...[attributed] to natural philosophy, because it is one of the books on the "small works of nature" original: "de paruis naturalibus," referring to a collection of Aristotle's shorter treatises on natural science, and it is not purely natural philosophy, but partly medicinal.

INTRODUCTION original: "Prooemium"

To his beloved companion and friend in Christ, N. a placeholder for a name, similar to "John Doe", a cleric of such-and-such a place: wishing him true wisdom and a continual increase of the present life.

The subject of this book is "mobile being" a standard Aristotelian term for physical things that change or move, specifically focused on the nature of the secrets of women, so that when they are sick, we may be able to provide remedies; and when they are confessing, we may know how to assign the penances owed for their sins. It is divided first into two parts, namely the introductory and the main body original: "executiuam," the section that carries out the actual instruction. The main body begins at the point: "As it is written," etc. First, the author greets the person to whom he writes, saying, "I, Albert, residing in Paris, to his beloved companion and friend in Christ." Here the efficient cause the agent or person who brings the work into being is touched upon—both the one moving the work forward and the one being moved to act. The "moving" cause was a certain priest, who requested Lord Albert to write a book for him about the secrets of women. And this was because women are poisonous at the time of their menses, so much so that they poison animals with their gaze, infect children in their cradles, and stain mir[rors] The text ends mid-word: "specula" (mirrors). This refers to the medieval belief that a menstruating woman's gaze could dull a polished surface or harm living things.

Albertus Magnus, On the Secrets of Women, Small Works of Nature, Introduction, menses, wisdom