troceo trae *Grundsiiul* por *Grundsäul*.

«If overseen properly, commercial activity could thus become a natural means of bringing a land to fruition, and merchants could truly be viewed as the only» — la condición de toda la propuesta es la vigilancia; la cita se corta al cambiar de plana.

«Becher advocated that they be formed into shareholding companies, "Kauffmanns Compagnien und Gesellschafften," and that these companies be privileged and watched over by the prince.» — la forma societaria propuesta y su tutela principesca.

«Becher advocated that the guilds and townsmen-corporations that conflicted with the common interest of Becher's society-be organized into new guilds over which the prince had complete authority.» — el gremio no se suprime: se refunda bajo el príncipe.

«He argued that the prince himself become a "VerHiger," buying up raw materials, employing artisans to work them, and selling the finished goods through special houses.» — el príncipe convertido en el propio mercader-empresario, que es lo que von Schmid juzgaba destructivo.

«When the prince reigned personally over the cycle of sustenance, his need for money would not only be fulfilled, but the corrupted state of commerce and merchants would be improved as well.» — el doble beneficio prometido: dinero para el príncipe y saneamiento del comercio.

«Becher attempted to make the prince governor of the entire productive cycle of society.» — la fórmula más breve del proyecto político de Becher.

«Becher produced a typical plan combining commerce and kingship that was supposed not only to bring von Neuburg to the throne but to endow Poland with new prosperity as well.» — el mismo esquema aplicado a una elección real polaca.

«Becher proposed that the count establish a shareholding company for the Verlag of wool, silk, wine, and sugar.» — las cuatro mercancías del proyecto polaco.

«The candidate from Moscow would also damage Poland, for he could not even establish manufactures in his own land.» — el argumento con que Becher descarta al rival: se juzga a un candidato por su capacidad manufacturera.

«"Credit," Becher explained in this tract, derives from "credere" (to believe or trust) as in "credere in foro civili"; thus true financial credit means (as it is understood in Holland) that one can borrow money simply by promising to pay it back.» — la etimología puesta a trabajar: el crédito financiero definido por la confianza en la palabra, al modo holandés.

«Becher continued his explanation: a person can have very little money and much credit-this is called merchants' credit ("Kauffmanns-Credit")-or much money and no credit, which the Dutch call "Civil-Credit.» — los dos créditos que Becher distingue, con sus nombres alemán y holandés.

«merchants could claim to possess a greater sense of honor than nobles, or, as Becher exclaimed in boldface, double-size type, "EIN GROSSER HERR KONTE NICHT SO VIEL TREU UND GLAUBEN HALTEN ALS EIN KAUFFMAN" (a great lord cannot keep his word of honor as well as a merchant).» — la frase más provocadora del libro de Becher, y Smith registra hasta el cuerpo de letra con que la imprimió.

«Becher transferred the value represented by money credit to a value in terms of the traditional social "credit" at court.» — la operación de conversión entre los dos créditos, que es el eje del capítulo.

«The prince who wants to fight wars (the outcome of which is uncertain) or build palaces (the maintenance of which brings debts instead of money to pay the interest) will receive no credit.» — el criterio mercantil aplicado a las dos ocupaciones clásicas del príncipe.

«The prince must take up the occupation of a merchant by founding manufactories, rather than simply follow the traditional pursuits of the nobility; he must embrace merchants by chartering them in organizations similar to guilds.» — el programa en imperativo, con la manufactura sustituyendo a las ocupaciones nobiliarias.

«But consorting with merchants will not damage the reputation of the emperor, for the credit, Becher declares (again in double-size type), is of such a quality that "DERGLEICHEN KEIN POTENTAT IN DER CHRISTENHEIT HABEN SOLLE» — Smith vuelve a registrar la tipografía como parte del argumento.

«Not even the king of France could borrow from Holland for less than 8 percent interest with collateral.» — el dato con que Becher mide el valor de lo que ofrece.

«Becher assured the prince that although he might take up the occupations and assume the social values of the merchant, he would not lose his reputation among the noble houses of Europe.» — la garantía que sostiene toda la propuesta, y que Smith presenta como aseguramiento, no como hecho.

«Indeed, by becoming an actor in the exchange economy, he would in fact gain respect and power in the court world.» — no solo no pierde: gana, según el argumento de Becher.

«Thus, when one was able to borrow money, it indicated that one also possessed a fund of social credit.» — la equivalencia consumada entre poder de endeudarse y honor.

«The prince would become a merchant, and the values of the merchant and the exchange economy would provide the standards of social value and credit at court.» — Smith enuncia el alcance real de la propuesta: cambiar la vara con que la corte mide.

«Becher began a trip to Amsterdam in 1671 as an opportunistic response to the trade war between France and the United Provinces.» — el viaje de 1671 leído como aprovechamiento de una coyuntura bélica.

«He kept notes of his business, his visitors, and his trips to the Stock Exchange in a journal that is still extant.» — la fuente documental del episodio, declarada por Smith.

«This journal would serve him later as a statement of accounts, an explanation of business to the emperor, and as aid to his memory.» — los tres usos del diario, que explican también cómo hay que leerlo.

«It tells us that he spent most of his days in conference with the merchant who was to sell the wine and with the group of Dutch "capitalists" who claimed to be ready to lend the emperor a million Reichsthaler.» — la cifra del préstamo y la reserva de Smith sobre quienes decían estar dispuestos a darlo.

«Becher clearly had a case to make to the emperor not only to save his deals in Amsterdam, but also to save his own Credit at court.» — el crédito propio y el del emperador atados en el mismo expediente.

«He maintained that he needed two masses (almost three liters) of Rhine wine in Amsterdam rather than water or beer to strengthen himself because of the notoriously bad air of the Lowlands.» — la justificación higiénica del gasto en vino que Becher presenta a la cámara imperial.

«He noted but struck out his meetings with other nobles of the empire, as such meetings might perhaps have compromised his single-minded loyalty to the emperor.» — Smith lee las tachaduras del diario como parte del documento.

«He sometimes made a record of the cash with which they awarded him, but never reported that he exchanged code with them for future correspondence.» — lo que el diario consigna y lo que calla, medido por Smith.

«He wrote an impassioned letter to von Sinzendorff about the cost of living in Holland and the social and financial cost to the emperor's Credit and reputation when his representatives were perceived as being in straitened circumstances.» — el gasto del enviado presentado como inversión en la reputación del emperador.

«Becher made clear what damage it did to his own Credit (and ultimately to the emperor's Credit) that Telgens, his merchant contact, did not at first want to take the wine as collateral for his loans, and so "left [Becher] sitting in the highest shame and scorn, to the 'disreputation' of His Imperial Majesty, unable to carry out any business.» — la escena donde los dos créditos se tocan: una garantía rechazada en Ámsterdam deshonra a un emperador en Viena.

«Becher ends the letter, noting that he was forced to spend his own money, even having to sell a magnet for sixty guilders» — el detalle del imán vendido; la cita se corta antes del entrevero de notas al pie.

«In addition, Telgens should be given a special recompense for his time because "His Majesty's Credit ... depends upon [how other Dutch merchants] see Telgens being treated by His Majesty.» — el crédito imperial dependiendo de cómo vean los mercaderes holandeses el trato dado a uno de ellos.

«They urged the Austrian nobles to sign because the million Reichsthaler would maintain the "reputation and Credit" of their feudal lord, His Imperial Majesty as archduke of Austria, to whom, as their liege lord, they had sworn fealty.» — el vasallaje invocado para conseguir firmas en una operación de crédito.

«Before Becher left Munich permanently for Vienna, however, he made a trip to Amsterdam, the center of the commercial world, to seek a colony for the count of Hanau.» — el enlace con el interludio colonial que Smith intercala a continuación.

«In myth, Mercury shuttled between the human world and the realm of the gods, and in material form, mercury formed the essential component in the philosophers' stone, by which base metals could be transmuted into gold.» — Smith explota la doble naturaleza de Mercurio, mito y sustancia, para leer el cuadro de Hanau.

«In this painting, Mercury personified commerce and the activity of merchants, and, as messenger of the gods, he also symbolized eloquence.» — comercio y elocuencia coincidiendo en la misma figura, que es la coincidencia que el libro persigue.

«Mercury functioned as a perfect emblem for Becher because he evoked words and texts, as well as natural and "artificial" wealth, but this painting worked as an emblem for the count in a wholly different way.» — Smith consigna las dos lecturas del mismo emblema, la de Becher y la del conde, sin fundirlas.

«The choice of the vanitas theme for this portrait would, by the end of 1669, turn out to be a particularly apt one.» — el desenlace del proyecto anunciado por el propio motivo del retrato.

«Becher's strategy was to entice the noble count to enter the monetary transactions of the commercial world.» — el mismo movimiento del capítulo anterior, ahora sobre un conde arruinado.

«But as the preceding chapter showed, this maneuver involved Becher in fundamental difficulties because the court and commercial worlds had different languages and different sets of social and personal values.» — Smith recuerda el obstáculo estructural antes de contar el episodio.

«In order to reconcile these, Becher had to translate the movable values of the money economy into the stable, immovable values of the landed nobility.» — la traducción entre valores móviles e inmóviles como tarea de Becher.

«Becher attempted such a translation in the colony project of 1669.» — el proyecto colonial planteado como caso de esa traducción.

«At the center of this extraordinarily complex court and family was Count Friedrich Casimir (1623-85, ruled from 1647), who had his residence in Hanau, near Frankfurt.» — el protagonista del episodio con sus fechas.

«In order to pacify Calvinist fears in his new territories, Friedrich Casimir had married the widow (twenty years older than himself) of his predecessor in the Calvinist line of the family, Sybille Christine of Anhalt-Dessau.» — el matrimonio como instrumento de política confesional.

«The rulers of Hessen-Kassel also had an interest in Hanau because the Landgravine Amalie Elisabeth of Hessen-Kassel (1602-51), nee Hanau-Miinzenberg, had assisted Count Friedrich Casimir in retaining and pacifying his Calvinist territories.» — la red de intereses vecinos sobre Hanau; el troceo trae *Miinzenberg* por *Münzenberg*.

«Quite clearly there were several competing interests in the territory of Hanau; small parcels of land and towns lay distant from one another, with differences in geography, agriculture, and commerce.» — la fragmentación territorial que hacía inestable al condado.

«The territorial lands of Hanau had been at the center of the fighting in the Thirty Years' War, and, in 1669, two decades after the Peace of Westphalia, they continued to suffer from the effects of the war.» — dos décadas después de la paz, la guerra sigue explicando la penuria.

«Impoverished as he was, however, Count Friedrich Casimir had little regard for the finances» — el contraste entre penuria y despreocupación; la cita se corta al cambiar de renglón.

«When he acquired a new piece for his Kunstkammer, the count fired a one hundred gun salute.» — el dato que Smith usa para medir la relación del conde con sus curiosidades.

«On finally obtaining the territory in 1669, he immediately sought one of the noble rights to which he felt himself entitled as a prince of the realm: minting privileges.» — el derecho de acuñar como primera ambición del conde, y ahí entra el proyecto de Becher.

«In 1669, the landgrave was also busy in Hanau, where, despite being a Catholic convert, he had become so friendly with the Lutheran count Friedrich Casimir that the count had virtually made him a joint ruler of Hanau.» — la confesión cediendo ante la conveniencia en la corte de Hanau.

«For his part, the landgrave of Hessen-Homburg had an overarching strategy by which he sought to use the count to improve his own position as prince without rights.» — cada actor del episodio persigue su propio ascenso, y Smith los desglosa uno a uno.

«Becher calls him "Bent Skylte." He was Bengt (or Benedikt) Skytte (1614-83), baron and senator at the Swedish court.» — Smith identifica al personaje detrás de la grafía que Becher usa.

«After 1669, several German cities apparently drove him from their walls for advocating atheism and freedom of religious practice.» — la suerte posterior de Skytte, con la reserva de *apparently*.

«Becher claimed to have adjudicated a scheme of Skytte's, and also to have promoted Neuberger in the plan for the Theatrum naturae et artis, for which Neuberger was to provide the wax figures.» — Smith lo da como reclamo de Becher, que en el mismo episodio compite con Skytte por el favor del conde.

«Thus members of the court of Hanau in 1669 who are the actors in this story formed two levels.» — el elenco del episodio ordenado en dos planos por Smith.

«Perhaps filling a cabinet or an entire room, this collection of rare objects turned out to be the locus of activity for the whole drama.» — la Kunstkammer convertida en escenario del episodio entero.

«It determined the fate of Becher's reputation at court, the outcome of the colony project itself, and even the fortunes of the count's power in his own territory.» — Smith le atribuye a un gabinete de curiosidades tres desenlaces políticos.

«On 22 June 1669, however, Becher set off for the commercial republic to seek a colony from a merchant company for his noble patron.» — la fecha de partida y la asimetría del encargo: un noble pidiendo a una compañía.

«The fact that the court of Hanau sought favors from a merchant company in the Dutch Republic appeared to many people of the seventeenth century to be an inversion of natural order.» — Smith recoge la percepción de época sin hacerla suya.

«Becher for one was both fascinated and alarmed by a country that, in spite of possessing very little land, was richer and more powerful than many landowning German princes.» — la anomalía holandesa como escándalo y como modelo a la vez.

«Spain, a rich land, ruled by the Habsburg dynasty-the most powerful family in Europe-had declined despite the fact that it possessed silver and gold mines in the New World.» — el contraejemplo que desmiente la ecuación entre metal y poder.

«The Grand Pensionary de Witt was not to be in power for long, however, for in 1672, Louis XIV declared war on Holland and de Witt was assassinated, thus allowing William Ill of Orange to become Stadtholder-General for life.» — el final del régimen holandés que Becher trataba; el troceo trae *Ill* por *III*.

«Becher summed up this inverted order in his remark that "Holland has its powerful merchants' companies that can defy kings and lords.» — la fórmula de Becher para la anomalía holandesa.

«As a reason for this, he tendered the opinion that, "the Dutch make a matter of state out of commerce and wage costly wars for it because they well know that commerce makes their land populous, prosperous, and into a true community in which each member lives from the other!» — el comercio como materia de Estado y como principio de comunidad, en boca de Becher.

«Becher's 1669 trip to Holland to obtain a colony brought these two worlds face to face.» — el viaje leído como encuentro entre los dos mundos que el libro contrapone.

«The court of the count of Hanau epitomized the problems of the small, impoverished German court, and the merchant company with which Becher dealt in Holland represented the wealth and power of the commercial republic.» — los dos polos del episodio, cada uno ejemplar de su mundo.

«In this journal, Becher shaped the story of his trip to appeal to the noble count.» — Smith advierte que el diario está compuesto para un lector, y así hay que leerlo.

«Over the course of the summer, however, it became apparent that the count's vision of the colony differed from Becher's.» — el desacuerdo de fondo que arruinará el proyecto, anunciado por Smith desde el principio.

