Friendly Missive of an Adept of Hermetic Science and Art

very heated, and each one believes his matter original: Materie; in alchemy, this refers to the "prime matter" or starting substance required for transmutation is better than that of the others. They hold the writings of Geber Jabir ibn Hayyan (c. 721–815), a Persian polymath and foundational figure in chemistry whose works were revered in both the Islamic world and Europe in high regard, and after these, the posthumous books of the Babylonian Artagreinim likely a reference to Artephius, a legendary alchemist often identified as a "Chaldean" or "Babylonian" in Western texts; otherwise, they have few chemical authors Chymische Autores, if I exclude Magaarit likely Maslama al-Majriti, a 10th-century Andalusian scholar known for alchemical and astronomical works and Hamet Hea likely Ahmad ibn al-Hayy, a Moroccan scholar of the period, whom they do not hold in particularly high esteem. Because I had now, through the healing of the sick and other means, amassed several thousand ducats Ducaten; high-value gold coins used widely in international trade in cash and jewels Jubelen, I—or rather my money—was drawn into a certain society that believed they could produce the Philosopher's Stone Lapidem Philosophorum; the mythical substance believed to turn base metals into gold and grant eternal life in a short time. I remained in it for two years, and finally, after the loss of approximately 3,000 reichsthalers Reichsthaler; a standard silver coin of the Holy Roman Empire, used here as a comparative value for the reader, I separated myself once again from my associates. In all this time I saw