A large rectangular woodcut illustration depicting a scholarly library or study. Several men in 17th-century attire are shown interacting with large volumes; some are pulling books from overflowing shelves, while others are seated at tables reading and writing. The scene is densely packed with books and papers, suggesting a place of intense learning and research.

PREFACE

TO THE

READER

After we completed, by God’s favor, the Medical Encyclopedia and presented it as a collection of various volumes—namely the Anatomical Library, the Practical-Medical Library, and the Pharmaceutico-Medical Library—we now add, as a supplement and for the sake of the curious In this context, "curious" refers to scholars and seekers of specialized or hidden knowledge., this Alchemical Library. Truly, this is a grand subject for some, and one that should not be looked down upon by anyone—even those least driven by the original: "auri sacra fames"; a reference to Virgil's Aeneid meaning "the accursed hunger for gold." accursed hunger for gold. For indeed, since the very cradle of the world, this study has been deemed worthy of being treated with no vain or fruitless labor by those who went by the name of Sages, as Borrichius Olaus Borrichius (1626–1690), a Danish polymath who defended the antiquity of alchemy. and many others among the learned have abundantly demonstrated. Furthermore, from this source many preparations—and truly ingenious ones at that—have flowed forth almost spontaneously into the hands of the "Sons of Medicine" A traditional term for physicians and students of the healing arts. amidst other operations. By these, our Medicine has not only been adorned, but human health itself has been strengthened when present, and restored when absent, by a method more certain, brief, and pleasant than before.

Therefore, let those "Misochemists" original: "Misochemici"; literally "chemistry-haters," those who opposed the use of chemical medicines. be gone—those who rise up, or rather rave, with such great effort and declamatory voices against this noble Art. Let them consult men celebrated on all sides, such as the great Clauderus, the aforementioned Borrichius, Morhof, and others both ancient and modern. If the stubbornness of a mind blinded by prejudice cannot be overcome by their arguments, there is almost nothing further that can be done for the defense of the Great Elixir.

I confess, indeed, that among those who boast of the haughty name of Adepts Those believed to have mastered the "Great Work" of alchemy. and who, like other Midases, brag that they can immediately turn whatever they touch into gold, many are found to be either fools or madmen. These men sell their melancholic dreams and the "vapors" rising into the brain from a diseased hypochondria In early modern medicine, the "hypochondria" were the upper abdominal regions; "vapors" from here were thought to cloud the mind.—which infects the mind with its contagion—as if they were heavenly revelations and divine inspirations guiding their labors. Others are "shadow-creepers" original: "tenebriones"; deceptive people who operate in the dark. and wicked deceivers who leave no stone unturned and run about everywhere so that, with their evil arts and magnificent promises, they may lure the unwary and strip them bare. Still others are "windy" men (if I may speak so), who, while swelling with greed for riches, stumble upon some chemical author writing obscurely (as is the custom). They confidently believe his meaning is perfectly clear to them, and having attacked the Great Work with that mindset, they promise themselves nothing less than mountains of gold—though they will bring back nothing from it but a waste of time and of the resources spent on it, or more often, infamy. We further confess that even more prudent men—those who have grown pale from turning the pages of chemical books and reading them attentively and with a pious mind—do not usually enter the right path to the Golden Citadel of Hermes A metaphorical term for the ultimate goal of alchemy. at once. They often return exhausted from the journey, which they repeat again and again, promising themselves a happier outcome from repeated trials. For truly, the acquisition and possession of the "Philosophical Matter" is an arduous thing, full of difficulties.

Yet, nothing is lost of the nobility or truth of any Science or Art simply because it nourishes within its bosom various wanderers, or even fraudulent men of weak intellect. For in that case, every Religion would have to be rejected on account of the impious, sacrilegious, heretical, and fanatical people mixed within it. Medicine, and every other Art born and cultivated for the good of the human race, would have to be exiled because of the many who profess them ignorantly or even maliciously. All food and drink would have to be shunned, because from them not a few diseases have been birthed in those of ill health. Furthermore, regarding the difficulty in obtaining the Stone: who does not know the ancient proverb that "beautiful things are difficult," original: "ardua esse quæ pulchra"; a Latin rendering of the Greek proverb "chalepa ta kala." and that as a symbol of this truth, the home of Virtue was placed by the Poets upon the summit of the steepest cliffs? What wonder is it, then, if the way to the Transmutation celebrated by the Philosophers is not immediately made clear to every worker?