The Dutch Tiphys

TO THE KIND READER.

A decorative initial letter 'C' is illustrated with a small human figure, perhaps a cherub or child, holding an object within a square frame decorated with leaves and scrolls.

When the providence of the supreme deity had separated that first mass of all things—under which the unformed bulk of all nature lay hidden—into its proper places; and when he had dissociated these lower parts, whether by a divinely implanted magnetic force or by a balanced equilibriumoriginal: "ratione Isorropica," referring to the Greek concept of equal balance or weight distribution of elements around that center point of the world: Indeed, that breathable air above us and the even purer element The "purer element" refers to the Aether, which ancient and medieval science believed filled the celestial spheres above the air. chose their own seats. But so that the nucleus of that mass—the globe of the earth, heavier than the rest and closely surrounded and encircled by watery moisture—might not be uninhabitable for land animals; therefore, that Divine Mind, the architect of the world, broke apart this Earth and commanded the mountains to rise and the valleys to sink. He did this so that in these cavities, as if in bosoms, the Earth might receive the moisture which would otherwise overflow and float upon everything, or so that it might roll out into the vast sea original: "æquor" that which had formed and been cast out from the Earth's bowels. And thus, with the boundaries of the various elements established—the earth rising and the water receding within the form of a perfect sphere—the Creator separated the human race, some in one place and some in another. From this, whether by necessity or by desire, a longing entered mortal minds to traverse lands divided by such an incompatible element The "incompatible element" refers to the sea, which naturally separates landmasses.. From the desire and ingenuity of men, just as neither the air nor the innermost secretsoriginal: "penetralia," referring to the hidden or sacred inner parts of a place of the earth itself could remain safe from exploration, so too neither the violence of the sea’s surface, nor the mad waves, nor the treacherous shallows, nor [the wind...]