«The count granted Becher a retinue of four people: a chamberlain of the count's court, a lackey, a secretary (Becher's brother-in-law), and a servant.» — el séquito como parte de la credencial: se negocia con la escolta puesta.

«Becher promised him a good recompense if he would work in the count's interest and use his influence and connections with the West India Company.» — la mediación pagada como forma corriente de acceso a la compañía.

«Becher had to reassure the count that he would be dealing with "grand gentlemen" ("vornehm[e] Herren"), worth the expense of fine clothes.» — el gasto en ropa justificado por la calidad del interlocutor, con el alemán entre paréntesis.

«Becher hinted here at the contrast between the external moneyed splendor of the commercial society and the splendor of the court world based upon innate nobility.» — dos esplendores incompatibles, el comprado y el heredado.

«By 1669, however, the West India Company had lost most of its recently conquered land to Portugal and Spain, retaining only Guiana and a few of the Carribean islands, and was very badly in debt.» — el estado real de la compañía con que se negociaba; el troceo trae *Carribean* por *Caribbean*.

«The West India Company would also profit from trade generated by the colonists, for after a certain amount of time had elapsed, the West India Company would receive a percentage of all profits made in the colony.» — el interés de la compañía en la concesión, que Smith explicita.

«The day after Becher's meeting with West India Company representatives was a Sunday, and there being, as Becher noted, "nothing to do except for the Church service," he went to view the ships in the harbor with his banker in Amsterdam» — el detalle del diario que Smith conserva para mostrar el tono del documento.

«The ships of overseas trade anchored in the harbor of Amsterdam were a potent symbol of commerce for Becher.» — el barco como emblema que Becher lleva después a la portada de su libro.

«Becher described one of the pictures, that of the city of El Dorado, "with her streets and buildings of gold.» — la pintura de El Dorado en la casa de la compañía, anotada por Becher.

«Becher rightly thought that the image of the golden city would convey the possibilities of the New World most effectively to the count.» — Smith le concede el acierto retórico, y lo que cuenta a continuación va en ese sentido.

«Indeed the count would later inform a representative of Hessen-Kassel that he had obtained a kingdom in the New World "where the houses are roofed with pure gold."» — el conde repitiendo como hecho lo que era una pintura: ahí falla la traducción entre los dos mundos.

«The Bewindheber all rose when Becher entered, honoring the power he represented.» — el protocolo mercantil rindiendo homenaje al rango que Becher representa.

«Becher promptly wrote out his proposition, hired a copyist to make a clean copy, then a translator to translate it into Dutch, and gave it to a representative of the house.» — la cadena material de la traducción, que Smith detalla porque el libro trata justamente de traducir.

«Becher said they rented a "coach-sledge (because no coaches may be driven)."» — el detalle logístico que el diario registra y Smith conserva.

«Becher recounted this feast for the count with particular care, knowing that the banquet had particular significance in the court world.» — el banquete narrado en la clave que el destinatario sabía leer.

«The custom of tipping another's servants was common, for if the money had been given directly to the gift giver, it would have had the appearance of a base commercial transaction.» — Smith explica el rodeo por el que el dinero circula sin parecer pago.

«The first course lasted two hours, during which much wine was consumed and toasts were drunk.» — el detalle del banquete, que Smith conserva porque el banquete es aquí un acto político.

«The second course lasted another two hours, and during it, the health of the emperor, of the count and countess, and of the States General was drunk.» — el orden de los brindis como mapa de las jerarquías presentes.

«Becher thought it worthy of note that new napkins and tablecloths were used at each course.» — lo que Becher juzga digno de anotarse deja ver para quién escribía.

«Becher does not fail to tell the count that he demonstrated the largesse and wealth of his patron by tipping the waiters and servants of the company hand» — la propina informada al conde como prueba de haber representado bien su rango; la cita se corta al partirse la palabra en el troceo.

«The party became very jolly; the men began to dance with each other and to speak confidentially with Becher.» — la confidencia y el baile como parte del trabajo de negociación.

«The president (who was also president of the Great Council of the city of Amsterdam) insisted, against all Becher's pleading, on escorting him to his lodgings.» — el honor protocolario que Becher registra para su patrón.

«In the morning, Becher recounts, he sent blanket thanks to his hosts as well as apologies in case anything unfortunate had been said while he was in his cups.» — la disculpa preventiva por lo dicho de más, anotada en el propio diario.

«By the following day, however, Becher had recovered sufficiently to view a slave ship.» — Smith deja el barco negrero en la misma línea que la resaca, sin subrayarlo.

«Becher promised them the count's cooperation and enlisted one of them to return with him to Hanau to give the count a firsthand report of the land and to show him the rare objects, which, once in the count's hands, would no doubt become part of his Kunstkammer.» — la colonia vendida al conde por la vía de las curiosidades, que es lo que a él le interesaba.

«Three courses of fish were served, although it was a Thursday; perhaps Becher desired not to appear to outdo his hosts by serving other meats.» — Smith propone el motivo con la reserva de *perhaps*.

«Becher reported that the president of the West India Company, who had insisted upon escorting him home before, became so merry at this banquet that he had begun the dancing among the men.» — la reciprocidad del convite medida por la alegría del invitado principal.

«Becher attended to various other tasks before leaving Amsterdam, including buying a stocking loom and hiring its attendant weaver (no doubt for his next project), taking leave of a chemist friend (Dr. Galenus), and bestowing presents, money, and promises on all the contacts who had brought about the success of the undertaking.» — el telar comprado de paso: Smith señala que el siguiente proyecto ya estaba en marcha.

«Becher attempted to defend himself: he explained that the secrecy of his trip had been necessary to foil the unscrupulous schemes of the Swedish projector;» — la defensa de Becher ante el reproche de haber obrado en secreto.

«Becher claimed only to be trying to save the count from this frivolous curiosity by interesting him instead in the colony project.» — la colonia presentada por Becher como remedio contra la afición del conde a las curiosidades.

«The Swede, Becher's rival, had prudently left town on receiving the cash, and took with him the money that Becher had hoped would go to equipping the colonists.» — el dinero de la colonia desviado por el rival sueco antes de que empezara nada.

«Becher claims to have been received in triumph by the count on his return: he was paraded through the streets, the contract was read publicly and signed by the count, fireworks were set off over the city, and one hundred cannon shots were fired, just as when Friedrich Casimir had acquired a new curiosity.» — Smith remata la escena señalando que el recibimiento fue el mismo que el de una pieza de gabinete.

«The celebratory banquet was marred only by a French guest who grounded the party momentarily in Realpolitik by noisily trying to win the count to the French faction at court, but he was shown the door in disfavor, and the airy celebrations continued.» — la política real entrando y saliendo del banquete sin alterarlo.

«In the end, however, the colony project was lost in the serious consequences of the count's mortgaging his land to the landgrave of Hessen-Homburg in return for wax curiosities.» — la tierra hipotecada por figuras de cera: el desenlace que Smith no comenta más.

«He had given life to the colony project by appealing to the count's infatuation with curiosities and his concern with his reputation, but this infatuation ended in directing the project.» — el resorte que Becher usó terminó gobernando el proyecto contra él.

«The count succumbed to the nearest curiosities rather than waiting on the outcome of Becher's more marvelous object, and in doing so brought about the palace coup and his own loss of power.» — la impaciencia por la curiosidad más cercana como causa de una caída política.

«In the end the colony project became nothing more than a curiosity.» — el cierre del episodio en una sola línea.

«But the story of the colony project of 1669 does not end there, for when Becher returned to Germany, he speedily published a pamphlet in his defense.» — el fracaso convertido en materia impresa, que es la salida habitual de Becher.

«A report from the elector of Bavaria's resident minister in Vienna from September 1670 tells ofBecher spending all his time in the landgrave's Logiament and being seen in the landgrave's coach, although the minister could never discover what Becher's business with the landgrave was.» — un informe diplomático que registra el trato y declara no saber su objeto; el troceo pega *of* con *Becher*.

«The purpose of this college was not only to uncover political plots, but also to look into religious heresy, and military, judicial, and cameral problems.» — el alcance del *Collegium Inquisitionis Status* que Becher proyecta.

«The testimony of the witnesses stated that Becher first injured the landgrave's honor and then began to wave loaded pistols about.» — el episodio de las pistolas, según las declaraciones que Smith recoge.

«All witnesses agreed that Becher and the rest were quite drunk, and apparently no action against Becher and Schroder was taken.» — Smith cierra el incidente con lo que los testigos coinciden y con la reserva de *apparently*.

«While the treasury officials had no new ideas for noble income and forbade trade to the prince as dishonorable, Becher, as commercial advisor and chemist-a new man at court-promised that he could provide by commerce what the Cameralisten could not.» — la ventaja del recién llegado está en prometer lo que los cargos establecidos no pueden.

«The extraordinary debts of the territory must be treated by extraordinary means, unknown to the regular officers of the treasury.» — el argumento con que Becher reclama para sí un terreno vedado a la hacienda ordinaria.

«In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, sugar was found mainly in the apothecary's shop and was an expensive medicine.» — Smith recuerda que el azúcar era droga de botica antes que alimento.

«By Becher's day, it had also become a food of display and representation for the nobility.» — el segundo uso del azúcar en el siglo XVII: exhibición de rango.

«Sugar was an important exotic delicacy at court, firmly associated with the riches of the New World, and so it was to be one of the most important products of Becher's colony.» — por qué el azúcar es la mercancía que enlaza colonia y corte.

«For Becher, all of nature was envitalized by a universal spirit that derived its power for generation and growth ultimately from God.» — el espíritu universal como base de la teoría de la materia de Becher, con su origen divino declarado.

«Sugar grew in this tropical air, so was of a gentle balsamic quality, as opposed to salt, which was sharp and corrosive.» — la cualidad balsámica del azúcar derivada del aire tropical, y opuesta a la de la sal.

«Becher advocated the making of a sugar wine, which was powerful as a healing and nourishing agent because it combined the sulfurous principles of both sugar and wine.» — el vino de azúcar justificado por la suma de dos principios sulfúreos.

«It drove out the urine, cleansed the bladder, and healed internal wounds.» — las virtudes médicas atribuidas a ese vino.

«But the money gained by the "cash crop" of sugar would go directly into the noble ruler's treasury as ordinary agricultural income, similar to the revenues gained from his hereditary lands and his regalian incomes.» — la maniobra decisiva: el dinero del comercio entra en la caja como renta agrícola, sin mancha.

«Thus this money wealth would not only work within the established power structure in a territory but would even reinforce it.» — la riqueza nueva presentada como refuerzo del orden viejo.

«He praised the West Indian land, which he claimed needed neither to be fertilized nor plowed, and the slavery system, which made it inexpensive to work.» — Smith consigna sin rodeos que la esclavitud figura en el elogio de Becher como ventaja de costos.

«He believed that "each Nation and Rule has its own characteristics": the Republic of Venice only waged war and supported the nobility, while Holland was good at commeFCe and shipping (but not agriculture), and Spain sought only gold and silver.» — el reparto de vocaciones nacionales con que Becher argumenta; el troceo trae *commeFCe* por *commerce*.

«Germany, of all nations, was best at "Erdbau" (cultivation of the earth), even better than the English, and so Germans should become colonists.» — la conclusión colonial derivada de una supuesta aptitud nacional para el cultivo.

«In Becher's writings it was a self-regenerative product of nature, indeed one of the noblest, but one that also multiplied the artificial wealth of money.» — el azúcar en el punto exacto donde lo natural y lo artificial se tocan, que es donde Becher quiere estar.

«The colony project was just one of Becher's many schemes that sought to harness the wealth of the money economy to the traditional structures of the landed court.» — Smith inscribe el episodio en la serie a la que pertenece.

«The cabinet itself functioned at three levels: on the level of theoria (the contemplative knowledge of scholars), where it represented a polymathic encyclopedia of knowledge, all natural and artificial things collected within it.» — el primero de los tres niveles con que Smith lee la Kunstkammer.

«The second level was that of praxis (the active knowledge of human politics, the level at which power and historical events were played out).» — el segundo nivel, el político, que es donde Becher habla.

«At this level, the Kunstkammer was part of the symbolic representation of the power of the noble ruler, and it was within the language of this second level that Becher made his propostion about the colony to the count of Hanau.» — el gabinete como lenguaje del poder, y la colonia dicha en ese lenguaje; el troceo trae *propostion* por *proposition*.

«The last level was of ars or techne (the productive knowledge of unlettered artisans).» — el tercer nivel, el del saber productivo sin letras.

«The colony would be materially productive, yielding goods midway between artificial commercial commodities and natural, agricultural produce that would make the count's coffers and Germany in general rich with artificial money wealth.» — la colonia situada a medio camino entre mercancía y cosecha.

«By proposing it as a curiosity, he addressed the count's concern with the representation of power (or, if one prefers, he played on the count's infatuation with curiosities), and he attempted to translate his commercial project into tangible objects that would fit within the count's comprehension and cabinet.» — Smith ofrece las dos descripciones del mismo acto, la generosa y la cínica, y no elige.

«By drawing on his own knowledge of nature and generation, Becher hoped that the colony's productive aspects would also become clear to the count.» — la esperanza de Becher, dicha como esperanza y desmentida por lo que ocurrió.

«the Old World formed an image of the unknown, but this image was constructed within the already established forms of the Old World.» — Smith lee los cuadros de Kunstkammer de Jan van Kessel como aparatos que domestican lo desconocido dentro de formas viejas.

«But Count Friedrich Casimir refused to be drawn into Becher's ploy to merge curiosity and commerce, and the colony project of 1669 came to be remembered merely as a curious episode.» — el rechazo del conde y la conversión del proyecto en anécdota.

«At the court of the emperor in Vienna, Becher would use alchemy itself to effect this transmutation.» — con esta frase pasa Smith del emblema a la alquimia literal, que es el asunto del capítulo cuarto.

«N 1675, after almost five years as commercial advisor at the Imp~rial court in Vienna, and a little more than a year before leaving Vienna permanently, Becher transmuted lead into silver.» — Smith abre el capítulo cuarto con el hecho desnudo y su fecha; la cita empieza donde el troceo parte la mayúscula inicial, y trae *Imp~rial* por *Imperial*.

«Saturn symbolized the base metal, lead, and the act of eating his children was analogous to the behavior of all metals (except gold and silver), which, on being added to molten lead in a crucible merged with the lead.» — la correspondencia Saturno-plomo leída por su comportamiento en el crisol, no por analogía suelta.

«"True" transmutation was considered to be the instantaneous change of base metals into gold by the projection of the philosophers' stone, or "tincture" (usually a powder) over the base metal.» — la definición de época de la transmutación verdadera, con la tintura en polvo.

