Elements of Myology (Elementorum Myologiae Specimen)

but also a most expert judge. But I am neither practiced in the exercise of speaking, and the masters of the art themselves acknowledge that this subject matter is beyond their powers, even if they were to gather into one all the things that are praised separately by various people regarding the greatest patrons and the wisest Princes. And so, since I have no other tokens of a grateful heart, I must imitate plants, whose fruits speak of the mildness of the air and the generosity of the earth in a fertile silence. To that end, since the various animals that You have permitted me to dissect have contributed not a little to anatomical history, I humbly offer to You this present Specimen of the Elements of Myology original: "Elementorum Myologiae Specimen" with the two anatomical histories attached to it, inscribed to Your name.

I wished to show by this specimen that it is not possible to name the parts of a muscle distinctly, nor to consider its motion successfully, unless Myology original: "Myologia" becomes a part of Mathematics original: "Matheseos". And why should we not grant to muscles that which astronomers grant to the heavens, and geographers grant to the earth—