An ornamental headpiece consisting of a horizontal band of six repeating, intricate scrollwork motifs.

Preface.

I once was annoyed myself, upon beginning this study, by the multitude and simultaneous obscurity of the Hermetic authors Hermetic authors|Writers focused on alchemy, occult philosophy, and the teachings traditionally attributed to the legendary figure Hermes Trismegistus., so I did not wish to increase this number with yet another obscure book. No: that is not my intention; nor is it to make myself known to those who possess this great secret through profound and otherwise impossible-to-grasp sentences, parables, enigmas, and hieroglyphs; for I can well sit quietly in silence and mind my own business. Rather, after I considered that among an extraordinarily large number of authors, while each has done his best to explain the Philosopher's Stone Philosopher's Stone|The "Lapis Philosophorum," the central goal of alchemy, believed to transmute base metals into gold and serve as a universal medicine for the body and soul. in such a way that it remained just as hidden as before—despite the truth being preserved therein, with the exception of a few of the more modern writers—not a single one has properly shown the Students of Hermes Students of Hermes|A traditional name for practitioners of alchemy, also known as "Sons of Art." the way and method alongside the requirements for it, nor treated it extensively according to the nature of the matter; and at the same time, what this so great a work and secret entails and wishes to say of itself, whereby many