The Preface.

[Campa]nella The text begins mid-word, continuing from the previous page's mention of Thomas Campanella, an Italian philosopher. himself was not very certain of his own hypotheses. He was someone who began to waver in his claims regarding the positions of Galileo original: Galilaeus concerning the earth’s movement original: "mobility", yet he also called them into doubt himself; this is evident enough in his Apology for Galileo original: Apologie.

But when I happened later upon a work by Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam and Chancellor of England, titled The Great Restoration original: Instauratio Magna; this was Bacon's major project to reorganize and reform the sciences (an admirable work, which I view as nothing less than a brilliant ray of light for a new age of philosophers now emerging), I understood that in some specific details of Campanella, the solid proofs original: "Demonstrations" required for the truth of things were lacking. Yet it saddened original: "grieved" me again to see that the most noble Verulam presented us with a true key to Nature, but did not actually unlock the secrets of Nature. He only showed us by a few examples how they were to be opened, and left the rest to depend on