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\chapter{The Beginning}

{\narrower\font\sc=cmcsc10
\noindent {\sc Abstract.} Preparation of alchemical potions is an ancient craft
and its deep secrets are carefully guarded by the masters of alchemist guilds.
It usually takes several years for a novice alchemist to learn to prepare at
least the most basic potions properly. In this scroll we will present a novel
way of extracting the magical substance of various ingredients based on
a mighty catalyst, metasulphur~[3]. This substantially simplifies the traditional recipes
and also avoids some of their frequent side-effects. The only drawback is the
rarity of metasulphur.

}

\bigskip

\section{Introduction}

We will demonstrate our approach on several examples of potions which are
usually considered very volatile and dangerous to prepare~\cite{bender00lca}.

There are two basic kinds of ingredients in our recipes (except for the metasulphur,
which fits neither category, as expected): herbs and parts of bodies of living
creatures. According to the well known rule of herbal immanence, the magical
essence of herbs can be released only in boiling water, while the other
ingredients can be used at any temperature.

We follow the tradition by calling all herbal ingredients by their Latin names.
While this can be hard to handle for laymen and novice alchemists, we consider
it of utmost necessity in order to avoid confusion which often leads to fatal
consequences.

In the following, we assume that the recipe is prepared on the \em{northern
hemisphere.} Otherwise, you need to replace all clockwise stirs by
counter-clockwise ones and vice versa, and also optionally use opposum instead of
hares.

\theorem It is well known that the following equation holds:
\thmid{loop}
$$
\sum_{i\in\bb N}^\infty {1\over i^2} = {\pi^2\over 6}.
$$
\proof Follows from Theorem \thmref{loop}.
\qed

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