«Becher, for example, argued that all transmutation was caused by a ripening of the metals that took place by means of a "ripening force" ("zeitigmachende Krafft"),3 and that this force, the "universal philosophical substance" was the tool of the chemist in his metallic operations.» — la fuerza de maduración como principio único de toda transmutación en Becher; el 3 es la llamada de nota.

«Becher thus distinguished between "weaker" transmutations ("particular-Zeitigungen") and immediate transmutation by projection of the tincture (" universal-Zeitigungen").» — la distinción entre maduraciones particulares y universales, que es la que salva la operación de Becher.

«These two levels of transformation occurred in accordance with the purity and concentration of the ripening force.» — la diferencia entre los dos grados es de concentración, no de naturaleza.

«These techniques, as well as various alchemists' tricks (such as stirring the hot base metal with a hollow wand that had been filled with gold and plugged with a metal of low melting point) were familiar to chemists and were distinguished from genuine transmutation.» — el truco de la varilla hueca era conocido, y por eso el fraude no explica por sí solo la credulidad.

«He claimed that this differed from the common processes of extracting gold from iron and copper, or silver from lead and tin, because his separation process worked by capturing the ripening power and using it to ripen the "raw" gold or silver latent in the sulfurous and mercurous principles of the base metals.» — el reclamo de Becher: no extrae oro presente, madura oro latente en el azufre y el mercurio del metal vil.

«Becher did not include himself in a list of his contemporaries who possessed the philosophical tincture, so he must have considered his own transmutation of lead into silver as one of these weaker» — Smith infiere la propia clasificación de Becher de una omisión en su lista.

«Becher disclaimed having ever actually successfully produced and projected the tincture himself in Psychosophia ( 1705), p. 143, and the second supplement to the Physica Subterranea, although this is not to say that he did not believe that transmutation by the tincture was not perfectly possible.» — Becher niega haberla logrado y no niega que sea posible: Smith mantiene las dos cosas juntas.

«Aside from the artifact of his medallion, no reference to Becher's transmutation exists in his works or those of his contemporaries.» — el estado real de las fuentes: una medalla y ningún texto.

«The significance of his transmutation must be reconstructed from other alchemical activity at the Viennese court, and its timing-July 1675-must be found in the circumstances of Becher's position at the Habsburg court.» — Smith declara el método con que reconstruirá el episodio, a falta de testimonio directo.

«But after enormous sums of money exchanged hands on all sides, the eight electors at last named Leopold emperor on 18 July 1658.» — la elección imperial resuelta con dinero, dicho sin rodeos.

«Indeed, when he came to the throne he seemed hardly capable of holding together the Habsburg lands in the face of the renewed dynamism of the Ottoman Kiipriilii dynasty, the turmoil to the north in Poland, and the expansionist tendencies of Louis XIV.» — los tres frentes que estrechaban a Leopoldo I; el troceo trae *Kiipriilii* por *Köprülü*.

«When the Hofkanzler died in 1665, however, Leopold eliminated this position and appointed himself as central authority.» — la concentración de la autoridad en el propio emperador.

«Leopold generally did not consolidate offices; in fact he continued policies which had begun the topsy like growth of the bureaucracy in the reign of his father.» — el crecimiento desordenado de la burocracia imperial; el troceo parte *topsy-like*.

«It is fair to say that from Ferdinand Il's time, the Habsburgs lived in a state of constant debt, exacerbated by a situation of near continual warfare and by the increase in size and luxury of the court.» — la deuda permanente como estado normal de la casa imperial; el troceo trae *Il* por *II*.

«Thus when Leopold urgently needed a large sum of money in 1665, he discovered that most of his domainal revenues were already tied up.» — la situación concreta que abre la puerta a los alquimistas de corte.

«In fact the Sinzendorf family fortune had been a precondition to his appointment as president, for the emperor needed a treasurer who could lend him money if all other sources failed.» — el cargo de hacienda otorgado por la fortuna personal del titular, no por su competencia.

«his office expected that much of his salary would come from the income of the office itself, 20 so that the sale of offices actually amounted to nothing more than a long-term loan for the prince at highly variable rates of interest.» — la venta de cargos descrita como operación de crédito; el 20 es la llamada de nota.

«The expenditures of the Viennese court only grew under Leopold.» — el dato que enmarca todo el capítulo: el gasto no deja de subir.

«He loved music, theater, and spectacle, composing scripts and musical scores himself.» — el emperador como autor de sus propios espectáculos.

«In his long rule, he mounted four hundred festivals, most a mixture of opera, tournament, horse ballet, parade, and revue.» — la cifra de fiestas y su composición, que Smith usa para medir el apetito de espectáculo.

«It was probably this combination of financial woe and love of spectacle that caused Leopold to gain a reputation as a patron of alchemists, although the Habsburg court had long been known as a refuge for alchemists.» — Smith propone la causa con *probably* y añade la tradición previa como matiz.

«Most lately, Leopold's predecessor Ferdinand Ill had patronized alchemy, and their common forebear, Rudolf 11, had made the Habsburg court in Prague synonymous with the golden art.» — la genealogía del mecenazgo alquímico de los Habsburgo; el troceo trae *Ill* y *11* por *III* y *II*.

«Becher's transmutation and subsequent production of a medallion commemorating the event was thus by no means unprecedented at the Habsburg court, nor at other courts in Europe.» — la operación de Becher inscrita en un género con reglas propias.

«Becher himself claimed knowledge of at least two transmutations in which the metal was afterward cast to commemorate the event.» — la medalla conmemorativa como parte esperada del acto.

«The most famous of these transmutations during Leopold I's reign (1658-1705) was that of the alchemist and Augustinian monk, Wenceslas Seiler (or Seyler), who, after transmuting copper and tin into gold in 1675, was ennobled as Ritter von Reinberg and sent to Bohemia as an officer of the mint.» — la carrera que una transmutación abría: nobleza y cargo en la ceca.

«The most spectacular of his transmutations, the changing of a large medallion more than a foot in diameter, from silver into gold, was made on the feast day of Saint Leopold in 1677.» — la fecha elegida convierte la operación en acto litúrgico y político a la vez.

«Leopold's love of theater and display no doubt played a part in his appreciation of Seiler's artifice, but success in alchemical transmutation could be interpreted as confirming princely power and fitness to rule, for alchemical knowledge was revealed only to the most pious, and success in transmutation was granted only to individuals of exceptional moral probity.» — la tesis central del capítulo: la transmutación vale como certificado de aptitud moral para gobernar, no solo como entretenimiento.

«It was proof of the humility and piety of the Catholic emperor that God granted a transmutation at his court.» — el argumento en su forma teológica: la transmutación es concesión divina y por tanto certificado.

«Patronage of alchemy as much as patronage of music, letters, or natural philosophy was a way to direct and sustain the representation of the prince.» — Smith pone la alquimia en la misma serie que la música y las letras.

«Both Seiler's and Becher's alchemical medallions eventually joined the curious objects collected by the emperors in their Kunstkammer, and they are still displayed in its successor, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, demonstrating to all posterity the accomplishment of a transmutation at the Habsburg court.» — las dos medallas siguen expuestas, y ese es el rastro material del episodio.

«The reputation conferred today by this feat, however, evokes the deceptions of wax museums and charlatanry rather than the glory gained by Leopold in his own day.» — Smith mide la distancia entre el sentido de época y el actual sin corregir ninguno de los dos.

«What brought honor to the prince also brought favor to the alchemist.» — la reciprocidad que sostiene el mecenazgo alquímico.

«The relationship between alchemy and general metallurgical techniques meant that the successful performer of a transmutation was often regarded as having a particular knowledge of minerals and metals which could be useful in the imperial mines in Hungary and Bohemia, in the mint, or in some other part of the government dealing with regalian income.» — el puente concreto entre transmutación y administración de minas y ceca.

«After performing a transmutation before the court, many alchemists were in fact sent off to prove their processes in the mines.» — la prueba en corte servía de examen para un puesto técnico.

«Thus alchemical transmutation could function as a display of chemical and metallurgical knowledge and techniques worthy of patronage in themselves.» — la transmutación leída como demostración de pericia, aparte de su pretensión.

«In fact, the Hofkammer filed the alchemical propositions it received under Hungarian Minting and Mining Affairs (Ungarische Miinz- und Bergwesen).» — el dato de archivo que dice dónde clasificaba la alquimia la propia administración; el troceo trae *Miinz* por *Münz*.

«Becher recounted the exemplary history of an alchemist who attempted to deceive the court in Vienna, a story that illustrates well the potential for patronage in alchemy, as well as the intrigues in which an alchemist could become enmeshed.» — Smith usa el relato de Becher como caso ejemplar del mercado cortesano de secretos.

«He claimed to desire nothing more than to teach the art in return for a written assurance that he would receive a part of the profit from any transmutation.» — la petición del alquimista anónimo: no dinero, sino un papel firmado.

«The trial resulted in a "schone, grosse Gold-Prob." That same evening, Becher and the Wardein made a trial by themselves and could produce nothing.» — la prueba solo funciona con el operador presente, y Smith deja el dato sin comentario.

«Finally the alchemist said he was tired of playing Praeceptor to such dull students and sent the contract back to the Hojkammerpriisident before leaving town.» — la retirada calculada, devolviendo el contrato; el troceo trae *Hojkammerpriisident* por *Hofkammerpräsident*.

«Becher and the Wardein wondered what the episode portended until they learned that "N." had shown theHojkammerpriisident's written assurance to a Count Bucquoy whom he knew to be a Liebhaber of alchemy.» — el papel firmado valía como credencial ante otro mecenas: ahí estaba el negocio.

«The count believed the Priisident to be a very circumspect man and therefore gave "N." his full confidence, meals at his table, horse and carriage, and, because the alchemist could not immediately obtain a letter of credit from the merchants, a cash advance of two hundred gulden.» — el crédito transferido de un noble a otro por la vía de un documento.

«Becher, whose plans were on a grander scale than those of N., described him as a fraud and a meddler (and someone who might ruin Becher's own reputation), but N. had actually made a bid for employment that was legitimate within the court structure and its understanding of alchemical transmutation.» — Smith separa el juicio de Becher del funcionamiento real del sistema: lo que él llama fraude era una candidatura legítima.

«Becher's own 1675 transmutation can be seen in the context of the intrigue that enveloped any routes to favor and that swirled particularly around chemical and alchemical processes at the Habsburg court, as illustrated in the story of N.» — el episodio del anónimo puesto como clave de lectura del propio Becher.

«when Johann Daniel Crafft informed Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz that in the previous summer a defrocked monk had made various projections with a tincture before the emperor, but no one could repeat his success.» — la irrepetibilidad como rasgo recurrente de estos episodios, consignada sin dictamen.

«Becher's alchemical medallion seems to make sense within a number of complex alchemical intrigues occurring at the Viennese court in the early 1670s, yet his transmutation can also be placed within his ongoing commercial projects of that time.» — Smith sostiene las dos lecturas del mismo acto sin elegir entre ellas.

«Back in Vienna, Becher attempted first to reinvigorate the Commercial Council, a new body he had conceived and established in 1666, but which had fallen into inactivity in the four years of his absence.» — la institución creada por Becher y muerta en su ausencia.

«As in Munich, Becher established a silk manufactory, but he went far beyond the Munich projects to found two companies, one to trade with the Ottoman Empire, and the other to export goods to Holland.» — la escala vienesa de los proyectos, con dos compañías de comercio exterior.

«Whereas in Munich Becher had had an established position-Hofmedicuswithin the court hierarchy, in Vienna he had no such established position.» — la diferencia decisiva entre las dos cortes para la posición de Becher; el troceo pega *Hofmedicus* con *within*.

«This man had begun as Becher's protector and promoter at the imperial court but ended as his most bitter enemy.» — el giro de Sinzendorf de protector a adversario.

«The most powerful protector one could have at the Habsburg court was, of course, the emperor himself, and Becher's proposals received great favor from Leopold; the position of "favorite," however, was a precarious one, for it made one liable to attacks on one's credit by others seeking the emperor's protection, and frequently resulted in spectacular falls from favor.» — el favor imperial como posición máxima y máximamente frágil.

«In 1674, Becher submitted a report on the Marsaly process, in 1676 on the Schellenberg process (Hassinger, Becher, p. 202). He also claimed to have judged the Seiler process.» — Becher ejerciendo de perito de procesos ajenos, con la referencia a Hassinger que Smith da.

«Ample evidence reveals the struggle for favor and power throughout Becher's employ at the the court ofLeopold I, but a particular battle came to a head in the months leading up to the summer of 1675, when Becher transmuted lead into silver.» — Smith fecha la transmutación en el punto álgido de una pugna por el favor; el troceo duplica *the* y pega *of* con *Leopold*.

«Taxes on agricultural products, livestock, and staple goodsbread, beer, and wine-were common enough, although strictly defined as extraordinary taxes, but a tax such as the one Becher proposed was not.» — la novedad del impuesto propuesto medida contra lo habitual; el troceo pega *goods* con *bread*.

«Throughout 1674 and into 1675, the members of the Hofkammer and Commercial Council met in conference on all these proposals; as the meetings dragged on, however, it became clear that the projects would never be imple» — el atasco administrativo como forma de rechazo; la cita se corta al partirse la palabra.

«Becher however apparently regarded his position at the court during this time as uncertain, for he sought patrons elsewhere for his taxation project.» — la búsqueda de mecenas alternativos leída por Smith como síntoma de inseguridad.

«Because they were outside the established court hierarchy (although they sometimes held a court title) and had no status of their own, they relied upon the favor they had with the prince (or even the reputation of that favor) to exercise their authority and to effect» — la posición del proyectista: sin estatus propio, vive del favor o de su apariencia.

«Although the center never completely functioned before he left Vienna in 1677, Becher's 1676 report was designed to inform the emperor about progress on the construction of the buildings, as well as to seek funds for its completion and for hiring workers.» — Smith advierte que el Kunsthaus nunca llegó a funcionar del todo, y que el informe es una petición de fondos.

«This attempt to circumvent the Hofkammer proved impossible, however, because the Hofkammer had to approve the large sums necessary for construction.» — el rodeo administrativo frustrado por la propia mecánica del gasto.

«Becher claimed that the importation of these dyes cost the hereditary lands 100,000 gulden yearly.» — la cifra con que Becher justifica producir tintes en casa, presentada como reclamo suyo.

«Although the emperor had endorsed large sums for the project, they had never been paid out by the Hofkammer, and construction» — el favor imperial sin efecto contable; la cita se corta al cambiar de plana.

«In the opening letter to the emperor, Becher assured Leopold that an eternal reputation was to be gained by patronizing and supporting this project.» — la moneda con que Becher paga por adelantado: reputación eterna.

«In fact, Becher said, that reputation was already under construction, for many men of rank and foreign ambassadors had already seen and admired the few completed buildings of the Kunsthaus.» — el argumento de que la fama ya está en marcha aunque la obra no lo esté.

