TO THE READER

...granted to truth, and he breathed out his last breath in the arms of this his brother, who continually meditated on these aforementioned words.

This man, in his turn, brought forth the following: "We are all bound, brothers in Christ, to champion the truth; which is accomplished no better than by attacking and defending. Hence let us pursue two things: one, that the strengths of our enemies become known to us; the other, that we add greater strength to our own, and thus be more confirmed in our purpose." After they had heard all this, they forced him to undertake this duty under threat of a fine, to such an extent that he had to take up this task as if it were a voluntary gift. And he replied: "I, second of the Elders, desiring to be taught by anyone in this difficult matter—I, a servant of truth—do to some degree grant the first two propositions. But to the third I can in no way agree: namely, to suppress the aforementioned books with prohibitions and the marks of censure In this period, the medical and ecclesiastical authorities often worked together to "censure" or ban books that challenged traditional Aristotelian or Galenic medicine.. For if we strove for that, we would act altogether preposterously; we would imagine we were extinguishing them in one place, only to revive them in a thousand others. Men are no longer so ignorant and incautious as they once were, when they surrendered all copies of a book for the sake of offering up their obedience—a fact that is especially clear to the Printers and Booksellers, who make a profit from them here and there, and they cannot be forbidden or hindered.

Does not the matter itself speak of this everywhere? One need not look far. This very author published a dissertation entitled On the Magnetic Cure of Wounds original: "De Magneticâ vulnerum Curatione". This refers to Jan Baptista van Helmont’s controversial work on sympathetic magic and weapon salve., which was stolen from him, and about fifty editions were printed by his enemies. Against this work, they published in great numbers three different books by theologians and doctors of medicine from all over Europe—who cultivate their own atheism—consisting of blasphemous censures. They easily obtained these censures because they live in every region under every kind of religious habit and mask, wherever money or merchandise abounds. They scattered these censorious notes everywhere in temples and other public places, by which the little book became known; it was hunted for by everyone. I knew many who sought it at a high price, yet were not able to obtain it. For none of the Engravers Chalcographorum; literally "copper-writers," referring to printers who used copperplate engraving or general publishers had found out anything about it, since they [the enemies] kept it for themselves. It was copied at least fifty times for the sake of gathering the opinions of censors, so that they might ruin its author, causing him a loss of more than fifty thousand Imperials Imperialium; high-value silver coins used in the Holy Roman Empire.

Furthermore, because the aforementioned little book, or Disputation, was approved by all wise, learned, and fair-minded men, a great injustice was done to the author. God looked out for him elsewhere and blessed him, so that it might not be suppressed according to their desire. And behold, during the detention Van Helmont was famously placed under house arrest by the Inquisition for his "Magnetic Cure" treatise. he suffered because of this, he published another little book as a precursor, to be followed by this other principal one, so that it might be clearly evident that writings of this kind have little fear of the censor’s rod.