Preface

the animals gain strength and grow through fermentation Fermentation: In early modern science, this was not just for alcohol; it was seen as a fundamental "inner heat" or transformative process that allowed nutrients to be converted into living tissue. and sublimation Sublimation: The process where a substance is heated into vapor and then condensed back into a solid. Chemically, this was viewed as a way of "ennobling" or purifying a substance.. This science shows us, through the process of distillation, how the sun rarifies Original: "rarificirt." This means to make thinner or less dense; in this context, it describes evaporation. the waters of the sea and lifts them into the clouds, from which they then distill and fall down as rain and dew. Finally, through the separation of the pure from the impure, this science allows us to grasp the order which God observed during the creation of the entire world. If one wishes to turn from the contemplation of the whole world specifically to Man, whom one can call the little world Microcosm: The philosophical idea that the human being is a miniature reflection of the entire universe (the macrocosm), containing the same elements and governed by the same divine laws....