“Chemists are a strange class of mortals, impelled by an almost maniacal impulse to seek their pleasures amongst smoke and vapour, soot and flames, poisons and poverty, yet amongst all these evils I seem to live so sweetly that I would rather die than change places with the King of Persia.”
Johann Joachim Becher in Physica subterranea, 1669
Aaaah the early days and how I like to be reminded of them. Thanks for this interesting find – and great quote, which still holds the truth of it 343 years later 😉