An ornamental woodcut headpiece features a symmetrical design of flowers, leaves, and scrolling vines, including lilies and bell-shaped blossoms.

TO THE CANDID READER The "candid reader" was a standard address in 17th-century books, implying a reader who is both sincere and impartial.

PREFACE.

In most other sciences and arts, we notice it has always been most beneficial that observations and experiments, whether found by chance or intention, were immediately given a fitting etiology etiology original: "Aetiologiae"; the study of the causes or origins of things, in this case, the reasons why medicines work. as far as possible. These theories, once carefully considered, led to even higher discoveries. We find this process is greatly missing in Medicine, even though it is rightly considered one of the most noble sciences. In Mathematics and Mechanics, experience and Practice first suggested Theory. Then Theory, by revealing the causes of things and the methods of their operation, not only refined Practice, but also greatly increased and clarified it. Yet, although the art of healing began at first with the Em- The text breaks here. The catchword "piricis" indicates the word is "Empirics," referring to medical practitioners who relied on experience and observation without understanding the underlying biological reasons.