PREFACE.

fire they hope to find,
in restarting their work.
Finally, how many are there who
believe they can teach
others, because they have their
brains filled with a great
quantity of maximsoriginal: "sentences". In this context, it refers to pithy, authoritative quotes or aphorisms from classical or alchemical texts.. I
knew a man who had
arranged in his head—I
will not say just so many Treatises, but
so many Volumes—and in
such a fine order, that one would
hardly believe someone could possess
so much learning; nevertheless, be-
cause he clung to the sound of
words, he knew nothing but
words, and was entirely ignorant of
the Workoriginal: "l'œuvre". This refers to the "Great Work" (Magnum Opus), the process of creating the philosopher's stone., which he will al-
ways be ignorant of, and he
will use his error only to
deceive others, being as
far from the truth as the
Heaven is from the Earth,
and amusing himself only with