PREFACE

...or labors more than Herculean original: "Herculei"; a reference to the Twelve Labors of Hercules, symbolizing tasks of extreme and almost impossible difficulty. have hardly, or indeed never, been able to achieve. Within these pages, difficulties are uncovered and unknotted, and things unknown are made known. Nay, the sincerity of my wit and the purity of my soul offers, gives, and dedicates to you—of its own accord and with a generous hand—that which I have sought with no small labor and through many sleepless nights original: "vigilijs"; literally "watches," referring to the scholarly or laboratory practice of working through the night..

Therefore, setting aside the vain promises of vain men, and all the extractions Extraction: The alchemical process of drawing out the "essence" or soul of a substance, often using a solvent., calcinations Calcination: The reduction of a solid to a fine powder through the application of intense heat., solutions, resolutions, and solvents original: "dissoluentibus" which are in no way philosophical, but corrosive and