On the Marvelous Occurrences in the World

...and he endeavors to render the causes of those things which are thought to depend upon the influence of the heavens with great subtlety. The Franciscan referring to Roger Bacon, however, briefly covers in a very short summary those things that proceed from art imitating nature, and which are more secret and appear stupendous to the common people, where he also treats a few things concerning perì chymeías alchemy/chemistry in passing and enigmatically, as is the custom of the authors of that art. All of these things seem to express the wonderful power of nature and art itself. Both because of the dignity of the subjects treated in these little books, and because of the succinct and easy delivery of each author, they seem most pleasant to read and not unworthy to be shared with men of philosophy. Furthermore, having found these books in a very corrupt state, partly due to the fault of the scribes and partly due to the negligence of those who prefer the profane to the sacred, and the common to the rare—that is, who prefer the cheaper to the more precious—they were so debased that, without subtle interpretation and sharp judgment, it would be impossible to extract a sound meaning from them. I thought I would do a worthy deed, most welcome to all investigators and students of natural and artificial things, if I were to amend both copies given the dexterity allowed to me, and restore them to their integrity. This we have performed with such faith and diligence that it can now be easily read and understood. These books, finally, under your name...