PREFACE

TO THE

READER.

A decorative woodcut drop-cap letter C contains floral patterns and scrolls.

Since many years have now passed during which I have had frequent contact with our Fathers who arrived here in Rome from India original: "ex India." In the seventeenth century, India often referred generally to the East Indies or the Asian continent at large.. This exchange concerned the various and rare things that India produces, both in precious stones and in plants and animals. It happened through this mutual scholarly correspondence that I obtained things from them that were entirely rare and unusual. Among the others who enriched my Museum Museum: The Musaeum Kircherianum was Kircher's famous collection of antiquities and natural wonders at the Roman College. with offerings of such gifts were Father Francis Dorville and Father Johann Grueber. Of these, the latter traveled from China through lands unknown until now