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The ancient teacher Jerome Saint Jerome (c. 347–420 AD), a prominent early Christian scholar best known for translating the Bible into the Latin Vulgate. says that among the ancient Jews in former times it was ordered that no one among them under thirty years of age was permitted to read the first chapter of Genesis The first book of the Bible, which details the creation of the world.. Whether this be true or not (today it is not in use among the Jews), it is nevertheless undeniable that through diligent contemplation and understanding of that chapter, a person may find many great Arcana original: "Arcanen"; refers to hidden secrets or deep mysteries of nature. and mysteries in all created things. And, to say nothing of all others, this same chapter applies so perfectly to our art of Chemistry original: "Chymien"; at this time, chemistry and alchemy were seen as a single, unified discipline. that I could not more accurately or clearly depict and prescribe for anyone either the Matter original: "Materiam"; the raw substance used for alchemical transformation. or the Practice of the Physical Stone original: "Praxin lapidis physici"; the practical method of creating the Philosopher’s Stone, a legendary substance capable of transmuting metals and healing the body. from beginning to end, than God the Almighty himself depicted and designed such things in the Process original: "Proceß"; here meaning the systematic procedure or sequence of events. of his entire initial creation. Because however Theo-