Theatrum Chemicum Volumen Secundum

...than remote matter original: "materia remota"; refers to the basic elements (earth, air, fire, water) before they are shaped into a specific substance, but it differs more from those same forms than proximate matter original: "materia proxima"; matter that has been prepared and is ready to take on a specific final form. For example, food is closer to the body of an animal than the basic Elements are, yet it is further away than the blood, which is produced from that food.

Proximate matter.

Proximate matter is that which most closely approaches the form; it is, as it were, something imperfect when compared to the more perfect form of another body. This proximate matter is like the seed of each kind in univocal generations reproduction where the offspring is the same species as the parent, or that which takes the place of the seed in equivocal generations reproduction from different or inorganic sources, such as the historical belief that insects could spring from decaying matter. But we must say more regarding this proximate matter shortly.

The four kinds of forms.

Moreover, there are four natural kinds of forms which have been mentioned: namely, the form of simple mixtures, the vegetable form, the sensible [animal] form, and the rational and intelligent [human] form. These possess the character of "form" more than of "matter," because it is from them that every effect is produced; matter, however, exists only in potentiality—it does not act, but properly speaking, it is acted upon.

Division of the efficient cause.

The efficient cause the agent or force that brings something into being can be divided in various ways, but let this one suffice for now: that one is universal, and the other is particular.

The universal efficient cause.

The universal cause is God—the highest, best, and greatest—who in the beginning, acting alone from Himself by His infinite power without any other causes, created all things from nothing. But when, after the world was created by Him, He willed that the same things be reproduced naturally and without miracles from those things already created, He entrusted these duties to the heavens and the stars as universal causes. He did this in such a way, however, that God Himself always concurs with these and with the particular causes. Therefore, these universal causes produce all these things of different kinds or different species that are seen in this totality of the world. Equivocal. They are called "equivocal" because they impart themselves equally to all things and are the causes of diverse effects.

The particular efficient cause. Univocal.

The particular efficient cause, however, is that which acts only upon proximate matter—or upon a subject disposed toward it—and produces an effect of a single species or quality. It is called "univocal," such as the force and faculty in every seed which moves it until it reaches its intended end.

The final cause.

The "end" or final cause the purpose or goal for which a thing exists in these same bodies, which are formed from the mixing of the Elements, is that the "form" may be achieved. In the study of Nature original: "Physicis", the end is the same as the form.

These things having been defined generally, we must now investigate the nature of metals—the subject of our dispute—which have arisen in the depths of the earth by the force of nature alone. Which nature [is understood] no less from their...