Preface

minerals, finding such guidance hidden as they have long sought in secret. If gardeners and heads of households original: Haußväter; referring to the 18th-century "housefather" who managed a self-sufficient estate study the second part regarding plants with mature reflection and thoughtful patience, they will learn from it—or at least find the opportunity—how to produce new species of plants or improve common ones. This is achieved by assisting nature in their cultivation with various additives that either increase the spirit original: Spiritum; in alchemy, the volatile essence or "mercury" of a substance, the salt, or the oil These three—Spirit, Salt, and Oil—represent the Tria Prima or three primary chemical principles of the era., or change their composition and mixture.

The final part can help every person to better know their own body and learn to treat it more carefully when they see what can be prepared from the parts of animal bodies and their waste products original: Excrementen; in this context, biological discharges like urine or bone used to create chemical medicines or phosphorus, which were already present within the body’s substance and roots. While we now hope for the best for our undertaking, we thank the Giver of all good things for the blessing bestowed upon this work, and heartily wish: