PREFACE TO THE READER.

...finished, we shared it with friends. We would have added the Book of Roots often attributed to the same author, but we discovered most clearly that it belongs to someone else. It remains for us to advise the reader concerning the name of the art. I am surprised that Erasmus uses the barbarous and strange name "Alcumistical." Its true name among the Greeks is Chemeia original: "ΧΗΜΕΙ'Α.", which means the "Art of Founding" original: "Fusoria." This refers to the melting and casting of metals.. This is because metals and substances related to them—namely salts, alums, and vitriols—flow in the fire and are the primary focus of this art. These are called "fusible things" original: "χύματα" (chymata), derived from the Greek verb "χέω" (cheo), meaning to pour or melt.. The Arabs borrowed this name from the Greeks and, according to their custom, added a prefix to call it Alchemy. This is the same way they named Ptolemy's Great Composition the Almagest The Almagest is a foundational 2nd-century astronomical text. The name "Almagest" combines the Arabic article "al" with the Greek word for "greatest.".

This art, like all others, has its own peculiar words and vocabulary not well known to the public. This is partly because they are foreign and exotic, such as Aludel A pear-shaped vessel used to collect vapors during sublimation., Alembic A distilling apparatus consisting of a capped vessel with a cooling tube., Bearded Botus original: "Botus barbatus." A specialized alchemical vessel or furnace type., Alkali salt, Elixir, and similar terms. It is also partly because the terms are used figuratively original: "καταχρηστικά" (katachrestika), meaning the use of a word in a sense different from its literal meaning. or in a specialized way. For example, Imbibe is used instead of "to moisten." Fix and Fasten original: "Figere & Fixare." mean to treat a substance so that it is not destroyed or evaporated by fire. Descend is used for "to melt" or "to liquefy." There are many other terms of this kind which will only become known through a diligent reading of the authors. Having said these things, I will no longer delay the benevolent and studious reader, who (unless I am mistaken) has long been eager and breathless to enter the inner shrines of this wonderful art.