Emerald Tablet
The fourteenth century alchemist Ortolanus (or Hortulanus) wrote a substantial exegesis on "The Secret of Hermes", which was influential on the subsequent development of alchemy. Many manuscripts of this copy of the "Emerald Tablet" and the commentary of Ortolanus survive, dating at least as far back as the fifteenth century. Ortolanus, like Albertus Magnus before him saw the tablet as a cryptic recipe that described laboratory processes using "deck names" (or code words). This was the dominant view held by Europeans until the fifteenth century.