PREFACE

lands, it will rescue those
limping from a fall: supplying Ariadne’s
thread original: "Ariadnes filum." In Greek mythology, the thread Ariadne gave to Theseus to navigate the Labyrinth; here, it refers to a guiding logic through complex alchemical theories. to the former, and an old
man’s staff to the latter.
In this way, you will preserve
for yourselves what is yours;
you will delegate the cucurbits cucurbitas: gourd-shaped glass vessels used in distillation.,
aludels aludelia: pear-shaped pots used as receivers in the process of sublimation., matrasses matratia: long-necked glass flasks, also known as bolt-heads., and other
instruments of that kind to the
glassmakers, and the small furnaces to the
potters. This, I say, is the
Harmony, which will convict
all those of ignorance
who mutter that those
ancient Philosophers of a former
age never held any
agreement among themselves.
This same Harmony is that
which, after two years were spent
with assiduous labor and
diligent watchfulness... The text ends mid-sentence with "an-", likely completing as "annis" (years) on the next page.