A KEY TO MEDICINE original: PHYSIC

...phoenix, or any imaginary being, saying that there is no such thing in nature. Sometimes, too, and not infrequently, we use the word "nature" to describe a kind of semi-deity or supernatural spirit presiding over all things.

This general misuse of the word "nature" is by no means unique to the English people or language; it prevails more or less in all countries and among all sects, and seems to have been copied from the legendary ideas of the ancients. Aristotle wrote an entire chapter specifically to list the various meanings of the Greek word physis original: $\varphi\acute{υ}σι\varsigma$, which is translated into English as nature. Among Latin writers, there are no fewer than fifteen or sixteen different meanings of the same word, with countless advocates for each interpretation. Most of them insist that the word "nature" fundamentally means the system of the world, the machine of the universe, or the collection of all created beings. In this sense, they speak of the "Author of nature" and call the sun the eye of nature because it illuminates the universe, and the father of nature because it warms the earth and makes it fruitful. Others, understanding the word in a more restricted sense, apply it to each of the various types of beings, both created and uncreated, spiritual and physical. Thus, they say divine nature, angelic nature, and human nature, meaning all people collectively who possess the same spiritual, rational soul. In this sense, the scholars and theologians use the terms nature naturing original: natura naturans and nature natured original: natura naturata. They speak of God as "nature naturing" because He gives being and "nature" to all others, as opposed to created beings, who are "nature natured" because they receive their nature from the hands of another.

Nature, in an even more limited sense, is used for the essence of a thing. For example, the Cartesians Cartesians: followers of the philosopher René Descartes say it is the nature of the soul to think, and that the nature of matter consists of extension extension: the property of taking up physical space. Others more accurately use the word "nature" for the established order and course of material things, the series of secondary causes, or the laws that God has imposed on every part of creation. In this sense, people say, "nature makes the night follow the day" or "nature has made breathing necessary for life," and so on. In line with this, St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of nature as a kind of divine art shared with created beings, which directs and carries them toward the purposes for which they were intended. In this sense, nature is nothing more or less than a chain of causes and effects, or the order and management original: œconomy that God has established in all parts of His creation. Still others consider nature more strictly as the action of Providence and the fundamental principle of all things. They see it as that spiritual power or being which is spread throughout creation, moving and acting in all bodies, giving them unique properties and producing unique effects. In this sense, our modern philosopher Mr. Boyle Robert Boyle (1627–1691), a famous scientist and pioneer of modern chemistry considers nature to be nothing other than God, acting...