Text.Fedro.1611-01.!2r/Translation

To the candid reader, greetings.

Among the remaining relics of my father's library, and the not-so-common manuscripts, I recently stumbled upon the autograph writings of Phaedron, the famous physician, in the field of Iatrochemistry. These writings, once consigned to darkness as if they were a useless weight upon the earth, had been hidden for a long time. I thought about how an art, no matter how useful and excellent, is incomplete and deficient unless it is put into practice and action. Therefore, it pleased me to unearth and dedicate them to the light. How little do good counsels hidden within one's breast benefit, unless they are shared with those in need, is something many know along with me. Thus, this paper labor lay hidden, indeed collected with the intention of looking after the health of the fallen, yet it was indolently fulfilling its purpose, undoubtedly locked away in the deepest recesses. Surely, my German father, the industrious and learned Georg Phaedron, what else could be conjectured that he sought with his labors, other than to consult the welfare of his neighbors and the sick? Than to entrust to posterity through letters what he himself had quickly, safely, and pleasantly experienced in aiding the sick, through his own experience and knowledge of things? Indeed, some, if they have obtained some secret, keep it closely to themselves alone, and if they come across some rare art or recent invention, they condemn it to perpetual silence. How adversely they favor the public good is quite evident. However, my intention is to share these with the men of Asclepius, so that together with the others published by the author himself, they might serve for the great benefit and aid of the sick. To facilitate this more conveniently, I constructed the wandering limbs here and there into one body, for the concepts, fragmented and written in a mixed style (some in Latin, most in German), I granted to one language and arranged them in some order, so that they do not cause nausea to the reader. This effort of mine, however modest, I wish to commend to all good people, beseeching that they accept it with a serene countenance.

Johannes Georgius Schenck von Grafenberg, Doctor of Medicine.