OF THE MINERAL WORK.

I speak of natural philosophy, with which I do not wish to confuse the immortal soul of man, divinely inspired; which, as a divine thing participating in the eternal immortality of God, I wholly concede, and therefore merit its distinction from the origin and death of other creatures. Just as all things proceed from and of the Elements, so too after their death and the dissolution of their principles, hastening to the same, they will eventually perish with them; only the soul of man, because it proceeded from God, can be eternal if drawn by Him. Otherwise, metals excel all other fruits brought forth from the Elements on account of their excellence and fixity. For whatever is made quickly also perishes quickly, and is therefore less permanent. Vegetables and Animals are made quickly and perish quickly, but metals are born and die slowly, whence these alone of the three Kingdoms—Vegetable, Animal, and Mineral—are to be considered the most fixed and eminent.

Someone might say: "You extol metals immensely, but I prefer animals to them on many counts, as they move themselves and approach most closely to man." The cause is that you do not understand what vegetables are, what animals are, and what minerals are. But you will understand if you weigh that the Terrestrial Globe is some great animal, and is so called by the older and more recent philosophers. Between this, also called the Macrocosm, and the Microcosm, man, the greatest harmony and similarity is detected and intervenes in all things. For whatever in the Microcosm...