Magia Naturalis, oder Hauß-, Kunst- und Wunder-Buch

What Claudius Ælianus, Julius Solinus, Athenæus, Nicander, Oppianus, Philes, Joannes Tzetzes, Albertus Magnus, Vincentius Bellovacensis—or rather Guilielmus de Conchis—Kiranides, Hieronymus Cardanus, and many others have written concerning physical and other natural matters, and with how many errors those same books are filled (because it was not permitted to those authors to subject everything to closer inspection themselves), we wish here to pass over in silence, and only to report this little in advance: that such books are to be read with great caution, and one should not greedily believe everything that the authors themselves (were they alive today) would not believe.

On the contrary, the aforementioned famous P. J. Baptista Porta has proceeded with great accuracy in all his Arcanis Naturæ, or secrets of nature, and has not lightly accepted or believed anything unless he had first tested it himself. If he found something not to be in accordance with the truth, he did not reject it entirely, but rather suspended his judgment thereon and merely cited the words of the authors, without presenting them as true—as the judicious reader will find for himself upon careful perusal. That he has, however, discovered many hidden things for the world of today—particularly in his Magia Naturali, or twenty books (the contents of which may be read on the following page), concerning the wonderful operations of nature—is evident in this little work. And since many entertaining as well as other matters highly useful in domestic economy are contained therein, and previous copies have found their admirers—so much so that frequent inquiries for more have been made—we have therefore resolved upon this special edition, desiring to serve most devotedly the curious lovers of physical matters.