Friendly Missive of an Adept of Hermetic Science and Art

...demonstrations of no small
benefit. I especially began with
indescribable zeal the study of
so-called metallic chemistry metallischen Chymie; a historical term for alchemy focused on the transmutation of base metals into gold,
the goal of which is said to be the
alteration and improvement of ore.
Aulem a local associate or mentor of the author in Fez, seeing
my drive for such an art, loved
me more and more because of our
shared interest in it, and finally—
after obtaining permission to
bring a Christian with him—
led me to the general
assemblies of the chemists Chemisten; here meaning alchemists or practitioners of the chemical arts.
These are held almost daily
towards evening, and these
artists and gold-seekers Goldsucher; those seeking the secret of making gold, often used slightly dismissively
gather in great numbers at
their promenade in front of the
incredibly large Temple Carven original: Tempel Carven; a phonetic rendering of the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fez, one of the oldest and most important centers of learning in the Islamic world,
just as the merchants gather
at the Bourse in London or
Amsterdam. The
debate there is sometimes