Physica Curiosa written by scholar, Jesuit priest and scientist Gaspar Schott is a seventeenth century encyclopedia, published first in 1662, is divided into twelve books and has been richly illustrated with prints of copper engravings.

[7] As mathematician and physicist Schott had developed a great interest in Otto von Guericke's work on air pressure and the vacuum pump.

Both men would eventually correspond and cooperate as Schott immersed himself into extensive experiments and studies on his own and became accustomed to scientific work and observation based on reason.

[9] Books I to VI are a summary of all natural and supernatural monstrosities known at that time, including bizarre animals and physical abnormalities and abstract ideas of the mind.

[9] The Physica Curiosa alongside many other contemporary books of curiosities, that flourished during the 16th and 17th centuries, which contained a comprehensive body of text on fanciful beliefs of the past in a single publication, turned out to serve as an excellent subject of reference that made it easier for future enlightened scientists to pinpoint, address and argue against widespread, unscientific ideas.