Phytognomonica

...hidden original: "abditas" (inferred from "btih;i") and unknown to medical use. By conducting many trials and leaving nothing unexplored, I have been carried toward such useful and noble discoveries that I have never regretted the effort and care I expended. From this "gleaning," as it were, a vast multitude of wonderful contemplations gradually flowed together, so that the delights and riches not only of herbs, but also of animals, metals, gems, and stones could be investigated and contemplated. Through this, an entrance opened to our desires far wider than we had hoped.

And had divine Minerva A classical reference to the goddess of wisdom and strategic thought; the author suggests that divine wisdom guides what should and should not be revealed. not forbidden us from writing about harmful and malicious things, we might have served those minds eager to learn of marvelous things with even greater devotion. We have provided examples primarily in Medicine, not because we wish to profess ourselves as Physicians—for that is not our main intent—but so that we do not give wicked men an opportunity to devise evil. The learned and discerning will understand other matters from these examples.

Finally, under God's guidance, the matter has been brought to the point where we present the rules collected from our inquiry—even if they are not yet fully "digested" by us, and regardless of how humble we or these rules may be—to a mindful age. These have been mentioned by none of the ancients, let alone the moderns. I show this not to court favor or a vain breeze of boasting (for my mind is a despiser of empty glory, as those who know me can testify), but so that posterity might be provided for, and the supreme kindness of God might be cherished and worshiped.

In these investigations of causes, there will not occur those "qualities" of hot, cold, moist, and dry The author is rejecting the traditional Galenic system of "humors" and "qualities" that dominated medicine for centuries. so often repeated and droned on about by Philosophers and Physicians. Nor will you find things handed down by others, summarized, expanded, or merely rearranged; instead, you will find only what we ourselves have discovered.

Hence, if anything remains to be known, or is not exactly demonstrated (for who would dare promise such a thing?), know that the knowledge of noble, new, and divine things—even if less proven—is certainly more useful and superior than the knowledge of trivial things that are perfectly proven. Any shortcoming should be ascribed to the rashness of our meager talent rather than to the truth of the matter. It is a challenging and difficult undertaking, untried by all. I know that after me there will be no lack of those who, using this same methodthe author's specific system of observation and "signatures" and knowledge, will produce higher and more abundant results. For our part, we have provided what we could; readers will see that the will was not lacking.

A woodcut tailpiece decoration featuring a mask-like face with foliate ornamentation within a heart-shaped frame.