SILVER-MAKING AND GOLD-MAKING

...d Completing the word "had" from the previous page seen as fused, and from them quicksilver original: "argentum vivum"; mercury is drawn out by art, as well as because they breathe a sulfurous odor. Many authoritative men have followed their opinion.

The opinion of Gilgil.

Gilgil the Moor A medieval Arabic alchemical authority often cited in Western texts, however, declared that a certain ash of very fortified earth, when infused with water, was the proximate matter the immediate substance from which a specific thing is made of metals, just as all ash is the matter closest to glass.

The opinion of Albert.

Albert Albertus Magnus (c. 1200–1280), a dominant medieval philosopher and theologian who wrote extensively on minerals, however, holds it to be a moist, viscous, and tenacious substance.

The opinion of Georgius Agricola.

Georgius Agricola 1494–1555; known as the "father of mineralogy," he favored empirical observation over alchemical theory refutes all these opinions regarding the proximate matter of metals in the earth's mines, and he contends with many arguments that a juice original: "succum"; Agricola's term for mineral-rich waters or solutions found underground arising in those same mines is the proximate matter for metals.

The opinion of Scaliger.

Scaliger Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484–1558), a renowned Renaissance scholar calls metals "watery earth," but calls quicksilver "earthy water." Which of these opinions is truer, I think I must not dwell upon, since nature exhibits to us another matter proximate to silver and gold, as will be clear from what follows. If, however, I must say what I feel, I would judge that Aristotle’s opinion and authority should be more relied upon and trusted.

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The forms of metals.

After the knowledge of the matter of metals, their form In Aristotelian philosophy, "form" is the essential nature or "blueprint" that makes a thing what it is must also be investigated, which is the nobler part of their substance, as it is in all natural bodies. For the form of all things is marked more by the name of "nature" than by their matter, and from it alone is the name given to each natural body. For Aristotle usually calls it the reason of the essence original: "rationem essentiae"; the defining characteristic that explains why a thing exists as it does. The knowledge of the forms of metals looks to this: that by the aid of art, the same silver and gold as the natural kind must be formed; this cannot be achieved unless their form and nature—and what and of what kind it is—be understood, and in what ways they differ from the forms of other metals.

The forms of metals are not easily judged.

However, the forms of metals are not as easily distinguished as those of other types of bodies—namely plants, sentient beings, and humans. For the knowledge of forms depends on their actions, inasmuch as form is act original: "actus"; the full realization or activity of a thing, while matter is potency original: "potentia"; the potential to become something. Moreover, actions are distinguished by their works.

Knowledge of forms depends on actions; actions depend on works.

Therefore, whatever the senses perceive to act more based on their effects, those the senses will judge to be composed of more conspicuous forms; those that act less, it will judge to be of more obscure and less manifest forms. Hence the form of plants is better known to the senses, because they grow, take in nourishment, and produce things like themselves. But the nature of sentient beasts is even better known, because besides these functions, they both move and feel.

The form of man is most manifest.

Indeed, the form of man is the most manifest of all, because in addition to all these, through the faculty of understanding, he becomes a human.