TO QUEEN CHRISTINA THE AUGUST

JO. ALPHONSUS BORELLUS

ACADEMICIAN TO THE QUEEN, GREETING.

A large, square decorative woodcut initial 'N' features a background of stylized flowers, leaves, and vine scrolls in a dark, hatched style.

It is known and established, LADY, that human beings possess an insatiable desire for knowledge, and for that reason, we see them easily drawn and driven by a natural instinct to admire works and machines crafted with the highest skill. Furthermore, the human character has always so revered, praised, and deeply loved the authors of these same admirable works that it has bestowed upon them divine honors.

Driven by these incentives, or seeds—or rather, sparks of that inaccessible and abundant splendor implanted in the souls of men—the highest Goodness has deigned to reveal itself to us, to call us, and to attract us to itself. This it has achieved by setting out, in the open, the treasures of its infinite Wisdom in this open Code of Heaven, and of Earth, and of all visible creatures; and especially in the summary code of the fabric of Animals and Men, through which, as if by steps, the invisible things of God are perceived by the intellect through the things that have been made. These, moreover, recount the glory of God in a perpetual hymn and proclaim the highest eminence, and the inexpressible excellence and goodness of the Creator. And these miracles shine forth especially in that small book of the fabric of Animals, the contemplation of which we now undertake.

Indeed, because although all humans are called to the inspection and reading of this divine Book, and no one is excluded from its contemplation, nevertheless it is not given to everyone to enter into its Sanctuary. That is, it is not permitted for everyone to read and perceive the secret meanings that are inscribed in the living characters of that Code. For the tireless study of the most learned Men who have flourished up to our own times has only discovered and shown the parts that compose Animals and many of their uses. Yet, it is evident that what is most secret and divine within them has not yet been noted and perceived.