Preface

...if having undertaken this work, I do not finish it with sufficient dignity, I will nonetheless deserve pardon, because I was obliged to traverse a land not only unknown, but also very rugged and like a labyrinth. If perhaps in this treatment I have not yet sufficiently investigated the more secret recesses and all the innermost bays, and what occurs within them, I nevertheless believe that I have attached a thread Willis references the "thread of Ariadne" from Greek mythology, used to navigate the Labyrinth of Minos. He suggests his work provides the essential guide for future researchers to follow. for those things which are to be more accurately discovered hereafter.

/ Truly, if these two things, which I have followed throughout this whole inquiry, were exactly known: namely, the manner by which drugs, or their particles, affect the Animal spirits Animal spirits original: "spiritus Animales"; in 17th century physiology, these were believed to be very subtle, fluid like substances that traveled through the nerves to facilitate movement and sensation. in each location, and likewise in what ways and how many, they ferment the blood and humors; then a path would lead from there to explaining the principles of every part of pharmacy. So that the reasons for these things and for the whole of pharmaceutics may better appear, we have taken care to describe the Stomach and Intestines with the greatest accuracy regarding their membranes and fibers. It is in these membranes where the Animal spirits reside, and where they are first affected by the particles of the medicine.

/ Although the substances, shapes, cavities, positions, and connections of these organs have for a long time been delineated accurately enough by others; nevertheless...