Release Notes March 2007 This DVD-ROM contains a selection of the R.A.M.S. materials, painstakingly selected, restored and reproduced over a period of many years. The DVD-ROM has been recorded using the ISO-9660 format with 30 character file names, and includes the document(s) in both MS Word and Adobe PDF formats. A free Adobe Acrobat PDF reader is available at http://www.adobe.com. Notey: Some of the documents on this volume are text-only. Original scans were not available. Many of them were a part of the R.A.M.S. material, however, and are included in the Collection in an effort to present as complete a set of R.A.M.S. material. The DVD-ROM has been tested for readability on Windows 2000/XP and Mac OS 9/X systems, and should be readable on any computer that can read ISO 9660 format/30 character file names. In digital format, one may easily search for keywords and phrases -- difficult with the printed versions. In addition, the original high-resolution scans are included, page-by-page, in PDF format. This allows the serious student or researcher to compare the original materials with the OCR text version. OCR (optical character recognition) has advanced greatly since the 1980's, when Hans Nintzel was first approached to start migrating the collection towards the digital format. Hans was computer-literate but not convinced that a digital format was feasible at that time. In any case, here is the digital realization of a hefty portion of Hans' work. While OCR software is good, it is not perfect, and spot corrections almost certainly did not mitigate all errors. But with the original scans, you dear student are able to compare these as needed. R.A.M.S., the Restoration of Alchemical Manuscripts Society, was based in Richardson Texas, U.S.A. R.A.M.S. was loosely knit group composed of private citizens around the world, directed by Hans Nintzel, who contributed an incredible amount of time and energy to collecting, translating, indexing and typing very limited editions of ancient Alchemical manuscripts. I was an active participant in R.A.M.S. and in frequent communication with Hans. Hans Nintzel was one of the most significant of the twentieth century's alchemical enthusiasts. From the 1970's through the 1990's he worked tirelessly to promote interest in alchemy, the subject he dearly loved. He was among Frater Albertus' earliest pupils and was intensely inspired by Frater's practical approach to alchemy. In the 1970's and 1980's he worked on the project for which he is best known - the R.A.M.S. publications - the Restoration of Alchemical Manuscripts Society. Through a close knit groups of friends he struggled to make rare Alchemical manuscripts available to the English speaking audience. These publications were produced to order. The R.A.M.S. materials have long been unavailable. The materials supplied to me by Hans were simply looseleaf photocopies of the carefully researched, typed, and often translated manuscripts. Hans was very particular about which Alchemical materials he included in the R.A.M.S. collection, rejecting as worthless most of the related books commonly available in University libraries. R.A.M.S. published a truly unique collection of Alchemical knowledge. I hope that the information on this DVD-ROM will help you to advance on your path to greater knowledge.