This library is built in the open.
If you spot an error, have a suggestion, or just want to say hello — we’d love to hear from you.

14 TO THE READER.
we must do, whether in the vegetable, animal, or mineral kingdom, to achieve the perfect work. Perfect Work; often called the Opus Perfectum or Magnum Opus, this refers to the successful completion of the alchemical process to create the Philosopher's Stone. Thus, in all things, dry water original: "aqua sicca"; an alchemical paradox describing a substance that behaves like a fluid but does not wet the hands, often associated with "philosophical mercury." is present, so that they may make themselves perfect. Therefore Galen Galen of Pergamum (c. 129–216 AD) was a Greek physician and philosopher. Alchemists often cited him to lend medical and scientific authority to their theories. says: all things have their own medicine original: "medicina"; in this context, it refers to the inner "tincture" or essence capable of perfecting a substance or curing disease. for making the stone, The Philosopher's Stone; the legendary substance capable of transmuting base metals into gold and granting long life. whether in the mineral, animal, or vegetable kingdom, without the addition of any other foreign things.