«He described many of the manufactures to the emperor as "secrets," and he promised the revelation of many more such secrets if this house of invention and manufacture was generously supported.» — el secreto dosificado como forma de cobro anticipado.

«Becher promised that the Kunsthaus would produce a steady stream of curiosities for the emperor's diversion, which would be enhanced through the correspondence to be opened up with learned academies all over Europe.» — la casa de artes ofrecida a la vez como fábrica, gabinete y nodo de correspondencia erudita.

«Thus in this laboratory the truth and use of alchemy will also be demonstrated by means of various processes, such as the ripening oflead into silver, with the result that a centner [50 kilograms] oflead will deliver up 25 to 50 lots» — la promesa alquímica con rendimiento cuantificado; los corchetes son equivalencias de Smith y el troceo pega *of* con *lead*.

«Becher apparently did not consider a simple statement of these rich alchemical processes as sufficient to catch the emperor's eye, for he twice added "nota bene" in his own handwriting in the margin beside this section (figure 20).» — Smith lee las anotaciones marginales del manuscrito como parte del argumento.

«Becher complained that true transmutation in this laboratory was being held up by the interference of other members of the court and the difficulty in finding funds for construction of the director's building.» — la transmutación aplazada por causas administrativas, según el propio Becher.

«In instructions to the chemical advisors of princes, Becher held them responsible for faithfully considering their "lord and patron's final intention."» — el consejero químico obligado a leer la intención última de su señor.

«If the patron's goal consisted in gold and silver making, the advisor must not waste time on other processes, but pursue this goal.» — la regla que el propio Becher formula para los consejeros químicos.

«Becher subverted his own advice, for he knew of the emperor's predilection for alchemy, but instead of pursuing only alchemical processes, he tried to use this interest to further all the commercial and chemical projects to be included in the house.» — Smith señala que Becher incumple su propia regla, y por qué le convenía.

«Although an interest in alchemy on the part of the patron was useful for Becher's ends, the sole concern with gold making could in fact harm them, for Becher had a larger political agenda by which he hoped to draw the prince into the commercial world.» — la afición del mecenas a la alquimia como recurso ambiguo: sirve y estorba.

«Alchemy, in particular, provided a material demonstration of a superior power79 and made intelligible the generation and decay of the visible world by showing these processes to be part of the divine plan.» — la función explicativa de la alquimia en la corte rudolfina, según la lectura que Smith expone; el 79 es la llamada de nota.

«Moreover, it harnessed the power that gave humankind the potential to change the world and, in the process, to redeem itself.» — la alquimia con función redentora además de explicativa.

«Instead of seeking to resolve the contraries into a unified whole, it simply sought to reinforce the symbols of power that preserved the emperor's place as center of the Counter-Reformation church and of the territories of the Holy Roman Empire.» — el giro del ocultismo cortesano de la conciliación a la conservación.

«Alchemical transmutation confirmed the power and fitness of the Habsburg emperor's rule and proved the depth of his piety.» — la función política de la transmutación en la corte leopoldina.

«While Becher's alchemical medallion fits into the court intrigues and the pursuit of patronage at the Viennese court, it can also be seen as the expression of a far deeper strategy through which he sought to equate the manufactured thing with the thing of nature; the productive potential of nature with that of art; the alchemist with the commercial advisor; and, finally, alchemy with commerce.» — la cadena de equivalencias que sostiene el libro entero, enunciada aquí de una vez.

«One of Becher's oldest projects for the laboratory was the production of chemicals for export .as part of his commercial program to bring specie into the empire.» — el laboratorio como fábrica de exportación dentro del programa comercial; el punto suelto antes de *as* es del troceo.

«Becher's chemical laboratory had, however, more potential than simply a practical place in which useful and valuable goods were produced.» — Smith anuncia que el laboratorio vale además como argumento.

«According to Becher's testimony, the Physica Subterranea (1669) was the result of four years of work in the Munich laboratory.» — Smith atribuye la datación al propio Becher.

«A commonplace about alchemy in the seventeenth century stated that even if gold did not result, many fine and useful things were nevertheless discovered while pursuing gold:» — el lugar común que justificaba financiar alquimia aunque fracasara.

«Becher promised Ferdinand Maria that he would, like his father the previous elector, go down in history with the reputation of "Aller-Weisesten" and the name of German Solomon88 for giving patronage to scholars in all areas of learning, but especially in chemistry.» — la dedicatoria como oferta de fama, con el Salomón alemán por título; el 88 es la llamada de nota.

«In the Physica Subterranea, Becher promised not the manufacture of gold but rather knowledge about the nature of "made" gold ("verspricht nicht des Goldes Factur/ sondem des gemachten Goldes Natur").» — el deslinde con que Becher se separa del hacedor de oro sin renunciar al asunto; el troceo trae *sondem* por *sondern*.

«Chemistry was a mechanical art, but it was simultaneously part of the realm of the liberal arts as a part of physics.» — la doble pertenencia de la química, que es lo que la vuelve útil a Becher.

«For Becher, as for most of his contemporaries, chemistry was both an art, learned by work with the hands, and a discipline, learned by the study of books ("die Chymie ist zugleich ein Handwerck/ und zugleich ein Studium").» — Smith subraya que la definición doble era compartida, no una singularidad de Becher.

«Not all practitioners agreed on the cosmic significance of alchemy and chemistry in the seventeenth century.» — Smith consigna el desacuerdo interno del campo antes de exponerlo.

«He stated categorically that chemistry "Non tamen est ars peculiarus, sed medicinae pars" (is not a separate art, but a part of medicine);» — la posición contraria, la de Rolfinck, que reduce la química a rama de la medicina.

«Becher publicly called into question the chemistry of Rolfinck.» — el enfrentamiento público entre las dos posiciones.

«He considered work in the laboratory to be primarily a search for knowledge about the generation, growth, and change that minerals and metals undergo.» — el laboratorio entendido como indagación de la generación, no como taller de oro.

«He called it a "natural history of the metals, how to mature, improve, and transmute them; this is called Studium Mineralogia, Spagyrica or alchemy.» — los tres nombres que Becher da a la misma disciplina.

«For Becher, however, this was just one element of the work in a laboratory, for chemistry and alchemy could extend to all three realms of nature.» — la alquimia extendida a los tres reinos, no solo al mineral.

«He followed other Paracelsian chemists in viewing laboratory work as a search for the principle of creation, generation, and growth in its broadest sense.» — la filiación paracelsiana del programa de laboratorio de Becher.

«Becher supported this view by citing Hippocrates' dictum that death is the absence of heat.» — la autoridad hipocrática puesta al servicio de una teoría de la generación.

«He maintained that all bodies contained their own seeds, which are made from a "fliichtig und fixen materia," a mix of the mercuric and sulfuric principles.» — la semilla interna compuesta de mercurio y azufre, pieza central de la teoría de Becher; el troceo trae *fliichtig* por *flüchtig*.

«Becher set out the principles of the "conception" and "birth" of minerals by impregnation of the earth with the mineral vapors of mineral springs.» — la generación mineral descrita en términos de concepción y parto.

«The entrance of air into the opened pores accounts for the melting of metals when heated.» — la explicación de la fusión por dilatación de poros, dentro de la misma física.

«In this early work, Becher continued to draw parallels between the mineral and vegetable realms, but, more significantly, he appears in this dream of beer brewer turned alchemist to be on the verge of making a connection between alchemy and civic life.» — Smith fecha en este sueño el germen del enlace entre alquimia y vida cívica.

«In this dream, a Liebhaber of alchemy resolves to give up alchemy for beer brewing (fermentation of beer was analogous to metallic transmutation), but he falls asleep and Saturn appears to him in a dream.» — la fermentación de la cerveza como análogo de la transmutación, y Saturno por interlocutor.

«Saturn begins to explain the preparation for the philosophers' stone, but before he can finish, the alchemist is suddenly awakened by his wife.» — el secreto interrumpido: la revelación se corta antes de decir nada útil.

«However, the presence of his wife-perhaps personifying civic life-who had woken him before Saturn could reveal the process for the tincture, caused the lack of success that attended his subsequent alchemical labors.» — Smith propone la lectura alegórica con la reserva de *perhaps*: la vida cívica interrumpe la revelación.

«To the end of his life, he would claim that the chemist was called to his work by God, 102 but his chemical work (and his alchemical allegories) would become increasingly concerned with material production.» — la vocación divina se mantiene en la letra mientras el contenido se desplaza a la producción; el 102 es la llamada de nota.

«Becher began the work with a "natural philosophical" explanation of the words of Genesis, in which he claims that the chemical principles of generation and corruption originated at God's creation of the cosmos.» — la química fundada en una lectura del Génesis.

«Becher set out a theory of subterranean physics that established the principles of coming to be and passing away in the mineral kingdom.» — el objeto de la *Physica Subterranea* dicho en una línea.

«In doing so, he followed Paracelsus and Joan Baptista van Helmont in attempting to supplant the philosophy of Aristotle with a chemical cosmology.» — la cosmología química como sustituto declarado del aristotelismo.

«The elements of Genesiswater, earth, air and spirit-are posited as the basis for allphysis (change) on the terrestrial globe.» — los cuatro elementos del Génesis puestos como base del cambio; el troceo pega *Genesis* con *water* y *all* con *physis*.

«Water and earth form the basic materials of all things in the three great dominions of nature, and different mixtures of these two elements account for the external forms and qualities of material things.» — agua y tierra como únicos materiales básicos, y la mezcla explicando la variedad.

«According to this understanding of the cosmos, art was the imitator of these natural processes.» — el axioma de la imitación aplicado ahora a la química.

«It could speed up or complete the processes of change that occurred in nature.» — el arte no crea de nuevo: acelera y remata lo que la naturaleza empieza.

«Becher called nature an underground laboratory ("unter-Erdisches Laboratorium") that provided the model for art, the above-ground laboratory ("ober-Erdisches Laboratorium").» — el par completo de laboratorios, subterráneo y de superficie, que la ficha traía a medias.

«For Becher, then, work in the laboratory represented a search for the principles of generation, and an attempt to imitate these natural processes by art.» — las dos caras del trabajo de laboratorio: buscar el principio e imitarlo.

«Becher considered this new manner of philosophizing to be a rediscovery of his own era.» — la novedad presentada como recuperación, que es la forma en que Becher hace pasar lo nuevo.

«He explained that his own century was stranger than any other, for many new inventions and discoveries had been made.» — la conciencia de vivir un siglo excepcional.

«The sciences had been renewed, and many different types of philosophizing ("varia Philosophandi genera") had developed.» — la pluralidad de modos de filosofar reconocida por Becher.

«One of the methods rediscovered in this renewal was a manner of philosophizing even older than that of Aristotle.» — la antigüedad reclamada por encima de Aristóteles.

«This was Chymia, articulated first by Hermes, the prince of philosophers, which dealt not in empty words, but in real things; not in chimerical terms or immaterial faculties, but in demonstrated effects and practical causes.» — Hermes como fundador de un modo de filosofar por cosas y no por palabras.

«He considered chemical activity such an important method of philosophizing that he thought it should be taught in a special "Collegium Spagyricum" within a university, where "everything [will] be explained and discussed according to reason and experience in the auditorium as well as in the laboratory.» — la propuesta institucional: aula y laboratorio en la misma enseñanza.

«Only through chemistry could one gain a knowledge both of material objects and of the principles of generation by which tangible, material things could be produced.» — la química reclamada como único saber que junta objeto y principio de producción.

«Becher considered himself unfit to advise on the first four points, but the last two were germane to his "profession [medicine] and vocation [Commercien-Rath]" because they dealt with sustenance of the human population and trade in general.» — la delimitación de competencia con que Becher se autoriza, con los corchetes de Smith.

«Thus, alchemy itself was natural and virtuous because of its capacity to improve the sa/us publici, and, because it sought sustenance, health, and wealth, it could properly be called a part of the practice of healing in both politics and medicine.» — la alquimia inscrita en el arte de curar, política y médica; el troceo trae una barra donde el impreso lleva ele.

«Both the Commercial Referat and the Alchemical Gutachten, then, draw on Becher's own idiosyncratic reading of the dictum "sal us populi suprema lex esto" as the rule of the doctor and commercial advisor to pursue health and the furtherance of human welfare by the creation of material wealth.» — Smith califica de idiosincrática la lectura del adagio, y con eso marca su distancia; el troceo parte *salus*.

«Becher considered the cycle of production and consumption in commerce and alchemy to be the same, and both to result in material increase.» — la identificación que da título al libro, dicha sin rodeos.

«Next to preservation of religion, administration of justice, protection of the lands through sufficient soldiers, good relations with neighbors and foreigners, trade and commerce as well as the populousness and the sufficient sustenance of the subjects are the sole goal and basis of good government.» — el comercio colocado en la lista de los fines del buen gobierno, junto a la religión y la justicia.

«Becher believed that attention must first be directed toward foreign consumption of domestically manufactured goods and then toward domestic consumption.» — el orden de prioridades del programa comercial.

«Becher took pains to establish the fact that consumption of material products actually increased the amount of money in this cycle of production.» — la tesis contraintuitiva que Becher se esfuerza en probar: consumir aumenta el dinero.

«He gave a vivid illustration of the paradoxical nature of this process by relating a story about Queen Elizabeth and the English woolworkers.» — la anécdota inglesa como prueba del mecanismo.

«In time, the artisans had sold so many lengths to the queen, Becher claimed, that they became fearful that she would put a stop to production.» — el nudo de la anécdota: los propios productores temen que se corte la demanda.

«He claimed that Elizabeth had raw wool burned in order to show the merchants of her own country» — la destrucción deliberada de materia prima como demostración económica; la cita se corta al cambiar de renglón.

«Becher explicitly stated that Kleiderordnungen should not limit luxury but rather the consumption of foreign products.» — las leyes suntuarias reorientadas del lujo al origen de la mercancía.

«It would be much better, he said, if everyone were allowed to wear silk clothes that had to be replaced four times a year, so long as the production of the silk and the manufacture of the clothes were domestic manufactures (fol. 18v).» — el lujo fomentado, no restringido, cuando la manufactura es propia.

«Becher's interpretation of this image was not primarily at a religious level, but rather at the mundane and temporal level» — Smith desplaza la lectura de la imagen alquímica de lo religioso a lo temporal.

«Becher sought to legitimate and make understandable the nature of artificial commercial wealth and profit.» — el objetivo del recurso a la alquimia: hacer inteligible y decente el lucro.

«Becher also sought to establish that the function of Verliiger was suitable for those of noble blood, and that trade and commerce were honest sources of artificial wealth» — el oficio de comerciante-empresario declarado compatible con la sangre noble; el troceo trae *Verliiger* por *Verleger*.

«In the same kind oflanguage, Becher sought to show that alchemy too was an honest pursuit within the civic sphere.» — Smith señala que el argumento de la alquimia es el mismo que el del comercio; el troceo pega *of* con *language*.

