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Introduction to the Reader.

Allow me, Friend Reader, to take you by the hand, as it were, in the entryway and delay you with a few brief words, introducing you to the present matter with some forewarnings. Through my care, the complete works of Hartmann come forth here. Their true splendor has not yet sufficiently shone out until now, since many of them lay hidden under spiders' webs or were sealed under a foreign name. Certain students in the Academy of Rinteln, where I held the office of Professor a few years ago, gave occasion for the additions that I promise on the frontispiece of the book. While I was occupied with this task, I held nothing more important than that I might be able to benefit my listeners. Thus these things were born under my hands, concerning which I thought of nothing less than ever sending them into the light. For I do not live so indifferent to this age that I am unaware that those who expose their experiments to the public judgment of all are subject to various criticisms. Therefore, I was content to attend to my own lot and hide away with books and letters, far from all malice. But the Frankfurt bookseller, enticed by profit, said that my Chemical Practice, printed at his expense, was received with the kind favor of many. He insisted with frequent interruptions that I should also commit to the press these additions to Hartmann's Practice, about which the man had learned from elsewhere. Indeed, although I am glad this little book is approved by the judgment of the learned, I did not think it safe enough to trust a small boat, however much it had been drawn to the shore, to the ocean and the waves. Finally, I nevertheless allowed those things to be extorted from me which I had recorded on papers for the use of students, far from all ornament of words and coloring, as all will easily perceive who deem them worthy of their attention. A sad fate for the bookseller intervened in this hurried edition: as he was departing, he perished miserably, crushed by the ruin of his falling house. I believed my annotations on Hartmann were involved in those same ruins and entombed in the same grave, since they did not return to the author's hand. Afterward, my only wish was to apply a more active file to them, so they might come forth more carefully. But now, beyond all hope, they come forth clothed in their native shagginess just as they were, which nevertheless promise you some goodwill from the reader. It would be superfluous to preface anxiously what I have performed in this work, lest I be thought to praise wares for sale. For I impart many experiments candidly, on which account the principal author of the work is most highly commended by almost everyone. It was never my intention to detract from the opinions of others or to stand upon another's head to appear taller, or to chase fame at the expense of another, as Caligula used to stand on statues when he was about to put his own in their place. I formerly endeavored to benefit the private utility of students with this labor; if it happens to serve the public advantage of many, I shall owe a great benefit to fortune. I have gladly studied brevity, to relieve the boredom that tends to creep upon the delicate minds of some, but some things will occur that need to be declared more fully, which I certainly would not have omitted to add if the reason of place and time had not denied the opportunity; otherwise, I hate faulty abundance. Furthermore, I am working so that my medical institutions, adapted to the foundations of the moderns and curious with many copper plates, which I am now polishing according to the measure of time I can steal from my courtly duties, may eventually show themselves to the eager reader. Farewell, friend reader, and be favorable.

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TO THE MOST EXCELLENT
AND MOST EXPERIENCED MAN,
MR. CONRAD JOHREN,
Doctor of Both Laws and Medicine, and Chief Physician to the Illustrious Count of Lippe,
his most honored Patron and Friend.

Decorative initial DThe fervor still lasts, which the nourishing Rinteln saw;
While it was able to use your dexterity.
I had believed that the court would not bear such labors,
Nor that your time could endure so many cares.
Yet skillful industry conquers these delays,
And completes a great work of the medical art.
Whatever the world misses in Hartmann's practice,
Your care and hand, Johren, note it down.
What lies hidden and entangled, you clear with bright light,
And deserve great honor for this distinguished deed.
JOHREN shall live in Hartmann; and Hartmann shall rise again
In HIS name, and they shall be Equals.

Written at Rinteln on the 12th day of January,
1682.

Johannes Kahler, Professor in Ordinary of Mathematics
and Metaphysics, at this time
Rector of the Academy.