Dissatisfactionwithhislotseemstobethecharacteristicofmaninallagesandclimates。Sofar，however，frombeinganevil，asatfirstmightbesupposed，ithasbeenthegreatciviliserofourrace；
andhastended，morethananythingelse，toraiseusabovetheconditionofthebrutes。Butthesamediscontentwhichhasbeenthesourceofallimprovement，hasbeentheparentofnosmallprogenyoffolliesandabsurdities；totracetheselatteristheobjectofthepresentvolume。Vastasthesubjectappears，itiseasilyreduciblewithinsuchlimitsaswillmakeitcomprehensivewithoutbeingwearisome，andrenderitsstudybothinstructiveandamusing。
Threecausesespeciallyhaveexcitedourdiscontent；and，byimpellingustoseekforremediesfortheirremediable，havebewilderedusinamazeofmadnessanderror。Thesearedeath，toil，andignoranceofthefuture——thedoomofmanuponthissphere，andforwhichheshowshisantipathybyhisloveoflife，hislongingforabundance，andhiscravingcuriositytopiercethesecretsofthedaystocome。Thefirsthasledmanytoimaginethattheymightfindmeanstoavoiddeath，or，failinginthis，thattheymight，nevertheless，soprolongexistenceastoreckonitbycenturiesinsteadofunits。Fromthissprangthesearch，solongcontinuedandstillpursued，fortheelixirvitae，orwateroflife，whichhasledthousandstopretendtoitandmillionstobelieveinit。Fromthesecondsprangtheabsurdsearchforthephilosopher’sstone，whichwastocreateplentybychangingallmetalsintogold；andfromthethird，thefalsesciencesofastrology，divination，andtheirdivisionsofnecromancy，chiromancy，augury，withalltheirtrainofsigns，portents，andomens。
Intracingthecareeroftheerringphilosophers，orthewilfulcheats，whohaveencouragedorpreyeduponthecredulityofmankind，itwillsimplifyandelucidatethesubject，ifwedivideitintothreeclasses:——thefirstcomprisingalchymists，orthoseingeneralwhohavedevotedthemselvestothediscoveringofthephilosopher’sstoneandthewateroflife；thesecondcomprisingastrologers，necromancers，sorcerers，geomancers，andallthosewhopretendedtodiscoverfuturity；andthethirdconsistingofthedealersincharms，amulets，philters，universal-panaceamongers，touchersfortheevil，seventhsonsofaseventhson，sympatheticpowdercompounders，homeopathists，animalmagnetizers，andallthemotleytribeofquacks，empirics，andcharlatans。
But，innarratingthecareerofsuchmen，itwillbefoundthatmanyofthemunitedseveralorallofthefunctionsjustmentioned；