The prologue directs the aspirant to the supreme temple of everlasting wisdom to know God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent, to know also himself, and the mysteries of the macrocosmos. The whole treatise is purely mystical and magical. The seven steps leading to the portals of universal knowledge are described in an esoteric commentary on some portions of the Wisdom of Solomon. The _lapis philosophorum_ is declared to be identical with the Ruach Elohim who brooded over the face of the waters during the first period of creation. The Ruach Elohim is called _vapor virtutis Dei_, and the internal form of all things. The perfect stone is attained through Christ, and, conversely, the possession of that treasure gives the knowledge of Christ. The _Amphitheatrum Sapientiæ Æternæ_ seems to be the voice of the ancient chaos, but its curious folding plates are exceedingly suggestive. FOOTNOTES: [Y] Chausepié, _Dictionnaire_. MICHAEL MAIER. This celebrated German alchemist, one of the central figures of the Rosicrucian controversy in Germany, and the greatest adept of his age, was born at Ruidsburg, in Holstein, towards the year 1568. In his youth he applied himself closely to the study of medicine, and establishing himself at Rostock, he practised that art with so much success that he became physician to the Emperor Rudolph II., by whom he was ennobled for his services. Some adepts, notwithstanding, succeeded in enticing him from the practical path which he had followed so long into the thorny tortuosities of alchemical labyrinths. _Il se passionna pour le grand œuvre_ and scoured all Germany to hold conferences with those whom he imagined to be in possession of transcendent secrets. The _Biographie Universelle_ declares that he sacrificed his health, his fortune, and his time to these “ruinous absurdities.” According to Buhle,[Z] he travelled extensively; and on one occasion paid a visit to England, where he made the acquaintance of the Kentish mystic, Robert Fludd.