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I N T R O D U C T I O N original: "Prooemium"

The Philosopher This title refers to Aristotle, who was considered the ultimate authority on logic and science in the Middle Ages and Renaissance., the prince of philosophers, writes: "Man is the best of those things which are in the world." And "world" is taken here to mean all things contained within the sphere of actives and passives In Aristotelian physics, this refers to the sublunary world where the four elements (earth, air, fire, water) interact and change., namely for the elements and the elementated Things composed of the four elements.. This having been presupposed, the proposition is proven. That thing is the best whose causes of generation are the most noble; but such is the case for man; therefore, etc. The major premise is clear, because an effect derives its nobility from its causes. The minor premise is proven regarding the matter of man.

Hence the matter of man, according to physicians, is posited to be the woman's menstrual flow together with the man's sperm, because both of these enter into the composition of man, just as milk is curdled original: "coagulatur" into the matter of cheese The "rennet and milk" analogy was a standard way to explain how life was thought to form in the womb: the male seed acted as the "rennet" that gave form to the female "milk" or blood..

But natural philosophers posit that the woman's menstrual flow is the matter, and the man's seed is the efficient cause original: "effectus", here used in the sense of the agency that produces the effect, so that the man's seed stands in relation to the woman's menstrual flow as the craftsman to the craft-work, as Averroes A famous 12th-century Andalusian philosopher and commentator on Aristotle. attests in the 7th book of the Metaphysics, in his "Digressions on Ideas." Likewise, in the Physics and the 5th book of the Metaphysics, chapter 10, he says that the man's sperm is reduced to the efficient cause; and in whatever way it is said, it is always clear that the matter of man is excellen... The text cuts off mid-word, likely continuing as "excellent" on the following page.