An ornamental woodcut border consists of a row of repeating floral fleuron motifs, commonly used in 17th-century printing to separate sections or decorate the tops of pages.

To the Well-

Born, Noble, and Stead-

fast Lord Johann Henrich

von Lyttichaw, of Kmehlen,

Privy Councilor to the Elector of Saxony,

etc., my most favorable

Lord and Patron.

Johann Henrich von Lyttichaw (or Lüttichau) was a member of a prominent noble family in Meissen. As a "Privy Councilor" (geheymen Raht), he served as a close political advisor to the Elector of Saxony, one of the most powerful princes in the Holy Roman Empire.

Well-born, Noble, and Excellent, most favorable Lord and Patron: How greatly the philosophersIn this context, "philosophers" refers to those who studied the physical world, often called "natural philosophers." and naturalists of former times complained and sighed—regarding universal Nature and the providence of the gods in their blind delusion—that she [Nature], among all other animals (who, one and all, bring with them into this world their own defense and protection against all manner of hardship and accidents), has left man alone bare and naked, and to such an extent [deprived] of all external help

Maier is referencing a common trope in Renaissance literature, often tracing back to Pliny the Elder, which argues that while animals are born with natural defenses (fur, claws, shells), humans are born helpless and must rely on their intellect and "inventions" to survive.