EPIGRAM.

You have moved every stone, so that you might show
The stone of the Wise: what is the method of building it?
This stone, which causes so many who seek it without true art
To bury their own limbs beneath stone and earth.
Therefore, while you urge the artisan toward the fire of Nature,
The false chemist flees from the void and from the fire.
And for a reward, a stone is to be bestowed upon you by the world;
May it be your diadem, your eternal glory.

Graz, March 3, 1687.

To the Most Noble and Most Excellent Lord Author,

I have curiously and diligently read this Philosophical Scrutiny, whose Most Excellent Lord Author I found instructed by varied reading, conspicuous in erudition, eloquent in speech, and treating this curious matter with wonderful order. May the GOD THRICE BEST AND GREATEST grant that the children of the gold-making art (which is hardly ever sufficiently learned or demonstrated) may perceive emolument and guidance from this work, completed with no small labor, so that having avoided the fallacies of the Pseudo-Chemists, they do not strike against the stone of their purse...