DEFENSE

original: "APOLOGIA"; in this context, it refers to a formal justification or systematic explanation of a doctrine.

Gold ☉ retains its moisture in fire.

For almost these same specific reasons, metals retain their internal moisture when placed in the fire; for their natural viscosity original: "lentor"; a stickiness or thickness of the substance prevents the moisture from evaporating. Furthermore, this watery moisture prevents the metals from being consumed by the heat. Because watery qualities are diametrically opposed to fire, they are not overcome by it: Fire is hot, dry, and thin, while water is cold, moist, and dense. Therefore, the more that metals participate in this watery nature, the less power fire has over them. For this reason, gold is not consumed by the heat of any fire, and silver is only slightly less resistant for the same reasons. Other metals possess an airy, sulfurous, and flammable moisture, which is why they eventually waste away original: "distabescant"; to melt away or be consumed in the fire. More must be said regarding these specific properties a little later.

On the efficient cause of metals.

Now we must also speak of the efficient cause In Aristotelian philosophy, the "efficient cause" is the agent or force that brings something into being. of metals. An efficient cause is the source from which the principle of motion begins. It acts upon matter so that metals may take their origin. However, since all matter is either remote, intermediate, or proximate, it is certain that the efficient cause acting upon the remote and intermediate matter to create a metal is universal and equivocal A "universal cause" is a broad force (like the sun) that affects many things, while "equivocal" means the cause is of a different nature than the effect., rather than particular or innate.

God and the Heavens are the remote and universal cause of metals.

Indeed, metals acknowledge no parent of their birth other than God and the Heavens, because they do not spring from a seed as living bodies do. In the seeds of living things, a power instilled by the parents lies hidden, which always produces offspring similar to those from whom the seeds flowed. This is not the case with the remote and intermediate matter of metals. Those who have recorded the history of metals do not focus on this, but rather on the efficient cause acting upon the proximate matter The "proximate matter" is the immediate physical substance (like sulfur and mercury) that is ready to be turned into a specific metal.—that is, the matter which has transitioned from remote and intermediate states into a form ready to become metal. This efficient cause within the proximate matter is particular and innate, as it belongs to that substance alone, just as there is a particular cause within every specific type of metal.

Aristotle’s opinion on the efficient cause of metals.

There are also various opinions regarding this proximate efficient cause. Aristotle says that this efficient cause is coldness and dryness. These qualities, found in stones, compress and thicken the vapor Aristotle's "moist exhalation," which he believed was the raw material of metals trapped underground. (which he judged to be the proximate matter of metals) that is trapped and enclosed within them. This should not be understood as a denial of the role of heat in their birth. For those exhalations are mixed together, brought to a certain thickness, and concocted original: "concoquuntur"; the alchemical "ripening" or "cooking" of substances by internal heat. by the work of heat; but

The opinion of the Alchemists.

that mixture is afterwards thickened by cold and turns into a metal. The Alchemists, however, [think] that sulfur, which [is] part of the matter of metals...