Dedication.

perfect Chemical Philosopher original Latin: perfectus Philosophus Chemicus; a term for a master alchemist desires to be, he must be an observer original Latin: Contemplator and emulator of nature original Latin: æmulus naturæ, and pay sharp attention, with deep reflection, to how she [Nature] conducts and carries out her business in the generation of metals within the bowels of the mountains original Latin: generationibus metallorum intra montium viscera; early modern thinkers often viewed the earth as a living organism where metals grew like plants or embryos.

But how would anyone be able to know how Nature behaves in the innermost part of the mountain, in this aforementioned work of hers, if they have never come to the places where the said Nature has her workshop to give birth to metals original Latin: Metalla?

Therefore, by necessity, every Chemical Philosopher original Latin: Philosophus Chemicus