«Like commerce, this activity would injure no one, benefit the entire community, and was worthy of a prince.» — los tres títulos de honorabilidad que se piden a una actividad para admitirla en la corte.

«Possession of the tincture would free the prince from all need to burden his subjects with heavy taxes.» — la tintura ofrecida como alternativa al impuesto, que es el argumento político de la alquimia.

«Moreover, both the commercial program of manufacturing and alchemy needed the direction of the prince, for merchants and guild craftsmen were as notoriously selfish as alchemists.» — la misma tutela para las dos actividades, y por la misma razón.

«In fact, if everyone had alchemical knowledge, society would completely break down, for it would make individuals independent of one another, and they would no longer be held together by the system of interlocking needs and dependencies that made up a society.» — la independencia individual como amenaza al vínculo social: por eso la alquimia se restringe.

«Moreover, if everyone's time was spent in making gold, no one would attend to the trades necessary for civilized life, such as shoemaking and bread baking.» — el segundo argumento contra la alquimia universal, ahora de división del trabajo.

«As we have seen, Becher wrote the Commercial Referat primarily as an attempt to revive the Commercial Council.» — Smith recuerda el propósito administrativo concreto del escrito.

«In the Commercial Referat, Becher developed the argument that the officials of the Hofkammer were in fact unsuited to be members of the Commercial Council, for a particular "Studium und Erfahrenheit" (discipline and experience) was required by the commercial councillor that was different from that required by a treasury official.» — la competencia distinta reclamada como argumento de exclusión de los rivales.

«He made it clear that the Commercien-Rath needed not only a completely different education, but also a different outlook and mentality from the treasury official.» — no basta otra formación: hace falta otra mentalidad.

«Treasury officials, Becher claimed, did not appreciate the new "inventiones" presented to them by artisans and entrepreneurs, and had no idea of how to make use of them.» — el reproche concreto: no saben qué hacer con lo que los artesanos les traen.

«Thus the treasury official did not encourage invention; indeed, he even hindered it.» — de la indiferencia al estorbo activo.

«Becher here complained that treasury officials had no idea how to build up a network of Kundschaft by which the inventions of artisans could be captured for the common good.» — la red de contactos como competencia técnica que la hacienda no tiene.

«Most important, because of his medical training and his position as commercial advisor (whose central tenets met so fortuitously in the dictum "salus populi suprema lex esto"), Becher promoted not his own interest and welfare, as a merchant or treasury official would have done in the same position, but the common good.» — Smith califica de fortuito el encuentro de los dos oficios en un mismo adagio, y con eso marca su distancia del argumento.

«Although this wealth was "made," or artificial, it was at the same time paradoxically natural, for it was in the fires of the kitchen, the place of natural generation and sustenance, that this wealth was produced.» — la paradoja que Becher explota: lo fabricado es natural porque nace del fuego de la cocina.

«The ruler who possessed this secret of material increase need never face his subjects' displeasure, wrath, or rebellion.» — la promesa política de la tintura: rentas sin descontento.

«The noble properties-land, fortifications, treasure chests, jewels, and pearls-could thus not be considered anything but dead when compared with the regenerative and creative capacity of the tincture.» — el patrimonio nobiliario declarado muerto frente a lo que se regenera.

«Commerce, like alchemy, was a movable wealth that did not depend on land or the fruits of that land.» — la movilidad como rasgo común de comercio y alquimia.

«He attempted to draw the prince and the entire realm of government into the world of money wealth and commercial transaction.» — el alcance del proyecto: no solo el príncipe, el gobierno entero.

«The proper activity of government and the prince was to be the creation of artificial wealth through the arts and inventions of manufacture and the movements of commerce.» — la redefinición de la tarea de gobernar en términos de producción.

«In this drawing, Mercury, who is recognizable by the wings on his helmet and sandals, stands regnant on a mountain, a spring gushing beneath him.» — la descripción del emblema mercurial que Becher envía al emperador.

«Flanking him, on rocks one level lower around which the springwater flows, kneel a king and queen, arms outstretched, palms upturned, receptive of divine grace.» — el rey y la reina en posición de recibir, no de mandar, dentro del emblema.

«In explaining the "Kunst und Wissenschafft" of trade, Becher used the image of Mercury as an emblem to make clear his explanation.» — el emblema empleado como instrumento didáctico ante la corte.

«The wings on his sandals were symbols for "praxis," one of which corresponded to freedom of trade, and the other to the capital needed for trade.» — la lectura de las alas de las sandalias como práctica desdoblada en libertad y capital.

«The successful merchant must pay heed to these four components of trade, for they made up the whole science and art of commerce.» — los cuatro componentes que cierran el emblema en una doctrina del comercio.

«The Habsburg emperor, for whom Becher had reproduced this carefully constructed emblem, would have been attuned to all the religious and alchemical levels of imagery.» — Smith supone en el destinatario la competencia para leer los tres niveles del emblema.

«If, on the contrary, commerce was not controlled by the prince, the merchant would destroy society completely with his greedy self-interest.» — el reverso del argumento: sin tutela, el comercio destruye.

«It is possible, however, to draw a parallel between his history and Becher's political program, exemplified by his submission of the commercial and alchemical reports at the same time.» — Smith propone el paralelo con la cautela de *it is possible*.

«Becher modeled his productive merchant on the Verliiger, who not only provided a model of virtuous wealth-getting for the society, but even held the productive society in its cycle of sustenance.» — el mercader-empresario como figura virtuosa y como eje del ciclo; el troceo trae *Verliiger* por *Verleger*.

«Becher had promised in the Physica Subterranea to publish a companion volume of practice (keeping to the principle of Theoria cum Praxi) and had even printed the contents of the future volume in the 1669 edition of the Physica Subterranea, but he never finished this second volume.» — el volumen de práctica anunciado con índice y nunca escrito: Smith lo consigna como falta.

«Becher believed this experiment proved metals could be generated out of the earths (principles) that were contained in the clay (sulfurous/male) and linseed oil» — el par macho-hembra de los principios en el experimento de la arcilla y el aceite de linaza.

«Leibniz, who saw Becher perform the test before the elector of Mainz in 1669 on his way to Holland to obtain a colony, reported to several correspondents that this experiment was genuine and illustrated the genesis of metals» — Leibniz como testigo presencial que da el experimento por genuino, según Smith.

«The laws of the Holy Roman Empire defined gold by its fluidity, weight, malleability, color, fixity, and sound on hammering, and thus a transmutation achieving these accidental properties must indicate gold» — la definición legal del oro por sus accidentes, que hacía jurídicamente concluyente la transmutación.

«This was not, Becher claimed, a simple extraction of alluvial gold from sand, but rather a maturing of gold out of silver by heating together sand and silver.» — el deslinde que Becher hace de su propio proceso frente al lavado de arenas.

«However, this process was not a simple or common process of refining by separation or extraction of the metal already present in the sand.» — Smith repite el deslinde sin suscribirlo ni desmentirlo.

«Becher compared the useful arts invented by alchemy to the evils, not so much invented as worn out by the men of the Kammer such as "Contribution, impost, excise taxes, interest, toll, usury, tax and so on.» — la alquimia opuesta a la fiscalidad como dos maneras de sacar dinero.

«Thus Becher's charge that the officials of the treasury were educated only in war and taxation was not without foundation.» — Smith concede aquí razón al reproche de Becher, con litote.

«Becher might here have substituted the word "manufacture" or "commerce" for "alchemy."» — Smith señala la intercambiabilidad de los términos en el argumento de Becher, que es la tesis del libro.

«Unfortunately, Becher claimed, "money rules the world and no government can exist without it" ("Geld regiret die Welt/ ohne welches kein Regiment bestehen kan"); thus, in an age of money, it would be better for every prince to patronize alchemy rather than to employ harmful bureaucrats (who did not understand material wealth and its creation).» — la conclusión práctica: en un siglo de dinero, más vale un alquimista que un burócrata.

«Becher asserted blithely that it was obvious that only alchemy could have created the fabulous wealth of Solomon.» — Smith marca la ligereza del aserto con el adverbio.

«Becher believed that this misconception about the origin of Solomon's wealth had arisen because Solomon hid the source of his wealth from neighboring princes.» — el secreto invocado para explicar por qué la fuente no consta.

«Becher added that even if the alchemist was not able to aid his neighbor, at least he did no harm to anyone but himself, a trait in stark contrast to those possessed by the men of the treasury.» — la defensa mínima de la alquimia: el fracaso solo cuesta al que lo intenta.

«Becher advocated here that a new sort of person should assist the prince in financing his court and administration, a person who had more in common with a hermetic philosopher than with a man of the Kammer.» — el filósofo hermético propuesto como perfil de oficial de hacienda.

«That this philosopher could not possibly be Aristotelian Becher had made clear when he pronounced that the man of the schools could not even get enough money together for a meal.» — el criterio de exclusión sigue siendo el mismo: lo que no produce, no vale.

«The treasury official had a fundamentally mistaken approach to the sources of revenue for the state; he needed knowledge not about taxation and the traditional sources of cameral income, but instead about the principles of generation and about material things and their production by art.» — la formación del hacendista redefinida como filosofía natural.

«Alchemy stood for the material production and increase that could be brought about by the invention and understanding of the arts of manufacture.» — Smith enuncia qué representa la alquimia dentro del argumento de Becher.

«The person most qualified to teach the prince about the new sources of income was he who understood the principles of wealth generation personified in the image of Mercury as agent of the philosophers, inventor of the arts, and patron of the merchants.» — las tres funciones de Mercurio reunidas en el perfil del consejero ideal.

«Alchemy could convey an appreciation of this productive capacity, for it was an art that imitated nature directly, and its theory provided knowledge about the generation and growth of all things.» — la alquimia como pedagogía de la capacidad productiva, teórica y práctica a la vez.

«The man who knew how to "philosophize chemically" (Chymisch zu philosophiren) dealt in material things and achieved tangible effects.» — el criterio de verdad desplazado al efecto tangible.

«Just as gold would be produced through a corruption and regeneration of its seeds in the tincture, so artificial wealth would be generated by the consumption of manufactured goods in commercial transactions.» — la analogía exacta entre transmutación y comercio: el consumo hace en la economía lo que la corrupción en el crisol.

«He would attain the "Real-Weisheit" of Erhard Weigel that came through the practice of the arts and could produce the material wealth and increase capable of reforming the world.» — Smith cierra el círculo con Weigel: el saber de las cosas como programa de reforma.

«By unifying the realms of chemistry and commerce, Becher sought not only to draw the landed court world into the commercial republic but, more significantly, to draw practice and productive knowledge into the realm of the statethat is, the praxis of political life.» — el fin último del proyecto según Smith: llevar el saber productivo al Estado; el troceo pega *state* con *that*.

«The major part of the Chymischer Gliicks-Hafen consists of recipes and processes Becher claimed he had collected during his life from different laboratories and chemists.» — el contenido de la obra última de Becher, presentada como cosecha de toda una vida; el troceo trae *Gliicks* por *Glücks*.

«Understanding in any science, Becher stated, rested upon comprehension of its "Principia" and "Axiomata," which arose out of"Observationen" and "Experimenten."» — la cadena epistemológica de Becher, de la observación al axioma; el troceo pega *of* con la comilla.

«These in turn, Becher claimed, had their origin in "Combinationen" and "Concordantien."» — el último eslabón de esa cadena, que da nombre al método de su libro.

«Further, the medallion was evidence of a material transmutation that confirmed the truth and efficacy of the theories of consumption and regeneration that formed the basis for Becher's alchemy.» — la medalla como prueba material de una teoría que también es económica.

«This exchange value would, Becher believed, in the real world save the German Empire and Habsburg lands from decay and destruction.» — el alcance que Becher atribuía a su propuesta, enunciado por Smith como creencia suya.

«In this integration, however, the artisanal workshop was transformed, thus taking the sphere of Becher's reform beyond the simple production of goods to encompass as well the production of knowledge.» — el taller integrado deja de producir solo cosas y pasa a producir saber.

«The laboratory of Khunradt, where the alchemist prayed for divine revelation (figure 24), and the laboratory as a parable of greed (figure 25) and vain ambition (figure 26) gave way in Becher's work to the laboratory as the locus of practice, where the underground workshop of nature was imitated by ars to produce knowledge about nature.» — Smith fecha en Becher el paso del laboratorio-oratorio al laboratorio-taller.

«The labor that the chemist undertook in the laboratory yielded many useful and profitable processes and materials.» — el rendimiento colateral del trabajo químico, aunque falte el oro.

«The laboratories of Becher's Kunst- und Werckhaus formed the heart of his ambitious plan to reform revenue collection in the Habsburg lands by shifting the source of wealth to the practice of commerce and the manufacture of goods.» — el laboratorio como corazón de una reforma fiscal, no como curiosidad.

«In the last decade of his life Becher formulated a specific plan for an alchemical laboratory that shows with clarity how the activity of the laboratory and workshop figured at several different levels in his plan of reform.» — el plan tardío que Smith usa como documento central del interludio.

«Becher's plan for the alchemical laboratory sets out a vision of the production of useful materials that reflected the order of productive town society.» — el laboratorio calcado del orden de la ciudad gremial.

«To prevent such chaos, Becher set forth a detailed plan to order the laboratory and keep its secrets.» — orden y secreto como los dos fines del reglamento.

«In Becher's ideal laboratory the spaces and workers were separated according to the processes and operations of the great work.» — la división del espacio calcada de la división de la obra.

«Becher separated human society into three estates-peasants, artisans, merchants-that formed an interlocking community of unceasing activity and production, all overseen by the prince.» — el modelo social de referencia antes de la comparación con el laboratorio.

«But in the laboratory the society of orders became a hierarchy of owners and laborers, in which the workers had control neither over their labor nor their product.» — Smith señala la diferencia decisiva: en el laboratorio la comunidad se vuelve jerarquía de propietarios y peones.

«The aim of the laboratory was the great work of alchemy: the ennoblement of base natural materials by art into noble and useful objects, such as gold, medicaments, and curiosities.» — la gran obra redefinida para incluir medicamentos y curiosidades junto al oro.

«Becher's plan shows clearly how the natural philosopher, as the trusted counsel or of the prince, both controlled the rude practitioners beneath him and reduced them to workers with neither independent skills nor knowledge.» — el filósofo natural desposeyendo de saber al que trabaja con las manos; el troceo parte *counselor*.

«The prince, at the center of the laboratory, although outside the community of workers, determined the existence of the laboratory and its order.» — el príncipe en el centro y fuera a la vez, como en el modelo social.

«These were natural philosophers-"Naturktindiger"-who had long experience in "Chymicis," and who had performed operations in the laboratory themselves.» — el requisito de haber trabajado con las manos, exigido a quien va a mandar; el troceo trae *Naturktindiger* por *Naturkündiger*.

