Preface.

To bring together in one book, to call each thing by its rightful name, and to describe what each is useful and good for; however, we should by no means forget to praise our God and Creator therein and be thankful to Him, that He still daily—as from the beginning of the world—so richly endows us humans with all kinds of gifts and overflowing grace. For whenever we behold the work of His hands, it is clearly found that no one on earth is able to sufficiently describe even the very smallest little blade of grass, how it grows, or what it is good for. Who among Adam's children is now so skilled that he could indicate what rushes and straw-stalks might be used for? I say nothing of the magnificent fruits and trees; and if one cannot sufficiently learn about the least of plants, when will one discover the use and benefit of the magnificent plants of the earth? Who is there who can sufficiently recount the use of the little flax plant? Much less that of the oak tree. For such reasons, I have said that medicine original: "Artznei" in simple things is not easily mastered. It is true that the aforementioned high art of medicine was first put into an order by the dear Hippocrates. But he, Hippocrates himself, freely confesses that he was never able to reach the end of the same, much less will we entirely achieve it in our times. Medicine is and remains an inexhaustible well and means of divine grace on earth, especially in the simple things Simplex: a single medicinal herb or substance, not mixed with others or plants, because every "Simplex" in its kind has a completely perfect effect and power. For the reason just mentioned, the ancients applied great diligence
Avicenna, Book 1, Treatise 1, Chapter 4.

to the simple things of medicine; yes, much more than to the composita, that is, to the mixed, compounded medicines. They undoubtedly understood well that in compounding and mixing, one may easily err, as still happens daily, and as we ourselves seem to want it. Yet, I do not wish herewith to have rejected the right, ancient compositions of Mithridates, Andromachus, and others; rather, I wish now only to most faithfully advise the pious and simple house-fathers, who are not highly learned in medicine, that they themselves become physicians in their own houses, as happened in the times of Cato and Varro Marcus Porcius Cato and Marcus Terentius Varro, Roman authors who wrote on agriculture and domestic management, and that they be not ashamed of the arts of herbs, but use the same for every necessity as faithfully prescribed in this book. And they should flee and avoid the foreign vagabonds, gypsies, Jews, and loose rascals with their chatter, old confections, and deceitful wormseed, for many reasons. All pious house-fathers should also consider how our ancestors, and even highly distinguished kings, healed many ailments and created great benefit with simple medicines and herbs, so that even to this day, several herbs eternally retain the names they first received from the ancients. For from where does the Gentian original: "Entian" have its name, if not solely from Gentius, the King of Illyria? The herb Loosestrife, in Latin Lysimachia, has its name from Lysimachus, the King of Macedonia; the garlic-scented herb Scordium is called Mithridatia after King Mithridates; Mugwort, Artemisia, after the goddess Artemis; Centaury original: "Centaurium" after the great Centaur; Achilleia, the Yarrow herb original: "Gerwel kraut", after the war-prince Achilles. Likewise, Eupatorium, Euphorbium, Clymenon, and others have received their names from distinguished people.