To the Reader

...number of fraudsters and malicious vapor-sellers The original German Dunstverkäufer (vapor-sellers) is a colorful term for charlatans or "snake oil" salesmen who sell illusions and empty smoke instead of real results.—who delight only in deception and the harm of other people—might be secured. It is no work of dreams, as the ignorant rabble speaks of it; much less is it a vain fiction of idle people, as those fools believe who despise this Art. It is the Philosophical Truth itself, which I—as a lover of the truth and to aid and support the decried Chemical Truth—neither should nor could hide in silence or otherwise leave concealed.

Although she In German, "Truth" (Wahrheit) is a feminine noun, and the author here personifies Truth as a modest woman who is hesitant to appear in public.—among this wicked crowd (in whom virtue and vice are valued equally), as much because of the unworthiness of the present time as because of the people’s ingratitude and faithlessness (to say nothing of how poorly the Philosophers are slandered and cursed)—not unjustly feels a shyness to show herself in the light of day. I could present as witnesses to this Chemical Truth so many excellent people who, by virtue of the unanimous confession of the honorable and praise-wor-
(b) thy The text breaks here mid-word: lobwürdigen (praiseworthy). The "(b)" is a signature mark used by early printers to help bookbinders assemble the pages in the correct order.