PREFACE

we must not, as we have done until now, consume cinnabar mercuric sulfide for the essence of gold; nor accept copper vitriol for the salt of Venus; nor spirit and water for oil; nor common turbith turpeth mineral, or basic mercuric sulfate for precipitated gold, etc., if, once errors are exterminated, true preparations are brought into the light according to scientific demonstrations. Novices will also have something on which they may certainly rely, so that they do not fall into the traps of impostors and purchase greater trifles for a great price. I only wish that the sincere art were called to the profession of the academies. If anyone today wishes to make an attempt, he must consult the insane Paracelsians, or old women, or idle and desperate goldsmiths, or the most ignorant servants of the apothecaries seplasiæ apothecary/perfumery shops, and similar expiations for a most honorable art. Among liberal professors, every voice regarding it has fallen silent. Art is sought among idleness, wisdom in the brothel of insanity, and light among darkness. Hence it happens that if anything must be written about chymia chemistry/alchemy, one must almost return to the alphabet, and before understanding a proposition, one must learn what chemistry is, what a cucurbita gourd-shaped vessel is, what an alembicus distilling head is, and the rest. But I leave those things aside. As for the fact that I have not touched upon all who are famous for the reputation of chemistry, or even perhaps addressed some who are considered less skilled in chemical operations, I ask you, Reader, to excuse me. I could not know everyone, nor, having left Germany and the company of my friends, go to France, Italy, or visit foreigners. Let all those who are wherever they may be, the skilled, persuade themselves of this: that by naming a few, I wished to be understood as meaning all of them.