Two Medico-Philosophical Discourses: On Fermentation

On Fermentation.

Chapter 1: Concerning the Principles of Natural Things

Concerning the principles of natural things, although there are many and diverse opinions of Philosophers, three in particular have earned trust and agreement above the rest. The first place is held by that famous Chariot of the Peripatetics The Peripatetics were followers of Aristotle, known for teaching while walking in the Lyceum. The "chariot" refers to the four elements., which, emulating the path of the sun original: "περιπάτου"; of the walk or stroll, is driven at a swift pace through the fictional heaven of primary matter and measures that vast void with a perpetual back-and-forth. They say that all things are made of Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. From the different transposition original: "metathesi"; a rearrangement or shifting of parts of these, the cycles of generation and corruption, as well as all alterations whatsoever, arise.

In the second place stands the opinion of Democritus and Epicurus, which has now been revived in our own century. It establishes that any natural effects depend on the gathering of Atoms shaped in various ways. Thus, in every body there are Round, Pointed, Square, Cylindrical, Grooved particles, or those of another configuration. According to the different pairings original: "συζυγίας"; conjunctions or combinations of these, the Subject takes on one or another Figure, Operation, or Efficacy.

The third foundational composition original: "στοιχείωσις"; the arrangement of elements or first principles of natural things is introduced by the Spagyric art Spagyria; an early term for chemistry, focusing on the separation and recombination of natural substances. Through analysis made by fire, it resolves any bodies into particles of spirit, sulfur, salt, water, and earth. It claims with the best right that things consist of these same parts. Since this hypothesis defines bodies into sensible parts and dissects things as if to the quick, it pleases us more than the others.

Regarding the four Elements and the primary qualities to be derived from them, it must be admitted that this opinion is somewhat useful for explaining the phenomena of nature. However, it solves the appearances of things in such a crude way, and without special regard for the more secret recesses of nature, that it is almost like saying a house consists of wood and stones, rather than a body consisting of four elements. The other opinion, which is only a subset of the Epicurean philosophy, insofar as it explains things mechanically...