«Clearly these natural philosophical counselors of the laboratory must be men of theory in order to give authority to their counsel in their dealings with the court.» — la teoría exigida no por el trabajo sino por el trato con la corte.

«Being men of theory, however, they would be able to order the babble of the crowd, tame it, and draw out what was useful from it.» — la función del teórico: domesticar el rumor de recetas y quedarse con lo útil.

«In general they should accept the principle that all recipe sellers were thieves, for if the sellers' processes were successful in making gold, they would not desire to sell them.» — la regla práctica de desconfianza, con su razonamiento económico.

«The Consilarius must carefully examine the life of the process seller, for if the seller is not virtuous, success in alchemy was impossible.» — la vida moral del vendedor como criterio técnico de evaluación del proceso.

«Indeed, philosophers in past ages expressly said that the secrets of alchemy were to be found written down, but in such a way that they could only be understood by the learned.» — el secreto no está oculto sino cifrado: doctrina que Becher recoge de la tradición.

«Becher believed some true processes could be understood literally and some old manuscripts could shed great light on the chemical work, so the counselor in examining printed processes could not always assume that "ubi videris Recipe, cogita quod significet Decipe" (where you see recipe [literally, receive], think, for it may signify deceive).» — la máxima del engaño acotada por el propio Becher: no todo texto miente.

«All processes brought to the laboratory could then be compared with this list of operations in order to determine whether they conformed to the most basic characteristics of a true process.» — la lista de operaciones como criterio mecánico para cribar recetas.

«Thus the counselors should listen to all but trust no one.» — la regla de trato con los vendedores de secretos, en una línea.

«The counselors should bind the petitioners arriving at their laboratory by a civil contract and hold them as long in the laboratory as their processes seem to warrant, in order to get as much useful information out of them as possible.» — el contrato usado para retener al informante y exprimirle el saber.

«The form of the contract was of great importance, and Becher included in the laboratory plans a model contract that he had made with the counts of Potting in 1672 in which he obligated himself to separate a ducat of gold from a mark of silver weekly, with no loss of silver.» — el contrato modelo con su rendimiento comprometido por escrito.

«Becher promised to teach the process to the counts in return for 120 silver marks of capital each quarter and a third of the gold ducats produced.» — los términos de la enseñanza del secreto: capital periódico y participación en el producto.

«In this way, Becher transported the characteristic document of commercial society-the contract-into the workshop.» — Smith nombra la operación: el documento del comercio entrando en el taller alquímico.

«These learned men of theory should work in a space containing "a good alchemicallibiary," in which they keep the consilia and contracts, together with the whole collection of recipes, and the finished products and reports of all the processes worked.» — el archivo del laboratorio: biblioteca, contratos, recetas, productos e informes juntos; el troceo pega *alchemical* con *library* y la corrompe.

«The dispensator should note in what circumstances the trial was made and how long it took.» — la exigencia de registro que Smith subraya como práctica de laboratorio.

«When the trial comes to an end, he must retain the material obtained, label it, s~t it aside with its relevant process, and write a report of the trial to be given to the counselors.» — el protocolo de cierre de un ensayo, con etiqueta e informe; el troceo trae *s~t* por *set*.

«The real task of this second class of worker, as its title suggests, was to divide each process into its proper operations and delegate it to the different types of laborers.» — la división del proceso como función específica de un escalón de la jerarquía.

«Becher divided all processes into three main operations according to the mechanical action applied to the raw materials.» — la clasificación por acción mecánica, no por finalidad.

«These three sets of operations corresponded loosely to the natural processes of earth, water, and fire.» — la correspondencia con los elementos, que Smith califica de laxa.

«The third chamber of the laboratory was the "Triturir-Cammer," the threshing/grinding room, in which materials were pulverized and made into sludge.» — la cámara de trituración con su nombre alemán y su función.

«This space would enclose a spring or a source of running water, a small mill that would run a grinding mill (Trituratorium), a stamp mill (Excussorium), and a shaker (Conquassatorium).» — el equipamiento con sus nombres latinos, que es lo que vuelve reconocible el laboratorio como taller.

«Becher believed if the laborers were not given raw materials and could not know of the other operations, they would have no notion of how they produced any given material.» — el secreto garantizado por la fragmentación del trabajo, no por el juramento.

«Even if at the end of the entire operation, the laborers of the fire produced gold and silver, they would have no idea how it had been done.» — el caso límite: quien hace el oro no sabe que lo hizo.

«Organized in this manner, Becher believed the whole work would proceed "philosophically": the counselor engrossed in his studies, the dispensator in his division of labor and materials, and the laborers in their unthinking toil.» — el laboratorio filosófico definido por que nadie más que el consejero piense.

«Becher's laboratory contrasts sharply both with earlier notions of the alchemist's place of work and the traditional structure of the guild workshop, although it retains the aim of both these places: the production of valuable goods from raw material by the Handwerk of human art.» — lo nuevo está en la organización, no en el fin.

«Keeping the secrets of the workshop has continued as a primary goal, but Becher has changed the way in which this is achieved from control of knowledge by the workers to its alienation from them.» — el hallazgo de Smith en este capítulo: el secreto pasa de guardarse a arrebatarse.

«The counselor of the laboratory, whom Becher calls a natural philosopher, controls the secrets of productive knowledge, and puts them wholly at the service of the prince.» — el saber concentrado en el filósofo natural y entregado íntegro al príncipe.

«Becher has here created a fig~re, who, much like himself, acts as an intermediary between the prince and the holders of productive knowledge, simultaneously distancing himself from both the charlatans who crowd the doors of the laboratory and the laborers who work within it.» — el consejero del plan es un autorretrato, y su doble distancia lo define; el troceo trae *fig~re* por *figure*.

«Becher linked the form of his Kunsthaus to the notion of industria as part of his attempt to integrate the court and commercial worlds.» — la industria como bisagra entre los dos mundos.

«For Becher, this word connoted not industrial manufacture but civic industriousness and all that it involved.» — Smith desactiva el anacronismo: *industria* no significaba aún industria.

«While it is tempting to draw a linear connection between Becher's plan and the manufacturing industries of later centuries, it is worthwhile to pay close attention to his use of the word industria.» — la advertencia metodológica contra la lectura teleológica.

«If one takes a sufficiently narrow sighting of this idea, it can be slotted into a modem understanding, but when the scope is broadened, we find that something as mundane as a chemical industry is occurring in a space as alien as an alchemical laboratory.» — la anomalía que el libro no quiere disolver: industria química en un laboratorio alquímico; el troceo trae *modem* por *modern*.

«The prince's aim in founding a laboratory must be to enable him to exercise the traditional princely function as protector of his subjects.» — el laboratorio justificado por un deber antiguo, no por una ambición nueva.

«Such extraordinary means of income could legitimately only be found in the alchemical laboratory, for it was there that art demonstrated the regenerative capacity of nature, and the alchemist learned how to harness and direct this regenerative capacity.» — el laboratorio como único lugar legítimo del ingreso extraordinario.

«Becher here reiterates that the movable wealth supplied by alchemy is better than land, for even the natural "Landgi.iter" and "Fri.ichte" of great lords do not have the capacity for generation and multiplication of alchemical processes.» — la tierra vencida en su propio terreno, el de la fecundidad; el troceo trae *Landgi.iter* y *Fri.ichte* por *Landgüter* y *Früchte*.

«Moreover, real property, as well as creating dynastic disharmony and a burdensome and ultimately lethal system of taxes, cannot be carried into war or exile.» — el argumento de la portabilidad, que en Becher siempre vuelve.

«Thus "out of the industria of chemistry itself" would come the means for the laboratory project.» — el laboratorio financiado por lo que él mismo produce.

«In times when money was short and expenses great, Becher claimed, extraordinary income could be provided by the laboratory.» — la oferta en su forma más simple, marcada por Smith como reclamo.

«In this proposal, however, the means would not be supplied by alchemy, but through industry, which would in turn produce the means to pursue alchemy.» — Smith señala la inversión del orden: la manufactura paga la alquimia, no al revés.

«Not only would it allow him reputation, diversion, and pleasure, but would stabilize his power by removing the burden of taxation from his subjects, thus quieting this most dangerous of enemies.» — el súbdito como el enemigo más peligroso, y el ingreso extraordinario como manera de apaciguarlo.

«They both gave a high return on the funds invested, and provided a means of income entirely at the disposal of the noble lord that secured his rule.» — lo que alquimia e industria tienen en común para el señor: rendimiento y disponibilidad.

«Becher's industria had a moral and social significance as well, for it characterized the busy, productive cycle of sustenance in Becher's town model of human society.» — la industria como virtud cívica antes que como categoría económica.

«The alchemist must be experienced in the active political life and in civil prudence, which for Becher meant understanding how to live in a "biirgerlich[e] Gesellschaft" (civil society),48 and practicing a virtuous active life.» — al alquimista se le exige prudencia civil, no solo pericia; el troceo trae *biirgerlich* por *bürgerlich* y el 48 es la llamada de nota.

«The final goal of a civic society was "to be protected and served" ("beschiizt und bedient zu seyn").» — el fin de la sociedad civil dicho en dos verbos; el troceo trae *beschiizt* por *beschützt*.

«As is clear from the Alchemical Gutachten, Becher claimed the alchemist should take part in the civil society and serve the other estates, as the peasants, artisans, and merchants served and protected one another.» — el alquimista incorporado al ciclo de servicios mutuos de los estamentos.

«The traditional sphere of the noble ruler, once external to civic industry, must come to encompass and direct the power of Handwerk and the virtue that can be produced by it.» — el príncipe llamado a absorber la industria cívica y la virtud que produce.

«But industria also connoted the industria, or Fleij3, practiced in the laboratory by the dispensator in his diligent, assiduous, and purposeful delegation of tasks and materials, and by the laborers in the repetition of their operations.» — el segundo sentido del término, ya dentro del laboratorio; el troceo trae *Fleij3* por *Fleiß*.

«It could also mean the accumulation of wealth by the industriousness of the merchant-Verliiger, whose activities Becher considered a model both for princes and merchants.» — el tercer sentido, el del mercader-empresario como modelo para el príncipe.

«Becher's use of industria thus implied both the busy cycle of sustenance, as well as the Verliiger and his manufacture.» — Smith reúne los sentidos del término en uno solo.

«Becher's reform of court revenue proposed to make the prince's reputation and power dependent on this industria that simultaneously combined the "manual work" of the artisan with the "manufacture" of the Verliiger.» — la reputación del príncipe hecha dependiente del trabajo manual y de la manufactura.

«Becher has transformed the great work of the Paracelsian alchemical laboratory as a microcosm of human salvation into a model of civic negotia and manufacture.» — la formulación más neta del desplazamiento que estudia el libro.

«The alchemist must no longer be infused with divine powers but with the mundane virtue of action in the civil society.» — la virtud del alquimista secularizada en virtud cívica.

«Salvation, so far as Becher considered it, was to come in the form of material increase and to be accomplished by a civic industry of manufactures directed by the prince.» — la salvación convertida en aumento material bajo dirección del príncipe.

«The previous chapter noted that Becher's alchemical work, Chymischer Gliicks-Hafen, took the name of the Leipzig lottery because both activities signified to Becher honest and ingenious means of increasing the flow of revenue into the treasury.» — alquimia y lotería bajo un mismo nombre y una misma función fiscal; el troceo trae *Gliicks* por *Glücks*.

«Long before Becher's elaboration of this safe haven of alchemy and commerce, Marcellus Palingenius, Becher's sixteenth-century poet-guide and teacher, had equated virtue and possession of the philosophers' stone.» — Smith devuelve la equivalencia a su fuente poética del siglo XVI.

«Palingenius had said that a rich man is not one who possesses real property but one who is virtuous, for this man can carry his wealth with him wherever he goes, as the man of real property cannot.» — la portabilidad de la virtud como criterio de riqueza, que Becher heredará.

«Paradoxically, however, from this game of risk and gambling would come stability, for the prince who staged the lottery could subdue fortune.» — la lotería como manera de someter la fortuna, no de someterse a ella.

«Although Becher's own rise to favor may have been made possible by the whims of fortuna (or Providence), he helped to institute a concept of rationality that depended on prudent calculation and careful measurement of potential.» — Smith reconoce el papel del azar en la carrera de Becher y le atribuye a la vez una contribución al cálculo racional.

«In the same way, Becher's belief in the possibility of alchemical transmutation provided a bridge to what we believe to be the more "rational" practices of commercial manufacture and investment.» — la alquimia como puente hacia lo que hoy llamamos racional, con las comillas puestas por Smith.

«make clear to the prince that by understanding and controlling the forces of nature, such as generation, creation, and material production-forces understood by the "Rea/-Weisheit" of the alchemist, mechanic, and artisan-the prince could overcome the uncertain returns to his treasury by harnessing the very sources of the creation of wealth.» — el cierre del interludio: alquimista, mecánico y artesano comparten un saber que el príncipe debe capturar; el troceo trae una barra donde el impreso lleva ele.

«Although immersed in the artifice of the baroque court, these men usually came to court from (or identified themselves primarily with) the republic of letters and they all had an interest in the new philosophy.» — la doble pertenencia de los cortesanos sabios del capítulo quinto.

«Historians usually do not speak of Leibniz as inhabiting the same world as Becher, but an examination of Leibniz's interactions with Becher reveals that despite his more conventional learned credentials, Leibniz was fascinated, even obsessed, by Becher's activities, and saw no boundary between his own sphere and that of Becher.» — Smith corrige aquí a la historiografía: para Leibniz no había frontera con el mundo de Becher.

«Their understanding of the world and their actions based upon that understanding helped shape a new notion of rationality, which, ironically, did much to relegate a large portion of their own work to a space outside the boundaries of that new rationality.» — la ironía que estructura el capítulo: contribuyeron a una racionalidad que después los expulsó.

«Phosphorus promised something more than noble diversion, for it was produced from human urine that was distilled, crystallized, and fired in a retort.» — la materia y el procedimiento del fósforo, que es lo que lo hacía interesante más allá del espectáculo.

«Leibniz believed further that the cold fire shed important light on the principles of chemistry because he believed it did not originate in the mercurial principle, but in the sulfurous one.» — Leibniz leyendo el fósforo dentro de la doctrina de los principios.

«According to alchemical theory, the human body was the microcosm of the natural cosmos, and, as the natural distillate of the human body, urine held an important place in medicine.» — la orina justificada como materia por la doctrina del microcosmos.

«Kunckel, another player in this drama, scornfully called him "a wrecked merchant who had applied himself to medicine," and a "Doctor Teutonicus" because he knew no Latin.» — el desprecio por el que no sabe latín, en boca de un rival.

«Kunckel recounts that he wrote to Crafft about his intention to offer Brand money for his secret, and Crafft immediately went to Hamburg and promised Brand two hundred Reichsthaler if he said nothing to Kunckel.» — la carrera por el secreto contada desde el bando perdedor.

