10. That these two mountains are surely on one and the same earth is clear; so, too, are similar prophecies in one and the same book, and that is clear. But how such prophetic passages are coherently connected, or how the Chimborasso are probably connected through the whole center of the earth with the Himalayas in Asia, would be hardly possible for an earthly naturalist to discover, as long as he still fears the fire and finds the sea a too powerful quencher for his moderate thirst.

11. I can tell you, my dear friend and brother, as I read this book for the first time, it seriously seemed to me as if it had some hidden wise sense; but the more often and the more critically attentive I read it through, the more I became convinced that this whole book is nothing but the richest treasure trove of the most gross nonsense! For apart from some old practical sayings of wisdom, it is just one insensibility following another, and apart from the only few sayings, which are also not the purest gold, is this whole book quite suitable to keep up the mystical stupidity of man for another few centuries!