The Alkahestby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Madame Josephine Delannoy nee Doumerc.Madame, may God grant that this, my book, may live longer than I,for then the gratitude which I owe to you, and which I hope willequal your almost maternal kindness to me, would last beyond thelimits prescribed for human affection. This sublime privilege ofprolonging life in our hearts for a time by the life of the workwe leave behind us would be (if we could only be sure of gainingit at last) a reward indeed for all the labor undertaken by thosewho aspire to such an immortality....