Letter to the Gold-Seeking Lovers of Chemistry and Alchemy

[I] will do it, not only to satisfy you, but also to improve you, and to heal you from your illness The author views the recipient's obsession with alchemy as a spiritual or mental "sickness" to be cured through reason. To reach my final objective, I will refute a book, which you specifically recommended to me, word for word, point by point point by point original Latin: "punctatim"; meaning in every detail. It bears the title: Various Notations and Information for a Beginner and Lover of Chemical Science; I therefore repeat the author's own contents.

First original Latin: "Primo", he writes:

I suppose original: "Supponire ich" that a lover of this noble as well as highly pleasant science will not believe that this art is like a trade, in which one proceeds merely mechanically mechanically original Latin: "mechanice"; referring to rote physical labor or manual skill without theoretical understanding, to melt the lead original: "Bley" and to heat the iron to a glow, and to forge it like a blacksmith on the anvil and beat it apart—no! But rather I hope that he is a true lover of the sciences, especially of philosophy philosophy original: "Weltweisheit"; literally "world-wisdom," the standard 18th-century German term for philosophy or secular learning, and in the unfathomable book of nature A common early modern metaphor describing the natural world as a text written by God that must be decoded and read, an untiring researcher original: "Nachforscher" and a lover devoted to study original: "Studio".

Second original Latin: "Secundo". When one feels this drive within oneself, to [achieve] something through one's reason...