. DEDICATION .

not only for the sake of grasping the knowledge of arts and sciences, but also a mind original: Ingenium; refers to innate talent, character, or intellect. wonderfully capable of penetrating into the more hidden mysteries of Nature. For you pave the path to the scholar’s laurel by no other means than through your own example, since even from a tender age, you have erected in your breast a training ground original: palestram; literally a wrestling school or gymnasium, used here metaphorically for a place of rigorous intellectual exercise. for all the Muses original: Musarum; the nine Greek goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences.. Thus, we now see the heights of the liberal disciplines adorned not only with the scholar's Laurel, but also with the Imperial Diadem; and the literary world recognizes that the conflict between MARS The Roman god of war, representing the Emperor's military duties. and PALLAS Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, representing his intellectual pursuits. is finally settled.

And it is clearly evident from this that after the publication of several of my works under the happy auspices of Your August Majesty original: Augustae Majestatis Tuae; a formal title for the Emperor derived from the first Roman Emperor, Augustus., when concerning Phonurgia original: Phonurgia; a term coined by Kircher from the Greek words for "sound" and "work." It refers to his study of acoustics, echoes, and the science of sound.