THE PRODROMUS 217 



The things which the earth bears receive from the earth 

 nothing except the place in which they are produced and the 

 matter suppHed to them through the pores of the place. 



The things which are produced by Nature receive the motion 

 P. 14. of their particles from the motion of a penetrating fluid, 

 whether this fluid come from the sun, or from the fire con- 

 tained within the matter of the earth, or from some other cause 

 unknown to us, as the agency of the soul, and so on. 



He, therefore, who attributes to Nature the production of any 

 thing, names the universal agent which appears in the produc- 

 tion of all things ; he who calls the sun to share, limits that 

 agent a little more ; he who names the soul or the particular 

 form, mentions a more limited cause than the rest: but one 

 who nevertheless duly weighs the answers of all, finds nothing 

 known, seeing that Nature, the sun's rays, the soul, and the 

 particular form, are things known only by name. But since, 

 besides the agent, matter and place ought to be taken account 

 of in the production of substances, it is clear that the answer 

 (" produced by Nature ") is not only more unknown than the very 

 thing under investigation, but altogether incomplete ; as, for ex- 

 ample, moUusks found on land are said to have been produced 

 by Nature, while those that grow in the sea are also Nature's 

 work. Nature indeed produces all things, seeing that the pen- 

 etrating fluid has a place in the production of all things; but 

 one may also say with truth that Nature produces nothing, 

 since that fluid by itself accomplishes nothing; its determina- 

 tion depends upon the place and the matter to be moved. We 

 find an illustration in man : he can produce anything if all the 

 necessary things are at hand, but if they are wanting, can pro- 

 duce nothing. 

 P. 15. He who attributes the production of anything to the earth, 

 names the place indeed, but since the earth affords place, in 

 part at least, to all the things of earth, the place alone does not 

 account for the production of the body. The same thing can 

 be said about the earth as about Nature; that is, the things 

 which are formed in the earth are all produced by the earth, 

 and of those things which are formed in the earth none is pro- 

 duced by the earth. 



