Basil Valentine Revived or the Shining Star of Alchemy

Preface.

are, as I am well acquainted with the proverb: Errare humanum est To err is human. But also knowing perseverare in opinione falsa præconcepta diabolicum est to persevere in a false preconceived opinion is diabolical. I also remind myself daily of the first aphorism of Hippocrates: Ars longa, vita brevis Art is long, life is short. Thus I do not set myself above others, only noting that from my youth I have felt an insatiable desire for the Studio Alchymico alchemical study truly within me. For this reason, I have spared neither effort nor expense in acquiring the most distinguished authors dedicated to this study, have examined them most precisely, and have kept their Dis- & Consensu disagreement and agreement in view as much as possible. Therefore, I have extracted and compiled a Specimen sample/example or short Schema outline from their noblest writings, by means of which Manuduction guidance I have escaped, as if by an infallible guideline, the detours and errors of deceitful, seductive philosophical sophists and procedure-peddlers.

But since to write something in this science and bring it to the light of day,