To the Most Reverend and

Most Serene

MAXIMILIAN

III.

Archduke of Austria, Duke of

Burgundy, Prince of the Teutonic Order, etc.

Most Merciful Lord

That nothing in this entire universe, neither under the sun nor above the sun, is immutable, most illustrious Prince, has been so frequently proclaimed among the more refined Investigators of natural things A term for early scientists or "natural philosophers" who studied the physical world., that to doubt this matter is not undeservedly said to be the mark of an unphilosophical man original: "aphilosophi," referring to someone lacking the wisdom of natural science.. For although the celestial bodies, according to the common opinion of the Peripatetics The followers of Aristotle, whose philosophy dominated universities at the time and held that the heavens were perfect and unchanging., are celebrated as being free from corruption and all change: yet