Preface

Thus far speaks the man—honored reader, according to your rank and dignity—who birthed this child original: "Kind". The translator uses a common early modern metaphor, referring to the book as a "child" that was originally "born" in a French-speaking environment and is now being "taught" to speak German. and sent it out into the world with a French mouth: but it will not be taken amiss if the one who has taught it to speak German also adds a few small things. I do not wish to make a great fuss in order to place this book, with all its perfections, into the reader’s favor. For to begin with, its author, Mr. Lemery Nicolas Lemery (1645–1715) was a prominent French chemist. His "Cours de chymie" was a landmark text that sought to explain chemical reactions through particle physics rather than mystical alchemy., has been known throughout the learned world for over twenty years as an exceptionally perfect chemist and physicist: thus, he already enjoys the presumption Presumption: From the Latin praesumptio, meaning a favorable assumption or the "benefit of the doubt" based on one's prior reputation. that with this book, too, he has brought forth no imperfect fruit or misshapen monstrosity. This is especially so since he oversaw the laboratory of a king as curious In the 17th century, "curious" (curiös) referred to a deep, scholarly interest in natural philosophy and the investigation of the physical world. as he was glorious for such a long time, to the king's great pleasure and the good satisfaction of the curious The Curious: Often used to describe the "Curiosi," a community of scholars and early scientists who shared an interest in new discoveries and experimental results. in France. Secondly, the book has already so well legitimated original: "legitimiret". In this context, it means the book has proven its own worth and quality through its success. itself, in that in France itself last year, for the ninth