PREFACE

that this GOD-GIVEN philosophical blessing original: "DEI benedictionem Philosophicam"; likely referring to the discovery of the Philosopher's Stone or the Universal Medicine has not been denied to certain men. For specific reasons, it did not seem advisable to make my name public, as I do not seek praise for myself but rather strive to be of use to the lovers of Philosophy. Therefore, I leave the vain desire for glory to those who prefer to seem rather than to be. What I write here in testimony of the undoubted philosophical truth—comprehended in these few pages—has been drawn from the manual experience original: "manuali experientia"; emphasizing practical laboratory work over mere theory granted to me by the Most High. I do this so that those who have laid the first and real foundations in this most praised science may not abandon the practice of these most beautiful things because of this encouragement, and thus may be safe from the wicked crowd of "Smoke-sellers" Smoke-sellers (Fumivenduli): a derogatory term for fraudulent alchemists or "puffers" who deceived the public with false promises who find it sweet to deceive. These are not dreams, as the ignorant common folk say, nor the empty inventions of idle men, as the fools and the unwise who mock the art claim. It is the very Philosophical Truth itself, which I, as a lover of truth, neither should nor could hide or wrap in silence, as a support and confirmation for the undeservedly proclaimed Chemical Truth. This is despite these malignant times (where virtue and vice are treated as equals) and on account of the unworthiness of the age and the ingratitude and faithlessness of men (lest anything concerning...