P R E F A C E

TO THE

Benevolent Reader.

A decorative historiated initial 'Q' featuring a seated figure in classical robes within a square frame of floral and scrollwork patterns.

The unique furnaces and efficient methods of distilling that I discovered through constant nightly study and contemplation a few years ago—by which many outstanding works, impossible for the common art, can be accomplished—I have kept to myself as secrets until now. However, weighing the utility they can offer to mortals, I have finally decided no longer to hide this art, but to publish it for the sake of my fellow man. In doing so, I provide a complete and fundamental instruction to SpagyristsPractitioners of "spagyric" alchemy, a term coined by Paracelsus that refers to the process of separating and then recombining the essential components of a substance to create medicine. regarding this newly discovered art, so that they no longer need to waste time or incur expenses on long and tedious labors in the future. Instead, through an easier path and the benefit of my furnaces, they may perform many excellent operations.

This book will be divided into five parts. The first part will teach the construction of a specific furnace in which incombustiblesSubstances that do not burn away or are resistant to high heat. are distilled and sublimatedThe process of heating a solid until it turns into a gas and then cooling it back into a purified solid form.—specifically those things that cannot be achieved with retortsA glass or ceramic vessel with a long, downward-sloping neck used for the distillation of liquids. or other standard vessels. It will also show how the spiritsConcentrated, volatile essences or liquids produced through distillation., flowersFine, powdery substances that form during sublimation., and oils of minerals and metals are prepared through its use, as well as their applications and powers.

In the second part, another furnace will be described, in which combustibles—namely vegetables, animals, and minerals—