PREFACE.

chemical perfection consists, provided they proceed along the Royal Way original: "via Regia", which Nature prescribes in all her operations. Therefore, I wish to warn the Honest Reader here to understand my writings, not so much from the bark of the words original: "verborum cortice"; meaning the literal or superficial meaning, as from the powers of Nature. Let him not later lament the time, labor, and expense spent in vain. Let him consider that this is the science of the Sophi the Wise Men, not of the ignorant. The meaning of the Philosophers is far different from what can be perceived by either boastful Thrasones braggarts or vainglorious men, or by learned mockers, or those who are wicked against their conscience. Such men, while they cannot rise through virtues, attempt to do so through crimes and the slandering of honorable men. Nor is it for the ignorant traveling charlatans who have deceived almost the entire world with their "whitenings" and "reddenings," Processes of surface-level metal coloration that mimic alchemical success. bringing the most unworthy defamation upon the most praised science of Chemistry. For it is a gift of God, since one can only reach it through the grace of God illuminating the intellect, through patient and religious humility, or through the visual demonstration of an experienced teacher.