«Brand claimed to be unable to reproduce his first success, and Kunckel was thus unable to learn Brand's process until later, when Brand came to him, claiming to be disgusted with Crafft and ready to offer his secret to a new buyer.» — la irrepetibilidad usada como táctica de negociación, según la reconstrucción de Smith.

«Becher set off for Holland, and when he still had not returned to Vienna to make his report to the emperor by January 1678, the Hofkammer accused him of taking bribes and general incompetence.» — la acusación formal que precipita el final de la carrera vienesa.

«This company had been granted a building and child labor from the orphanage by the city of Haarlem in order to set up and operate a winding instrument, invented by Becher, that wound spools of raw silk.» — Smith consigna el trabajo infantil del orfanato como parte de la dotación de la empresa.

«Becher turned to the extraction of gold from sand on the coast near Arnhem and Scheveningen.» — el proyecto holandés de la arena, que da pie al episodio del capítulo.

«He wrote to Leibniz requesting a recommendation for a position with the Dutch East India Company where he could use his skills of smelting and assaying.» — Brand negociando su propio empleo mientras dos cortes se lo disputan.

«It was Crafft who kept Leibniz abreast of Becher's doings throughout the 1670s.» — Smith identifica a Crafft como la fuente de información de Leibniz sobre Becher.

«Leibniz had first become acquainted with Crafft at the court of the elector in Mainz between 1667 and 1671, when Leibniz was advising on judicial reform and Crafft was trade advisor,» — el origen de esa relación en la corte de Maguncia.

«The fact that Becher stood so highly in the emperor's favor seems to have rankled with Crafft, but at the same time he saw an opportunity to exploit Becher's situation at the imperial court to his own advantage.» — el resentimiento y el cálculo conviviendo en el mismo informante.

«When Leibniz obtained information (apparently from Crafft) that Becher's process for extracting gold from sand had succeeded in the small-scale trial, he believed he might be able to repeat it for his patron:» — Leibniz dispuesto a reproducir para su mecenas el proceso de un rival.

«Leibniz expressly told Crafft, who was interceding with the bishop on his behalf, not to let Becher know of his intentions.» — el secreto guardado entre pares de la república de las letras.

«Becher could indeed influence Leibniz's fate at the Viennese court, where Leibniz sought the position of Reichshofrat.» — Smith explica el interés de Leibniz por lo que hacía Becher: los dos competían por el mismo terreno.

«To Christiaan Huygens, however, Leibniz expressed himself a little more skeptically about what he knew of the process.» — Smith señala que el grado de escepticismo de Leibniz variaba según el destinatario.

«Late in 1679, Becher disappeared from view, and Leibniz sought information in vain.» — la desaparición de Becher y el corte de la información.

«Leibniz continued to seek informers about Becher's activities in England, 32 and in July 1680 Christian Philipp wrote to Leibniz that he had news from England that Becher finally "begins to lose all his credit.» — el crédito de Becher desmoronándose en Inglaterra, según los informes que Leibniz recibía; el 32 es la llamada de nota.

«As we can see, Leibniz was fascinated by Becher, even asking one of his correspondents in code for news of Becher.» — el uso de cifra para preguntar por un rival como medida de la obsesión.

«The phosphorous episode, as well as Leibniz's continuing interest in Becher, illustrates clearly that Leibniz and Becher, among others, competed with each other.» — la competencia como marco del episodio, no como anécdota.

«They were rivals both for the artisan, Henning Brand, who made phosphorus, for his knowledge, and for favor at their respective courts.» — la doble rivalidad: por el artesano y por el favor.

«The competition required a careful strategy and no small artifice.» — Smith no separa el artificio del trabajo intelectual de estos hombres.

«Leibniz began by deliberating on how he might best bring his schemes-of a commercial kind-quickly to the emperor's notice.» — Leibniz haciendo exactamente lo mismo que Becher: llevar proyectos comerciales al emperador.

«First, a noble mediator was needed at the Viennese court; one who "has a great light and outstanding judicium, who can draw out exact infomation from all things, and who is happy to grant audiences.» — el perfil del mediador cortesano, requisito previo de cualquier proyecto; el troceo trae *infomation* por *information*.

«Homigk should caution the margrave, however, that it would not be possible to reveal the particulars of the project until it was clear that it would be carried out swiftly and directly through the emperor.» — el secreto retenido como garantía, la misma técnica que Becher usaba.

«Leibniz instructed von Homigk to make clear his belief that his conversation with the "certain person" must be regarded as "the finger of God" ("eine sonderbare schickung Gottes"), which would bring honor and gratitude to all those concerned with it.» — la providencia invocada como argumento de venta.

«Leibniz believed they should "first sound out" the count to test his suitability for this project.» — el sondeo previo como parte del método.

«Leibniz instructed Crafft to lead the margrave into a discussion of the scheme, and made clear how he should comport himself in this conversation.» — la conversación cortesana guionizada por escrito.

«Leibniz boldly concluded that it would be better to arrange a coincidental meeting between Crafft and the margrave to hasten the business.» — el encuentro casual fabricado, que Smith consigna con el adverbio puesto.

«Leibniz emphasized that Crafft and von Homigk should make clear that only in return for "wiircklichen employ und commission" (true employment and commission) would he investigate the entire German manufacture» — el saber condicionado al empleo, igual que en Becher; el troceo trae *wiircklichen* por *würcklichen*.

«Leibniz ended the instruction to Crafft by setting out the code they will use: d for the emperor, v for Hermann von Baden, a for Potting, c for Abele (an imperial minister), b for Homigk, I for France, g for Spain, and the letters of the alphabet corresponding to a key that spelled out "labyrinthuscdefgkmopqwxz.» — la clave completa que Smith reproduce, y que documenta la clandestinidad del trato.

«Perhaps if Becher had still been at the imperial court in 1680, Leibniz would have approached him in his favor-seeking, but the rivalry between them would have made such an attempt risky for Leibniz, for Becher continued to stand in high credit with the emperor.» — la conjetura de Smith sobre lo que Leibniz habría hecho, y el dato firme del crédito de Becher.

«However, his words could not be relied upon, and he was too much given to "Schriftstellerei" (writing books).» — el juicio de época sobre Becher: demasiada pluma y poca palabra fiable.

«Leibniz could well have been jealous of the wielder of such artifice and the recipient of such favor, but Leibniz's interest in Becher went beyond competition and jealousy.» — Smith descarta la envidia como explicación suficiente del interés de Leibniz.

«He was of the opinion that Becher knew much, although perhaps more from artisans than through his own abilities.» — el juicio de Leibniz, que reconoce el saber y le discute el origen.

«He drew his knowledge from others and he had a terrible biting wit which drove both friends and patrons away.» — el retrato de Becher que sale de sus contemporáneos, con el defecto de carácter incluido.

«True to form, Robert Hooke claimed that part of Becher's design merely imitated a pendulum clock that he had displayed at a meeting of the Society at Arundel House long before.» — la reclamación de prioridad de Hooke, que Smith presenta como conducta habitual suya.

«Robert Hooke's diary entry for 28 February 1679/80 mentions that he missed Becher (Becker) while visiting at an acquaintance's house.» — el rastro documental del paso de Becher por Londres, con la grafía alterna del apellido.

«He praised his own gift of invention, and considered it to be the last bit of sustenance left to him after his enemies caused his exile and ruin.» — el don de inventar como último patrimonio, en el Becher del destierro.

«Becher compared himself with "his greatest enemy," Hofkammer President Georg Ludwig von Sinzendorf, who had fallen from favor and position in 1680.» — la comparación con el enemigo caído como argumento de superioridad.

«Such a typical cameral official had no gift of invention with which to pick himself up again.» — la invención como recurso que distingue al proyectista del funcionario.

«The president's personal lack of invention was also reflected in his public persona, for in the affairs of the Hofkammer, Sinzendorf, like other cameral officials, had no imagination or invention with which to further the common good.» — el defecto privado leído como defecto público.

«Invention was precisely the trait that the Stoic and the man of chemistry and commerce possessed but that the man of the treasury decidedly lacked.» — Smith reúne estoico, químico y comerciante bajo un mismo rasgo.

«Becher began the Niirrische Weiszheit with projects and inventions that appeared impossible or foolish, but proved themselves in practice to be useful and wise.» — el plan del libro último: rehabilitar lo que pasaba por necio; el troceo trae *Niirrische* por *Närrische*.

«His list commenced with the discovery of the magnet, the sailing trips that made known the New World, and Prince Rupert's beaver trapping company, but he passed quickly on to the technical inventions that made up the remaining forty-eight examples of foolish wisdom.» — la lista con su cuenta exacta y su mezcla de descubrimientos y máquinas.

«Becher made clear that these inventions failed not from any problem inherent in the scheme itself, even though "they were held by the common man to be foolish and thoughtlessly proposed.» — el fracaso desplazado del proyecto a su ejecución.

«More knowledgeable men would realize that these projects were not intrinsically foolish but that they had not been competently carried out or failed because of other external circumstances.» — la defensa de los proyectos fallidos por causas externas, que es también la defensa de su autor.

«Becher and Leibniz took up this challenge, eagerly seeking out artisans and attempting to induce them to "discover themselves," thereby betraying not only their techniques, but also the implicit knowledge that allowed them to manipulate nature by those techniques.» — Smith distingue la técnica del saber implícito que la sostiene, y señala que lo buscado era lo segundo.

«For Cicero, invention had meant finding suitable subject matter and arguments for one's oration, but by the sixteenth century, engineer/artisans, wanting to emphasize their learned credentials as well as their ability to create, transferred the notion of invention from the sphere of rhetoric to that of material things.» — el traslado del término *invención* de la retórica a las cosas, obra de los propios artesanos-ingenieros.

«Leibniz had watched his rival Becher's search closely and had kept his spies and correspondents alert for evidence of Becher's success.» — la vigilancia mutua como forma normal de la relación entre proyectistas.

«The invention and ingenuity of the practitioner, then, had to do with production, but it also had to do with artifice.» — la invención con sus dos caras, la productiva y la del engaño.

«The artifice of these cabinets produced wonder, but also emphasized the production of material wealth.» — el asombro del gabinete leído también como argumento económico.

«This artifice gave evidence not only of the skill of the artisan but even the conquest of nature by art,» — el artificio como prueba de que el arte puede más que la naturaleza.

«Becher's inclusion ofLeibniz among the wise fools caused a short stir at the court in Hanover, and the Landgrave Ernst of Hessen-Rheinfels questioned Leibniz about his invention.» — el libro de Becher produciendo consecuencias cortesanas para su rival; el troceo pega *of* con *Leibniz*.

«The agent of transmutation was, after all, Mercury, the paramount artificer who was the god of elegance, the patron of merchants, and the friend of thieves.» — las cuatro caras de Mercurio reunidas, con el ladrón incluido.

«The quintessential location of such artifice in the seventeenth century was the stage.» — el escenario como lugar propio del artificio, según Smith.

«The baroque theater exemplified the spectacle and resulting wonder that human invention and ingenuity could produce.» — el teatro como demostración pública de lo que el ingenio puede.

«While the theater functioned as recreation for potentates such as Leopold I and disseminated political6I and religious62 knowledge, it also recreated the world in microcosm.» — las tres funciones del teatro cortesano; los números pegados son llamadas de nota.

«In the final scene, death calls the actors off the stage. But they reenter one more time to have their performance judged by God, and those who acted well are invited to a heavenly banquet.» — el desenlace del auto que Smith usa para mostrar el sentido moral del teatro del mundo.

«Such a play expresses a central organizing principle of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century society, the notion that all the world is a stage.» — el teatro del mundo como principio de organización social, no como metáfora literaria.

«While such a notion is a commonplace of twentieth-century life also, the theater of the world for a seventeenth-century person was simultaneously didactic, metaphorical, and an authentic representation of reality.» — Smith advierte que para el siglo XVII el teatro del mundo no era solo una figura: también era descripción.

«The world was the site of the cosmic drama of redemption, but it was also the daily scene of petty deceit.» — los dos registros del mundo-escenario, el cósmico y el del engaño menudo.

«De la Barca's play encouraged the viewer to move between the material and the spiritual, between reality and appearance, and between the realms of eternal verities and human mortality.» — el auto de Calderón como ejercicio de tránsito entre planos.

«Because the theater was such a multivalent medium, it was the perfect vehicle for an age obsessed with the relationship between words and things, theory and practice, and reality and artifice.» — Smith enlaza el teatro con el motivo que abre el libro: palabras y cosas.

«The significance of nature, art, and artifice in theater and stage production is illuminated by the plays of sculptor, playwright, and scene maker Gian Lorenzo Bemini (1598-1680).» — Bernini como caso donde arte y artificio se tocan; el troceo trae *Bemini* por *Bernini*, y esa grafía no se coteja aquí con el facsímil.

«Bemini wrote perhaps twenty plays in his long and very full life, all of which are now lost except a fragment of one, unfinished and unperformed, fittingly contained within the account books of his repairs to the Trevi Fountain.» — el estado de las fuentes teatrales de Bernini, con el detalle del libro de cuentas.

«All the audience had experienced the flood, but not a single onlooker had got wet.» — la definición práctica del artificio escénico: efecto sin consecuencia.

«Not long after this spectacle of deception, Bemini staged The Fair in which a torch bearer apparently accidently lit the scenery ablaze, but before the audience could quite trample each other to the doors, a rain storm began on stage and extinguished the flames.» — el segundo truco escénico, con el pánico como parte del efecto buscado.

«While this dialogue lays bare the material bases of deception and questions the boundaries between reality and appearance, it also shows the concern with transforming words into things, out of which knowledge and power result.» — Smith lee el diálogo de Bernini como versión escénica del problema del libro.

«Their discovery of the source of artisanal artifice would give them knowledge of how the artisanal skills could be reproduced outside the guilds and the guild town walls that incubated them.» — el objetivo último de la caza de secretos: reproducir el oficio fuera del gremio.

«Perfect artifice and admiratio were marks of artisanal power, and they attempted to capture these in their search for knowledge.» — el asombro entendido como poder del artesano, y por eso codiciado.

«Graziano claimed that it was his own abilities of "ingenuity and design" that constituted his artifice, and Becher and Leibniz also sought to transform words into things by their projects and designs.» — el escenógrafo y los proyectistas haciendo lo mismo con distinto material.

«For Leibniz and Becher, the original meaning of "to project" was to effect alchemical transmutation by casting (or projecting) the philosophical powder, or stone, over the base metal.» — el origen alquímico del verbo *proyectar*, que es el hallazgo léxico del capítulo.

«But they also began to use "project" to mean a plan, sketch, or concept that could be transferred onto the material world.» — el desplazamiento del término hacia su sentido moderno, en los mismos autores.

«In English, "projector" was already used in this manner in the early seventeenth century.» — el dato que fecha el uso inglés antes que el alemán.

