Preface.

B 2

to the wall, sacrificed their meager wealth to the Art, in the hope that they would find it again a thousandfold. But through this, they plunged themselves into the utmost poverty, where finally desperation original: "Desperation." led them to devise wicked schemes original: "Bubenstück," referring to dishonest or villainous acts. to entangle other honest people, and thus the evil has grown ever worse. For the lust for gold is capable of leading man toward all kinds of fates original Latin: "Fata," here implying disastrous outcomes or misfortunes. and exposing him so that he often attempts the most impossible things.

While it is indeed true that Alchemy is a noble art of great power and low cost—since the first matter original: "erste Materie." In alchemy, this is the "Prima Materia," the base substance required to begin the Great Work, which philosophers claimed could be found everywhere for free. costs absolutely nothing and the practice The actual laboratory work or "praxis." does not exceed a small sum—the art is nonetheless not for common people who must earn their daily bread, especially since learning such things from books is full of difficulty, if not entirely impossible. But whoever tries something by brute force original: "mit der Faust," literally "with the fist," meaning manual experimentation without the necessary spiritual or theoretical understanding. is like one who sows stubble in the hope of harvesting wheat. For he lets the fire consume his wealth: Therefore, let those without means be faithfully warned to [keep] themselves The sentence continues onto the next page, as indicated by the catchword "der" (the/of).