A horizontal decorative woodcut border consists of ten identical circular wreaths. Each wreath encloses a stylized floral or fruit motif, resembling a pinecone or pomegranate.

TO THE AUTHOR

On his Medico-Philosophical treatises

original: Diatribas Medico-philosophicas. In the seventeenth century, a "diatribe" referred to a formal scholarly discourse or essay rather than a verbal attack.

A congratulatory poem.

The hidden causes of things, and by what seed Nature prepares strife
or by what seed she prepares peace: what motions drive bodies,
what mixes untamed fires with the waves,
and what bonds tie the elements together, a happier age
has finally witnessed. The secret inner chambers of the vast world,
unknown to all those who came before, are now opened wide.

The offspring of heaven, and the metals dug from the bowels
of the earth, were lacking light even though they were shown
to their father, the Sun original: Phoebo; Phoebus Apollo was the god of the sun and the symbolic father of gold in alchemical tradition. A dark shadow suppressed
the rays, and splendor was sought in the shining gold.
Iron dazzled the sight. It lay hidden and unknown,
known only too well by the destruction it caused. It routed
armies, and the victorious sword original: ensis had overcome the human intellect.
In this way, Mother Nature once eluded our concerns and the
arts of vain inquiry. She commanded us to stand at the
threshold, and to fix our eyes upon the outermost skin original: cortice; literally the bark of a tree, meaning the external surface of things.
But now, we attempt to enter the inner sanctuaries, and to see the things...