| FIRST PUBLISHED | 1866 |
| REVISED EDITION | 1889 |
| REPRINTED | 1965 |
v
The odd account of the origin of this Treatise—in its firstlines—caught my eye as I was turning over the leaves of the SloaneManuscript which contains it. I resolved to print it as a specimen ofthe curious fancies our forefathers believed in (as I suppose) inNatural Science, to go alongside of the equally curious notions they putfaith in in matters religious. And this I determined on with no idea ofscoffing, or pride in modern wisdom; for I believe that as greatfallacies now prevail in both the great branches of knowledge andfeeling mentioned, as ever were held by man. Because once held by othermen, and specially by older Englishmen, these fancies and notions have,or should have, an interest for all of us; and in this belief, one ofthem is presented here.
The loss of my sweet, bright, only child, Eena, and other distress, haveprevented my getting up any cram on the subject of Quintessence to forma regular Preface. The (translated?) original of the text is attributedto Hermes—Trismegistus, “or the thrice great Interpreter,” socalled as “having three parts of the Philosophy of the whole world”1—to whom werecredited more works than he wrote. The tract appears to be a great fussabout Alcohol or Spirits of Wine; how to make it,vi and get more or less tipsy on it, and what wonders it will work, frommaking old men young, and dying men well, to killing lice.
The reading of the proof with the MS. was done by Mr. Edmund Brock, theSociety’s most careful and able helper. To Mr. Cockayne I am indebtedfor the identification of some names of plants, &c.; and to Mr. Gillof University College, London, for some Notes on the Chemistry of thetreatise, made at the request of my friend Mr. Moreshwar Atmaram.2 Th