A rectangular decorative woodcut band at the top of the page consists of repeating symmetrical floral and scroll-work motifs. Below the heading is a large historiated drop-cap 'T' set within a square frame, intricately decorated with winding vines and leaf patterns.

PREFACE TO THE READER.

Themis, a most ancient goddess, having been consulted after the flood by Deucalion and Pyrrha on how the human race, destroyed by the waters, could easily be restored and multiplied for the sake of the elders themselves, is said to have given the response that they should cast the bones of the Great Mother behind their backs. When they interpreted this as stones and understood it correctly, they obtained the desired result. Hence, Themis is considered the first promulgator of laws. However, her response, which was accepted by the most ancient poets, was not regarding the restoration of humans, but of two stones, male and female, by which the multiplication of the golden Medicine was caused. For the male Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha are Gabritius and Beia, the Sun and the Moon, who, by the stones thrown, institute and complete the restoration of their own kind with a thousand-fold offspring. Pyrrha is red in flesh within, although she appears somewhat white on the outside, from which she is also called Albifica whitening and Blanca white by others.