The first book of Albert

the Great, greatest of philosophers, on minerals begins.

The first treatise on stones in general.

Chapter one: concerning the intention,

and what the division, method, and

order of things to be said are.

De The large woodcut 'D' depicts a scholar, likely Albert himself, at a desk. The commingling and coagulation, and similarly the freezing and melting and other such properties original: "passionibus", a term in medieval physics referring to how a substance is acted upon or changed of things, have already been discussed in the book on Meteorology. However, the natural things in which these effects first appear are the types of stones and metals, and those things which are intermediate between them, such as marcasite marchassitaA medieval term for various metallic sulfides, often pyrite or 'fool's gold'. and alum alumenNaturally occurring mineral salts used historically in dyeing and medicine., and other such things. And because these are the first among natural compounds formed from the elements—existing as substances before those that have souls i.e., plants and animals, which Albert considers "higher" because they possess a biological 'soul' or life force—it follows that they should be discussed immediately after the science of meteorology; for they seem to be only slightly more than a simple mixture of elements.

Regarding these matters, we have not seen the books of Aristotle, except for excerpts in parts. And the things that Avicenna Ibn Sina (c. 980–1037), a Persian polymath whose works on geology and medicine were central to medieval European science handed down concerning these in the first chapter of his third book on the subject are not sufficient. Therefore, let us first conduct an inquiry into stones, then into metallic things, and finally into the things intermediate between them; for indeed, the generation of stones is easier and more manifest than that of metals.

Now, many things regarding the nature of stones must be said in general, which we will place first; then, we will discuss those specific stones that are more famous. We will, however, shorten our discourse because the causes of many things to be said here have already been determined in the book on Meteorology. While treating stones in general, we will investigate the general matter of stones and their primary efficient principle original: "pꝓziū", likely "principium", the driving force or cause that creates the stone, and the place of their generation. Then, we will look at the manner of the stones' mixing, and the cause of the diversity of their color and other non-essential properties original: "accidentium", meaning qualities like color or smell that aren't part of the object's core essence found in them, such as greater or lesser hardness, volatility and the inability to be shaped indolabilitasThe quality of being impossible to hew, carve, or work with tools., porosity and denseness, weight and lightness, and other such things; in which stones seem to differ not only in species and number, but also in genus...