TO THE READER

Decorative woodcut initial 'E' featuring foliate patterns and scrolls within a square border.

Everything is ready (oh Kind Reader) and I am here with a little salad The author uses "insalatina" (a little salad) as a metaphor for a curated collection of diverse and pleasant topics. of the finest herbs and beautiful flowers produced by the delightful garden of Chemistry original: "Chimica." In 1672, this term encompassed both practical chemical science and the older traditions of alchemy.. Here, certainly, my Guide The author refers to his previously published guidebook or manual. will be favorable to you in many places; therefore, hold it dear. I suppose that you are not without a copy, since from the day I first brought it to light—which was at the end of the year sixteen hundred and seventy-two—fourteen thousand copies have been printed until now. And now, as there are no more copies left here in Modena original: "Modona," the historic spelling of the Italian city., it is being reprinted; and on this occasion, I will add a dis- The word is cut off and continues on the next page, likely as "discorso" (discourse or treatise).