PREFACE

TO THE READER.

...had perished in time, as he wrote to us; what shall we say of the age of our ancestors after the time of Pliny? Gaius Plinius Secundus (23–79 AD), author of the monumental "Natural History," which served as the foundation for Aldrovandi's work. These ancestors, intent rather on domestic affairs than on these sciences and other noble disciplines, and living in the midst of the greatest barbarity, were the cause of our being submerged in such great errors and losing all the fruits of the arts and sciences.

God's Benignity.

Therefore, we owe immortal thanks to God, the Best and Greatest—the author and preserver from whom all knowledge of things proceeds to mortals—who did not wish us to lack this treasure any longer. Having finally taken pity on us, He raised up various men in various parts of the world to restore those lost things and to bring back to light those things which had been submerged in the deep mud of obscurity and ignorance, and which had lain hidden for many centuries.

Epistle 12 to the Corinthians: God bestows gifts in various ways.

Among these men, we have seen some who (according to the various talents and graces of His majesty, as St. Paul says) have fundamentally and radically uprooted that barbarity. Others have endured immense labors in Sacred Theology, others in Jurisprudence, and others in Medicine. Some have renewed Anatomy, the knowledge of which had been entirely abolished; others have provided knowledge of the New World; others have illustrated philosophy and these hidden offspring of nature, the knowledge of which (to our great sorrow) had been entrusted not to physicians or learned men, but to apothecaries and old women, to the great detriment of the sick.

Authors of natural history.

Among these, as if they were the foremost lights, I cannot pass over Jean Ruel, Pierre Belon, Jacques Dubois, Jean Fernel of Amiens, Guillaume Rondelet, and Jacques Daléchamps among the French. Among the Germans: Valerius Cordus, Hieronymus Bock Latin: "Tragus," the Latinized version of his German name meaning "goat.", Joachim Camerarius the Younger, the brothers Jean and Gaspard Bauhin, Rembert Dodoens, Matthias de L'Obel, Carolus Clusius, and Melchior Wieland. Among the Italians: Julius Caesar Scaliger, Pietro Andrea Mattioli, Bartolomeo Maranta, Antonio Brasavola, Andrea Cesalpino, Andrea Bacci, Giambattista della Porta, Girolamo Mercuriale (the primary Professor of Medicine at the nourishing University of Pisa), Giovanni Costeo of Lodi, Fabio Colonna, Massario of Venice, and Luca Ghini, formerly my teacher, who was the first to publicly profess the history of plants both at Bologna and Pisa; also his disciple Luigi Anguillara, and Giacomo Antonio Cortuso, both formerly directors of the Padua Botanical Garden. Among the Spaniards: Amato Lusitano, Andrés Laguna, Garcia de Orta, and Francisco Vallés. Some of these most illustrious men devoted all their study, effort, industry, and care to illustrating the causes, actions, powers, and forms of those things born on the earth, others to those in the air, and others to those in the water.

The author's disposition.

Indeed, from my very tenderest years Latin: "a teneris unguiculis," literally "from tender little fingernails," a Roman idiom for early childhood., I have considered nothing more excellent than such noble practice, nor did I think there was almost any other thing that sets God more clearly and illustriously before our eyes, and shows His supreme power, exceptional goodness, and inexplicable wisdom. For this reason, as soon as I had tasted more humane studies, and although I had devoted myself entirely to civil and canon law for seven continuous years (making such progress that anyone might have encouraged me to receive the insignia of its highest degree), nevertheless, having tasted the first principles of philosophy—namely logic—I was inflamed with such a love for philosophical study that, despite my friends’ sharp reproaches, I said farewell to jurisprudence and preferred philosophy.

When I realized that philosophy consists of these particular things of nature, I was greatly inflamed by a natural instinct to understand them. I directed every word, every deed, every effort toward these things, as if toward the goal or target of the highest good; like a sailor steering toward a certain star, I guided my course, warned by the precept of the Stoics, who judged that a certain fixed end should be proposed to every man. When I recognized that this talent had been granted to me by that supreme Author of all good things—namely, to search out the hidden and recondite secrets of nature (which is the duty of a true philosopher)—and that a sufficiently long life had been supplied to me to perceive and understand them, I could not fail to show some small sign of a grateful heart for these benefits received from the Divine Majesty, lest I be ungrateful. For, as St. Paul says, "Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but God who gives the increase."

The author's works and the order of printing.

I believe I shall partly fulfill this duty if I leave to posterity those things which I have acquired during the whole course of my life through the greatest labors and at the highest expense. Indeed, since I have always been a most bitter enemy of idleness, I have spent all my time understanding these hidden things day and night, scarcely taking account of my health, fearing neither the intense cold of harsh winter nor the intolerable heat of parched summer, and fleeing no labor, however arduous. I have written many works, not only on natural things but also other philosophical and medical works which, in my opinion, are not useless or unnecessary for philosophers, physicians, and other men of letters. Among these, it seemed to me that those which treat of animals should be published in the first place, because they ought to be preferred to the others in nobility.

The four kinds of animals.

Since the famous Plato divided animals into four kinds corresponding to the four elements of this world—namely one terrestrial or living on land, which he called pedestrian and land-dwelling Greek: "pezon kai chersaion"; another aquatic Greek: "enyidron"; a third winged or air-traversing Greek: "ptēnon ē aeroporon"; and a fourth and final one fiery Greek: "to pyrinon"—it seems to me not ill-advised to begin with the winged kind, because it presents itself to me as first in order (for I do not believe the "fiery" kind exists in the nature of things).

Which animals are contained under the name of "winged."

But since certain flying insects are also included under this genus—some of which are called uncovered-wing Greek: "anelytra," referring to insects like bees whose wings are not hidden and others sheath-winged Greek: "koleoptera," insects with wings hidden in a sheath, like beetles—the order of dignity seems to demand that I deal now with Birds, as they fly with feathers rather than membranes like those insects.

Reason why birds are discussed before quadrupeds.

This is surely an arduous proposal, but the more difficult a thing is, the more worthy it is for a noble mind to test its strength. If it aspires to the desired end, it should achieve nothing common or vulgar, but something magnificent and honorable; and if it cannot reach that goal, let the distinguished effort, worthy of Hercules, nonetheless be praised. But perhaps someone here might argue: why have I not treated quadrupeds rather than birds? For quadrupeds are those which, because they serve the needs of men as much as possible, commend their labors and provide daily nourishment, and thus claim the first place in the genus of animals.

However, that person will easily grant me pardon, I think, if he understands the causes that impelled me to the publication of Ornithology The study of birds., as he will understand in its proper place. Therefore, I shall give the second place to quadrupeds, especially because birds mostly enjoy the use of life in the air, while those others live with us on the earth.

The difficulty of the history of fishes.

Thirdly, I have conceived in my mind Ichthyology, or the history of aquatic creatures, where I shall declare the inexhaustible and fertile offspring of the waves, and the swimming flocks of fish in the "azure realms of Neptune" (as the poets say)—the deep-sea, rock-dwelling, and shore-dwelling fish, and those that live in marine lagoons, rivers, and lakes.

History of bloodless animals.

The fourth and last place among animals is due to the bloodless creatures In Aristotelian biology, "bloodless" (exanguia) refers to invertebrates such as insects, mollusks, and crustaceans., both the useful and the useless, where I shall bring to light many small animals unknown to the ancients and the moderns. Next, to the most wealthy...