Magia Naturalis, oder Hauß-, Kunst- und Wunder-Buch

filling spaces: when these come together in great quantity, they are called Light.

9. The middle or second element consists of nothing but very subtle round corpuscles, which indeed are also moved with great violence, yet not like the first; and some of these are larger, others smaller.

10. The motion of these small globules, which they receive from the first or smallest matter, is called radiation or luminosity.

11. The third or coarse element consists of the densest parts of matter, formed in all manner of ways; and of this same element all dense bodies, especially the planets, are composed.

12. The first two very fluid elements or kinds of matter are moved in various great whirlpools or vortices, which are collectively called by the single word, the Heavens. And every fixed star forms a singular vortex.

13. The principal vortex is that of the Sun, the center of which body consists of nothing but the matter of the first element, around which, however, the planets swim in the second element in a certain order.

14. Among these also belongs the Earth, the sphere of which is composed of soil, water, and air; all this, however, consists of the third element, through the pores of which the first two elements incessantly pass; and the parts of the

Earth are the coarsest, very unequal and firmly locked together. Yet the entire sphere has certain channels and grooves running parallel to its axis, through which the matter of the first element passes out from one pole and in again at the other, thus moving in a constant circuit.

15. The parts of water indeed also belong to the third element, but are much thinner, oblong, smooth, and for the most part easily flexible, though partly also rigid; they are incessantly moved by the first two elements in such a manner that they crawl through one another in various ways like eels. The thinnest, because they remain in constant motion, are called spirits; the thicker ones must possess a greater motion, otherwise they settle against one another, and from them come ice, snow, rime, and hail.

16. The parts of air are yet thinner, more flexible, and smaller, and are moved by the first two elements without ceasing, in such a manner that they fly to and fro without end; yet they allow themselves to be compressed and then expand again like a sponge.

17. Fire is nothing other than a gathering of the matter of the first element; for when it is merely enclosed between the globules of the second element, it cannot produce such a very strong motion; but when the globules are dispersed, so that the subtlest matter can collect together, this is called burning.