TO THE MOST REVEREND AND

MOST SERENE PRINCE, THE LORD,

Lord Ernest, Archbishop of Cologne, Elector of the Holy Roman

Empire and Archchancellor throughout Italy, Bishop

of Liège, Administrator of the Monasteries of Hildesheim and

Freising, Prince in Stavelot, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke

of Upper and Lower Bavaria, Westphalia, and Angria, etc., Marquis

A decorative woodcut initial 'R' containing floral and leaf patterns, beginning the main body of the dedication text.

Most Reverend and Most Serene Prince-Elector, most merciful Lord: Since in recent years the dioptric reed original: "Arundo dioptrica"; a poetic or technical term for the telescope, referring to its tube-like shape and the use of lenses (dioptrics) was added to the great heap of discoveries of this past century—an instrument by no means to be counted among common inventions—and while concerning it some contend for the prize of its first discovery, and others boast further of the perfection of the instrument (claiming that in the former case Chance original: "casus"; suggesting the telescope was discovered by accident by spectacle-makers played the greatest part, while in the latter Reason original: "Ratio"; referring to the scientific refinement of the device prevails); and while Galileo truly celebrates a most brilliant triumph over its revealed use in searching out the secrets of Astronomy; as one for whom diligence supplied the plan, and fortune did not deny success: I, led by a certain honorable emulation A sense of scholarly rivalry or the desire to match the achievements of others, have opened a new field for Mathematicians to exercise the power of their intellect—that is, the demonstrating by geometric law of the causes upon which such longed-for and manifold effects, in their delightful variety, depend. Since