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PREFACE
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find that though no Author is so often quoted, no Author is so little understood, or, indeed, has been so little read; those who are so free with his Name, having given themselves, generally, very little Trouble about his Works, and only taken upon Trust from one another, what we shall in most Cases find, on strict Enquiry, to have been originally quoted from him by Pliny ....
Many long delays and interruptions have occurred during the preparation of this book, and four authors have been engaged in its composition. In 1934, Earle R. Caley of the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University and Shirley H. Weber of the Department of Classics began work on an annotated translation of the treatise. But for a long time circumstances prevented them from collaborating effectively. In the period between 1936 and the beginning of World War II they lived both in Greece and in the United States and could seldom meet to discuss the work; and though both were in the United States during most of the war, not much attention could be paid to the preparation of the book because of more pressing interests. As a consequence the manuscript was never brought to a satisfactory state, and when Professor Weber returned to Athens at the close of the war to resume his position as Librarian of the Gennadion, he decided that it would be impossible to continue as a collaborator. In the meantime, Thomas T. Read of the School of Mines at Columbia University and John F. C. Richards of the Department of Greek and Latin began, quite independently, to prepare an annotated translation of the same treatise. Early in 1946 they heard that a similar enterprise had long been in progress at Princeton and arranged to collaborate with Earle R. Caley of the Department of Chemistry. After Professor Read died in 1947, the present authors decided to complete the book. We hereby acknowledge our indebtedness to Professor Weber and to Professor Read. Professor Weber gave much time and thought to problems of translation and interpretation; some of his suggestions are incorporated in the present translation and in certain notes in the Commentary. Professor Read was planning to make his own contribution. It is greatly to be regretted that, owing to his illness, he could not use his extensive knowledge of geology and mineralogy for this purpose.
Since both linguistic and scientific knowledge is required, it
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• vi ·
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