Iacobi Acontii Tridentini de methodo, hoc est, de recta investigandarum, tradendarumque artium, ac scientiarum ratione

manner of accounting for his own writings. Galen had written a book which is no longer extant on the establishment of the arts, the loss of which Martin Acachias and many other physicians have tried to some extent to repair. Although they have brought a great deal of light to this faculty, they have nevertheless written in such a way that even where they treat of Method, one might still rightly seek a true Method. Furthermore, they followed Galen, whose opinion—that one cannot conveniently contemplate and teach using the same method, but rather by opposite ones—can in no way be approved by me. Not only does Aristotle most openly protest against this, but also the most certain reason and experience itself, a fact we shall demonstrate in its proper place.

Indeed, I have spent a long time and some persistent labor in trying to understand what constitutes the true method. I have not only wished to consult books, but even more diligently, experience. Whether I have finally attained it perfectly, I would not dare to say. This I do know: I can truly say that, although I was naturally least apt for the investigation of things, I have nevertheless acquired through study and diligence a certain method of this kind, which I shall find to be of the greatest assistance both for amending that defect of nature and...