THE PRODROMUS 219 



and again in some place to furnish neither any advantage nor 

 disadvantage to the production of the body. Whence it 

 follows : 

 P- 17. I. That the strata of the earth, as regards the place and 

 manner of production, agree with those strata which turbid 

 water deposits. 



2. That the crystals of mountains, as regards the manner 

 and place of production, agree with the crystals of niter,^ al- 

 though it is not therefore essential that the fluid in which they 

 were produced should have been aqueous. 



3. That those bodies which are dug from the earth and 

 which are in every way like the parts of plants and animals, 

 were produced in precisely the same manner and place as the 

 parts of the plants and the animals were themselves produced. 

 But in order that no uncertain interpretation of the term place 

 may beget new doubts, I shall forestall that difficulty here. 



By the term place I mean that matter which with its own 

 surface is in immediate contact with the surface of the body 

 which is said to be in that place. But that matter allows sun- 

 dry differences, for : 



(i) It is either wholly solid, or wholly fluid, or partly solid 

 and partly fluid. 



(2) It is either wholly perceptible by itself, or partly percep- 



tible by itself and partly perceptible through tests. 



(3) It is either wholly contiguous to the body which it con- 



tains within itself, or even pardy continuous with the 

 same body. 



(4) It is either always the same or undergoes change gradu- 



ally. Thus the place in which a plant is produced is 

 the matter, like that of the plant, within which the 

 minute plant receives its form. Thus the place in 

 which the plant grows is all that matter which, with 

 its own surface, is in immediate contact with the 

 entire surface of the plant, consisting sometimes of 

 p. 18. earth and air, sometimes of earth and water, some- 



times of earth, water, and air; sometimes of only 

 stone and air, as in underground places I have time 



1 Steno was, of course, ignorant of the chemical difference between quartz and niter. The 

 first is silicon dioxide, SiOj, and the second is saltpeter, NaNOj. 



