Friendly Missive of an Adept of Hermetic Science and Art

very heated / and each one believes
his material to be better than that of
the others. They hold the writings
of Geber original: Geber; the Latinized name of Jabir ibn Hayyan, an 8th-century polymath and "father of chemistry" whose works were central to both Islamic and European alchemy. in high regard / and after
these, the posthumous books of the
Babylonian Artagreinim likely a phonetic rendering of Al-Tughrai, a famous Persian alchemist and statesman. /
otherwise they have few chemical authors original: Autores (Latin), if
I exclude Magaarit likely referring to Al-Majriti, an influential 10th-century scholar from Madrid/Al-Andalus. and Hamet
Hea likely a reference to an Arabic scholar named Ahmad., whom they do not particularly
value. Since I had now,
through the healing of the sick / and
otherwise, gathered several 1,000 ducats original: Ducaten; high-value gold coins used throughout the Mediterranean. in
ready money / and jewels /
I—or rather, my money—was
drawn into a certain society
which believed they could make the
Philosopher's Stone original: Lapidem Philosophorum (Latin); the legendary substance capable of turning base metals into gold and granting longevity. in
a short time. I
remained therein for two years / and
finally, after the loss of about 3,000
imperial thalers original: Reichsthaler; large silver coins of the Holy Roman Empire, used here as a comparative measure of the author's significant financial loss., I separated myself
once again from my associates.
In all this time, I saw