EXPOSITION

OF THE BOOKS OF GEBER AND RAY-

mond Lull, translated from the Tuscan dialect.

A square woodcut decorative initial 'G' depicts a scholarly or religious figure seated at a writing desk, consulting an open book. The initial begins the name 'Geber'.
5Geber skillfully wrote his books in a style that would be clear to the wise but very profound for the average person. For the ignorant and unskilled, he used a single method of teaching to keep both extremes of the knowledge unreachable. original: "irreferabiliter concluderet" - to lock away or shut off without a way back.
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2 ¶ This operation is brought to its completion at a low cost.

3 ¶ The principles of nature are also the principles of this mastery. magisterij: Mastery, often referring to the "Great Work" or the process of creating the Philosopher's Stone.
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4 ¶ He who does not possess a natural talent and a soul that subtly examines natural principles, the foundations of nature, and the crafts that can follow nature in the properties of its actions, will not find the true root of this most precious science.
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5 ¶ There are three types of natural principles of metals. Some are very distant, some are distant or "middle" minerals, while others are immediate.

6 ¶ All metals are generated from Sulfur and Vitriol.
He understands this as the Mercury of the philosophers, see question 12.

7 ¶ Quicksilver and common sulfur are not the principles of metals. Argentum uiuum: Quicksilver or mercury.
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hypoproph.? I read: and non-common sulfur are the principles.

8 ¶ The primary matter, in this art, is said to be that which comes closest to the metallic nature. Materia prima: The fundamental, formless substance that alchemists believed could be transformed into any metal.

9 ¶ Vitriol comes closest to the metallic nature. Vitriolum: A term for various sulfate minerals, often used here to describe a key starting material for chemical transformation.