Preface.

[...witnessed the metal] be transmuted original: "tingirt"; referring to the alchemical process of tincture, where a substance is added to base metal to change its color and nature, supposedly into gold or silver. Gently, gentlemen! It may
be that one or two such coins have been
seen; does it then immediately
follow that these were transformed
into the best gold or silver from lead, iron,
copper, or mercury by means of the supposed
Universalissimum original: "Universalissimum"; a Latin term for the "Universal Medicine" or the Philosopher's Stone, the ultimate goal of alchemy believed to have universal powers of transformation?
Oh, what deceptive phantoms lurk
beneath a shining mask; a well-
read enthusiast will surely know
that two kinds of tinctures original: "Tincturen"; substances used to perform transmutation are established:
one for the white [silver], and one for the
red [gold]. Has anyone, with his own eyes,
ever seen even a trial of the white
tincture? No, certainly not; everything
consists of hearsay, or from those
writings filled with lies. I
myself have been assured by people
that they saw transmutation original: "tingiren" with their own eyes;
but after I became more closely
acquainted with them, I discovered that
they followed this science so
deeply and blindly that it then
did not surprise me at all when, blinded by
their imagination—or better to say, their
phantoms—they believed they had
seen something. O God! Not everything that