Letter to the Gold-Seeking Lovers of Chemistry and Alchemy

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force [them] upon me; they will only lead me onto another?
path. Oh God! What useless?
chatter is found within these?
books! They are as harmful to established people? original: "gesetzten Leuten"; referring to mature adults with social or professional responsibilities
as novels are to the youth;?
in the latter, one finally reaches an end after long de-?
tours, but in the former [the books] not?
at all. Every page is filled with gold and?
silver; their promised treasures?
are inexhaustible—yet not of the common?
gold and silver, but of the philoso-?
phical kind. They reject the former as a material?
and tangible essence, for their gold?
and silver must be spiritual, which likely
exists only in the spirit of imagination,?
from which, even if one had hundredweights? original: "Centnerweis"; a "Centner" was a unit of weight roughly equal to 100 pounds
of it, no one will profit enough?
to buy a one-kreuzer a small copper coin of low value bread roll original: "Semmel". My?
friend! As long as they do not convince me of something better and?
active (not speculative), so long?
will I loathe all such books, from which?
only the authors and publishers draw the most?
benefit. Of your manuscript?
and peddler-processes original: "Kramer-Processen"; derogatory term for cheap, unreliable, or fraudulent alchemical recipes sold by itinerant merchants, I will make no men-?
tion at all. You have often petitioned?
me to reveal some thorough reasons for my?
reluctance. Fine,