/
This library is built in the open.
If you spot an error, have a suggestion, or just want to say hello — we’d love to hear from you.
Bacon, Roger · 1932

| It is asked whether there should be a science of vegetables original: "de vegetabili." In this context, "vegetable" refers to the entire kingdom of plant life and the "vegetative" power of the soul responsible for growth and nutrition. | 176 |
| It is asked whether there is a natural science concerning vegetables | 176 |
| It is asked whether the whole of the vegetable nature is determined here | 176 |
| It is asked whether this science ought to be separated from the science of animals | 177 |
| It is asked whether a soul original: "animam." For medieval thinkers following Aristotle, the "soul" is the animating principle of any living thing. Plants were thought to have a "vegetative soul," which allows for growth but not movement or sensation. is to be placed in plants | 177 |
| It is asked whether a soul is in all things | 177 |
| It is asked whether life is in animals | 178 |
| (It is asked regarding the plant, whether life is in plants) | 179 |
| It is asked concerning the composition of life in plants and in animals | 180 |
| It is asked by what life is caused in plants | 181 |
| It is asked of what thing life is the act original: "actus." In Aristotelian philosophy, "act" or "actuality" refers to the realization or functioning of a potential; here, it asks what part of the plant is "activated" by life. in the plant | 181 |
| It is asked through what life is possessed in the plant | 182 |
| It is asked whether plants have spirit original: "spiritum." This refers to "vital spirits," a subtle substance or vapor believed to circulate through living bodies to sustain life functions. | 183 |
| It is asked whether plants have an intellectual soul | 184 |
| It is asked whether plants have sense, and it is asked whether they have taste | 185 |
| It is asked whether plants have touch | 186 |
| It is asked whether desire exists in plants | 187 |
| It is asked whether plants have movement according to place original: "motum secundum locum." This refers to locomotion, or the ability to move oneself from one location to another. | 188 |
| It is asked whether the animal nature destroys the animal in death and works continuously toward the destruction of the animal | 189 |
| It is asked whether genera and species These are the hierarchical categories of classification; Bacon is asking if the name of a broad category (like "Animal") applies to the specific individuals within it. give names to lower things | 189 |
| It is asked whether the heaven original: "celum." Medieval cosmology often debated whether the celestial spheres were "animate" or living beings with souls. is a noble animal, as it says here | 190 |
| It is asked whether the heaven possesses life | 191 |
| It is asked whether some quality is required for nourishment original: "alimentum." | 191 |
| (It is asked what that quality is which is required for the work of feeding) | 191 |
| It is asked whether the qualities of the soul are required on the part of active nourishment | 192 |
| It is asked what quality serves the operation of attracting original: "attrahendi." Medieval physiology identified four "natural virtues" or powers of nutrition: attraction (drawing in food), digestion, retention, and expulsion. ¹ | 193 |
| (It is asked concerning the work of digesting food) | 193 |
| (It is asked what quality is required in that through which it retains) | 194 |
| (It is asked what quality serves the operation of expelling) | 195 |
| It is asked whether the four elements original: "elimentarres." The four basic building blocks of matter: earth, water, air, and fire. are required on the part of the plant itself | 195 |