title: Seba: Cabinet of Natural Curiosities
author:  Irmgard Msch 
description: Irmgard Msch, born in 1967, studied art history, history and classical archaeology in Mainz and Berlin. Her Ph.D. thesis from 1999 examines Johann Jakob Scheuchzers Kupfer-Bibel, a richly illustrated scientific commentary on the Bible from the early 18th century. She has published on art of the 18th and 20th century, scientific illustrations and Kunstkammer pieces.
zlib_text: De operationibus occultis naturae
  ad quemdam militem ultramontanum
  A LETTER OF THOMAS AQUINAS
  TO A CERTAIN KNIGHT BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS
  ON THE OCCULT WORKINGS OF NATURE
  OR
  CONCERNING THE CAUSALITY OF HEAVENLY BODIES
  tr. by J. B. McAllister
  Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1939
  Introduction
  Quoniam  in  quibusdam  naturalibus
  corporibus quaedam naturales actiones
  apparent,  quarum  principia  manifeste
  apprehendi non possunt, requisivit a me
  vestra  dilectio,  ut  quid  super  his  mihi
  videatur vobis transcriberem.
  Since  in  some  natural  bodies  certain
  natural  activities  appear  whose
  principles cannot be, understood, your
  honor has asked that I write what I think
  about them.
  Statement of the problem
  Videmus  siquidem  quod  corpora
  elementorum in se dominantium motus
  sequuntur: puta quod lapis movetur ad
  medium  secundum  proprietatem  terrae
  dominantis  in  eo;  metalla  etiam
  secundum  proprietatem  aquae  habent
  infrigidandi virtutem. Quaecumque igitur
  ac