«During the eighteenth century, the notions of art and artifice, like those of project and projectors, would become polarized at opposite ends of a hierarchy of knowledge and rationality.» — la polarización dieciochesca de términos que en el XVII convivían.

«Becher had been able to use alchemy to talk about material increase, and where Leibniz saw nothing unusual in planning his artifice at court, the men of the Enlightenment turned against the multivalency of the baroque.» — la Ilustración enfrentada no a la alquimia sino a la multivalencia que la hacía decible.

«Interpretation was not the teasing out of a single meaning, but the revealing or discovering of all dimensions of reality including its significance for human society.» — la interpretación multivalente definida por contraste con la moderna.

«But by the end of the seventeenth century truth had become univalent, and the previous century appeared filled with folly.» — el cambio de régimen de verdad que convierte el siglo anterior en necedad.

«Becher believed only the busy commercial society of Holland could provide the right setting for this community.» — la comunidad utópica situada, contra lo esperable, en el centro del comercio.

«Becher recognized that his society resembled communities formed in the past by religious groups.» — Becher admite el parentesco con las comunidades religiosas antes de deslindarse.

«But he claimed that these communities had ended badly because they either became "fanatical" or the planners had really desired the labor or money that the members contributed rather than the members' common welfare.» — las dos causas de fracaso que Becher diagnostica, y de las que se exime.

«Nevertheless, he praised such communal work, for it was evident "what great things they can do through such unions, companies, Mascopies, and societies.» — el elogio del trabajo comunal con vocabulario mercantil.

«Becher admired the radical sects because they approximated most closely the way of life in the early church.» — la admiración por cuáqueros y anabaptistas, dicha por un converso al catolicismo.

«He feared his community plan might be mistaken for "Wiedertiiufferisch" (Anabaptist), and he made clear that his society differed from the religious societies because his recognized a temporal government and allowed freedom of worship;» — el deslinde preventivo con los anabaptistas y sus dos marcas: gobierno temporal y libertad de culto; el troceo trae *Wiedertiiufferisch* por *Wiedertäufferisch*.

«Becher's shareholding community was embedded in the material world.» — la utopía por acciones, plantada en el mundo material.

«It was to be situated at a port, to make travel "in and out of the world" easier, and it was based on freedom of religion.» — el puerto elegido por movilidad: la comunidad no se aparta del mundo, se conecta a él.

«Becher was not concerned with the Last Days of the world, but with the reform of his immediate society (and with his own retirement from the cares of the courtly world).» — Smith descarta la clave milenarista y añade entre paréntesis el motivo personal.

«Like his treatment of alchemy, which moved it from a metaphysical and cosmic enterprise to one of mundane industry, Becher's projects were concerned with the material reform of his world by art and the human manipulation of things, rather than with the unfolding of the cosmic plan.» — el mismo desplazamiento que sufre su alquimia se repite en su utopía.

«Becher's community was to be firmly tied to the temporal world by submission to a territorial ruler's power.» — la comunidad sometida al príncipe: ni siquiera al retirarse abandona ese marco.

«Becher began life in travel, carrying with him certain possessions, books, ideas, and the intellectual and social baggage of his mother's and father's worlds.» — Smith cierra el libro con la figura del equipaje con que lo abrió.

«In the course of his life, he continued his restless travels, unpacking this baggage along the way to form a particular vision of the world around him and the possibility of its reform.» — la vida entera leída como despliegue de ese equipaje heredado.

«In this vision, alchemy represented the promise of nature, art, mobility, and artifice.» — las cuatro cosas que la alquimia prometía en la visión de Becher, según Smith.

«By means of the theory and practice of alchemy, Becher created a space for his experience in the sphere of government and attempted to transmute money and commerce into objects of virtue.» — la transmutación que realmente perseguía: convertir dinero y comercio en virtud.

«One of his last projects was the construction of a portable alchemical furnace (figures 28-30), JO which could be broken down into many smaller pieces, carried as baggage, and reassembled as needed.» — el horno desmontable como último emblema de la movilidad; el troceo trae *JO* por la llamada de nota 10.

«Becher claimed he had the movable furnace built by the "Blech-Schmied" Holdin in St. Martin Street, London, who then constructed ovens according to Becher's design for Edmund Dickinson, Robert Boyle, and Prince Rupert (costing twelve pounds each).» — el horno portátil vendido a Boyle y al príncipe Ruperto, con hojalatero, calle y precio; Smith lo da como reclamo de Becher.

«My doctoral dissertation, 'Alchemy, Credit, and the Commerce of Words and Things'» — el libro sale de esa tesis, que conserva el alemán original de todos los pasajes aquí traducidos.

«I am especially pleased to make clear the intellectual debt I owe to Owen Hannaway» — la deuda declarada en los agradecimientos.

«of all arts, the best imitator of nature» — así considera Alberto Magno el arte de la alquimia, según Smith, que lo cita por el *Book of Minerals* en la traducción de Dorothy Wyckoff.

«What artisans have learned by experience is also the practice of alchemists who, if they work with nature, transform the specific form of one metal into another.» — Alberto Magno, según Smith.

«The science of alchymy I like very well, and indeed, 'tis the philosophy of the ancients.» — Martín Lutero, según Smith, que lo toma de la *Table Talk* traducida por William Hazlitt.

«A baker is an alchemist when he bakes bread, the vintner when he makes wine, the weaver in that he makes cloth.» — Paracelso, según Smith.

«He who wishes to explore nature must tread her books with his feet.» — Paracelso, según Smith.

«Qui omnia secum portat, non indiget alieno auxilio» — la máxima que Becher citaba como de Paracelso; Smith anota que su fuente era Morienus.

«I, J. J. Becher, Doctor, transmuted this piece of the finest silver from lead by the art of alchemy.» — la inscripción de la medalla, según Smith.

«I seek nothing but truth, Your Imperial Majesty's reputation and profit, and the preservation of the good name of the noble art of alchemy.» — Becher al emperador, según Smith.

«An Lapis Philosophicus sit arte parabilis» — el título del discurso de Becher en la facultad de medicina, según el protocolo que Smith cita.

«If they have found no gold, they have meanwhile discovered good medicaments and other admirable arts, not to mention gunpowder, glassmaking, enamel, dyes, medicines» — la defensa de la alquimia por sus subproductos, en boca de Becher según Smith.

«gold is the nervus rerum» — Becher sobre el oro como nervio de las cosas, según Smith.

«Solve mihi hunc syllogismum» — el laboratorio planteado como problema por resolver, en boca de Becher según Smith.

«ubi videris Recipe, cogita quod significet Decipe» — la regla de Becher ante las recetas ajenas: donde leas *recibe*, piensa *engaña*.

«what one gives to alchemists and whores is the same thing» — Becher sobre el dinero perdido con los sopladores, según Smith.

«blinded by smoke» — el laboratorio como lugar de confusión, en boca de Becher según Smith.

«this laboratory is securer and richer than mines or exchange banks, and it alone will return the costs of the project» — el argumento económico de Becher, según Smith.

«this is sacred, thieves do not touch» — una de las inscripciones del *Scyphus Becheri*, el horno portátil.

«We met in our passing through Maintz a rare artist, called Becher, a young man, who hath found, he saith, ye perpetual motion» — Oldenburg a Hartlib, según Smith.

«a man of the greatest ingenuity, but not a little restless, which has brought down ill-will upon him everywhere» — Leibniz sobre Becher en carta a Jakob Thomasius, 1669, según Smith.

«One man's expenditure is another man's income.» — el «principio de Becher» tal como lo formula Schumpeter, según Smith.

«Profit is the sole end of all dealing, and the whole World is but one publick Warehouse.» — Boccalini, citado por Smith.

«the tree of Diana» — Newman y Principe muestran, según Smith, que esa estructura metálica arborescente tiene correlato material real, contra la lectura que la tenía por descripción simbólica.

«Magnalia Naturae» — obra de atribución en disputa dentro del propio libro: en un lugar se la da por espuria y en otro como la única de Becher publicada en inglés; ver Notas de carga.

«spurious» — el veredicto de Hassinger sobre la *Magnalia Naturae*, registrado por Smith en la bibliografía.

«the landscape of the history of alchemy and of early modern science resembles a new creation.» — así describe Smith, en el prefacio de 2016, lo cambiado del campo desde la primera edición de 1994.

«The seeds of change had already been planted in the previous two decades by the work of historians of chemistry such as Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs, Allen Debus, and Owen Hannaway,2 who, in their turn, had imbibed the work of Walter Pagel, D. P. Walker, Frances Yates, and Paolo Rossi.» — la genealogía historiográfica que Smith se reconoce; el 2 suelto es la llamada de nota, que el troceo arrastra pegada.

«not how did the “sciences” come into being, but, rather, how did “pseudosciences” emerge?» — la pregunta con que Smith reformula el programa de la historia de la ciencia en el prefacio de 2016.

«I think such a history can form the core of a new deep narrative for the history of science» — Smith lo propone en primera persona y como opinión, no como resultado del libro.

«not, famously, Robert Boyle or Isaac Newton, the latter of whom we now know wrote more on alchemy than on natural philosophy» — Smith recuerda que los propios fundadores de la ciencia nueva no separaban los campos como después se separaron.

«Her narrative may have portrayed this influence in an overly conspiratorial manner, but the view that alchemy, astrology, and natural magic impelled the investigation of nature up through the seventeenth century has now become a generally shared consensus among historians of early modern science.» — Smith se distancia del tono conspirativo de Yates y a la vez le concede la tesis de fondo.

«Although Yates was very influential in the Anglophone world, Paolo Rossi’s work on natural magic and the new philosophy of Francis Bacon actually preceded Yates by quite some time, as did D. P. Walker’s quite different Spiritual and Demonic Magic.» — Smith corrige la cronología habitual del campo: Rossi y Walker son anteriores a Yates.

«Allen Debus’s The Chemical Philosophy and his work on European Paracelsianism revealed a philosophy of nature—what he called the “chemical philosophy”—that he argued exerted as great an influence on the early modern worldview and the new science as did the science of astronomy.» — Smith atribuye a Debus el término *chemical philosophy* y la tesis de una influencia comparable a la de la astronomía.

«When I researched and wrote this book on Johann Joachim Becher in the very last years of the Cold War, I did not yet grasp the whole picture of the centrality of alchemy in early modern Europe, nor did I suspect the subsequent burgeoning of scholarship on the history of alchemy and the history of early modern science more generally.» — Smith fecha el libro y declara lo que en 1994 todavía no veía.

«It is clear that alchemy formed one of the strands of this language for craftspeople, but I no longer see it as necessarily central to all craftspeople, excepting perhaps metalworkers.» — Smith retira, en el prefacio de 2016, una parte del alcance que el libro daba a la alquimia entre los artesanos.

«As I noted, I now see the formulation “vernacular science” as anachronistic, but I am still searching for a suitable term to convey artisanal knowledge systems.» — Smith retira el término que el libro usó y declara no tener sustituto.

«And, more recently, William Newman has argued that the content of the new science— Newton’s theory of gravity, the mechanical philosophy, and the theory of atoms and corpuscles—derived as well from alchemy, or “chymistry,” as Newman calls it, to make clear that it was an amalgam of chemistry, alchemy, and the practical chemical industries.» — Smith atribuye a Newman la tesis y el término *chymistry*, acuñado para no separar química, alquimia e industria.

«These scholars demonstrate that practices such as gravimetric analysis, as well as conceptually informed experimentation, can be traced directly to the work of the Flemish chymist Joan Baptista van Helmont in the early seventeenth century, and they thus claim the centrality of Helmontian chemistry» — la tesis de Newman y Principe sobre van Helmont, según Smith.

«Bruce Moran’s textbook Distilling Knowledge begins from the premise that practice and the chemical industries, more than theory, were central to the influence of alchemy on science, while Ursula Klein has examined the central role of the materials employed in the chemical industries, and the hybrid identity of chemical practitioners in the eighteenth century.» — Smith sitúa a Moran y a Klein del lado de la práctica y los materiales.

«Tara Nummedal has argued that little-known practical alchemists, although they have never been written into the history of protoscience, shaped discourses of fraud, artifice, and nature» — la aportación que Smith reconoce a Nummedal: alquimistas prácticos que la historia de la protociencia dejó fuera.

«Because alchemy and chemistry involved hands-on sensory examination of natural materials—alchemists often examined by tasting, smelling, listening, and touching, as well as by looking—historians of alchemy have recently begun an innovative examination of the body and sensory modes of experiencing nature.» — Smith explica el giro sensorial de la historiografía por el carácter manual de la práctica alquímica.

«Historians have come to recognize that this trying and testing cannot always be understood from texts alone, but, instead, research into the experiential dimension of alchemy requires engaging with natural materials themselves.» — el argumento con que Smith justifica la historiografía por replicación.

«Thus, scholars have begun replicating alchemical practices in an attempt to better understand them.» — la práctica historiográfica que Smith registra como novedad del campo.

«Similarly, they have produced a “silica garden” made with potassium silicate and ferric chloride, which was thought in the early modern period to confirm the growth and multiplication of metals by the alchemical art.» — la segunda réplica de Newman y Principe que Smith registra, con la lectura de época que la sostenía.

«Their work has given significant insight into the practical nature of many alchemical texts and techniques that had previously been viewed as allegorical descriptions with no real material basis.» — Smith resume así el saldo de esas réplicas para la lectura de los textos alquímicos.

«Martinón-Torres has found that standardized crucibles were massproduced by the sixteenth century and provided the necessary material conditions for the surge in experimentation in this period.» — Smith lo recoge en nota; el troceo pega *mass* y *produced* en una sola palabra.

«The Making and Knowing Project seeks to further research into early modern technical literature in order to understand this literature more fully, but also to articulate a methodology for the investigation of the material world of the past.» — el proyecto que Smith dirige en Columbia después de este libro, tal como lo describe en el prefacio de 2016.

«Although we mostly now accept that mind and hand are not separate in human cognition and action, much of our language, many of our conceptual categories, and almost all of our higher education speak and act as if they are.» — la crítica de Smith al vocabulario heredado que separa mente y mano.

«I now see their ability to transform materials, as well as their theorization about their own abilities to do so, as a central problem both for the history of science and for our own overcoming of the antiquated but still persistent modernist dichotomy between mind and body.» — Smith declara en primera persona cómo su lectura de los artesanos cambió desde 1994.

«I am convinced that we can construct such a narrative by beginning in materials, and considering the very long history of the entanglement of the human body with matter, tracing the emergence of ideas and theories from this entanglement of matter and bodies.» — el programa narrativo que Smith propone para la historia de la ciencia, enunciado como convicción propia.

«I suggest that conceiving of the movement of these material complexes in a staged way—as an “itinerary” through which the material complex forms—provides a framework by which we may trace the interaction among materials, human making, and the formation of knowledge systems over long spans of distance and time.» — el término *itinerary* con que Smith sustituye la noción de ciencia vernácula que el libro usaba.