Man was created of the Earth, and lives by vertue of the Aire; for there is in the Aire a secret food of life, which in the night wee call dew; and in the day rarified water, whose invisible, congealed spirit is better then the whole Earth. O holy, and wonderfull Nature, who dost not suffer the sons of Wisdome to erre, as thou dost manifest in the life of man daily! Moreover in these twelve Treatises I have produced so many naturall reasons, that he which is desirous of the art, and feares God, may the more easily understand all things, which through Gods blessing, with my eyes I have seen, with mine own hands have made without any deceit of sophistication: for without the light, and knowledge of Nature, it is impossible to attain to this Art, unlesse it come to any by Gods speciall revelation, or some speciall friend doth privately shew it. It is a thing of little account, yet most pretious, which being divers times described, I doe now again repeat. Take 10 parts of aire, 1 part of living gold, or living silver; put all these into thy vessel; boyle this aire first untill it be water, and then no water. If thou art ignorant of this, and knowst not how to boyl aire, without all doubt thou shalt erre; seeing this is the matter of the ancient Philosophers. For thou must take that, which is, and is not seen, untill it be the Artificers pleasure; it is the water of our dew, out of which is extracted the Salt Petre of Philosophers, by which all things grow, and are nourished: the matrix of it is the Center of the Sun, and Moon, both celestiall, and terrestiall: and to speak more plainly, it is our Loadstone, which in the foregoing Treatises I called Chalybs, or Steel: The Aire generates this Loadstone, and the Loadstone generates, or makes our Air to appear, and come forth. I have here entirely shewed thee the truth; Begge of God that hee would prosper thine undertakings: And so in this place thou shalt have the true, and right explication of _Hermes_, when he saith, that the father of it is the Sun, and its mother the Moon, and that which the wind carryed in its belly, _viz._ _Sal Alkali_, which the Philosophers have called _Sal Armoniacum_, and vegetable, hid in the belly of the _Magnesia_. The operation of it is this, to dissolve the congealed aire, in which thou shall dissolve the tenth part of Gold; seale this up, and work with our fire, untill the air be turned into powders; and there appear (the salt of the world being first had) divers colours. I would have set down the whole processe in these Treatises; but because that, together with the multiplication, is sufficiently set down in the books of _Lullius_, and other old Philosophers; it therefore sufficed me to treat only of the first, and second matter; which is done faithfully, neither do thou ever think that any man living hath done it more cleerly, then I have done it; since I have done it not out of many books but by the labour of my hands, and mine own experience.