PREFACE.

original: "PRÆFATIO"

explained completing the word "ausgelegt" from the previous page, should necessarily follow, so that a beginning may be made in these matters. It likewise seemed good to me to allow a general discourse Latin: discursum; a formal discussion or treatise on this subject to precede the rest, so that the specifics original: "Specialia" following it might be carried out in a more orderly, understandable, and clear manner.

Here begins the general discourse on the primary matter Latin: materia prima; the formless base substance from which all things are created of metals. Likewise on the essential parts of the Philosopher's Stone. original: "Lapidis Philosophici"

Accordingly, the mentioned text—as it was attached to the following figures (with some few corrections and insertions of things that either could not be read or were omitted)—begins

When the ancient Philosophers In alchemical texts, "Philosophers" refers specifically to the "Sons of Art" or alchemists who sought the secrets of nature deeply took to heart the general misery stemming from the Fall of Adam original: "Fall Adæ"; in alchemical thought, the Fall corrupted both man and nature, and alchemy was seen as a way to restore both to their original perfection and the curse that followed: They searched through and investigated all of God’s creatures to see if they might find something with which—even if temporal death cannot be entirely resisted—they might nevertheless [remedy] the [difficulties...] The text cuts off here at the catchword "schwer-"