Basil Valentine Revived or the Shining Star of Alchemy

Preface.

to this one and that one; for in this art it is said: Quærite & invenietis Seek and you shall find. PARACELSUS also confirms this. It is not fitting that one smears the mush into another's mouth, let a lazy bird fly after it as we have done.

Generally, such peddlers of the art and process-mongers are loose rascals, deceitful vagrants, and coarse, inexperienced ignoramuses, manifest thieves who, like swindlers, know how to practice the art of taking money from people right before their eyes. I have never read or heard that any true philosopher (Philosophus) wanders around like a stork and offers his precious wares for sale with purely flattering and intrigue-filled words: for everyone strives for good wares themselves.

Therefore, trust no one who comes to you with his—according to outward appearances—sweet-sounding decoy pipe, blathering to you of unspeakable and inconceivable