Egyptian-Hebrew stream·Jabirian Corpus·Selections from the Book of Concentration·Selections from the Book of Concentration

p. 342 (leaf n347)

To the animal, so know it; and beware lest you seek from it what is not in possibility [to obtain]. [You] may seek a stone <....>

٣And represent that the animal is all of it A, and the plant B, and the stone C. So we say: If A is in B and B is in C, then necessarily A is in C, either in part or in whole; there is no contradiction in it. And we say: If A is in part of B and B is in all of C, then A is not in all of C but in part of it. And we say: If A were in all of C and B in part of A,

٦then [A would be] in all of C and C in all of A and B in all of C and C in all of [B?] and A in part of B and B in part of A [so it is impossible from one aspect and established from another, and it has been established that A is in all of C and B in part of A]; it is impossible from one aspect and established from the other, and it has been established that A is in all of C and B in all of C, so the return of B from C to B is easy. So know that and investigate its aspects. And we have established [discussion] of that in the Book of

١٢Tasrif at the end, and in the Book of the Balance and the Principles and the Logic; so seek it, if God Most High wills.
As for our statement in the example, the example in the generation of the animal in particular [is that it may

١٥be > < in general in all of B and B in all of (C) and it is not convertible from the middle >to< the first side but to the other side [so let one look to the man whose like is desired to be generated, or whatever thing is desired from the animal, then let the power be taken

p. 343 (leaf n348)

its understanding first, since there is no world higher than the world of the Intellect, then after that one looks to oneself and how Abu al-Bukhl is described as Abu al-Karam and Abu al-Sharr as Abu al-Khayr and Abu al-ʿIlm as Abu al-Jahl, since these latter are below the world of the Intellect. Then after that, what must stand is the body upon which the Elements rest; thus it is established that the substance is more difficult, as we have said and made clear in the Book of Tasrif, for it is firmly established therein and likewise in the Balance; and it is established that the Natures have gone forth by the Balance in <...> to that upon which we have already finished in what has preceded, such as the liver, the spleen, the brain, the bones, the cartilages and all the joints. Nor is it possible either that that operates one by one, nor is it possible that it operates as a single whole. And this is the detail: the operation in the generation follows the first example truly, while the second example produces the rest of the animals stupid, understanding nothing, yet by the matter it approaches equilibrium, whereas the first is farther in time. So let the generation of the animal now be upon three parts: a first part [١٥٠] and a second part stupid and a third part intelligent, even sharp, equine, of Law-like Natures. And since we have reached this point, let us take up the first generation so that the statement concerning it may be sound, then we follow it with the second, the stupid, and the third, the intelligent; and the section of the first chapter of the four shall be...

p. 344 (leaf n349)

It is known that the example (mithal) is indispensable, and it is our saying: either a human or one of the animals. So let us repeat first, then we shall set forth its states and obtain from its book what is said concerning it <...> from a state + and leave rank by rank. Then take an instrument of glass or crystal or stone of the first of colours—and glass is the best of them if worked from it—in the width of a finger; and if one wishes to make it shorter in length and width or more, then do so. Likewise if one wishes + by transferring the body of a slave-girl and the face of a man or the intellect of a man and the body of a boy, or prefers [to] the alteration, then it is possible; and carry the instrument upon the form that is desired. Then proceed after that to a sphere whose measure is the length of that example once and a half from all its sides so that there may be in its middle a circle within a circle. Then place at the head of the example and its feet an addition in the glass vessel, and the sphere may be solid. Then work upon it from smooth clay without hair or straw, that which by its nature is smooth, known as the clay + of the free woman—and we have already mentioned it in the Book of Clays, so seek it—then coat it with a thick coating and leave it to dry and harden. When it has dried, polish its upper part until it becomes like mirrors. Then cut it with a thin, soft, sharp reed that has no serration into two halves.

p. 345 (leaf n350)

Then take one of the two halves and polish its interior as you polished its exterior and do likewise with the other half. So when the two have become one thing <...> and let the model be assembled whole yet cut, each joint of it separately: its head a piece with what is in it, its shoulders b. and its chest and its belly and its back another piece, and its members and its two arms * and its two hands, all of that separated so that when it is taken off it comes off and when it is assembled it assembles. Then there is taken from that which cold has not reached or from the dust of the mountain which we have already made known to you ٦ from the lands of Makran and Kirman or a piece of flesh from that animal the like of which is desired to be generated, and likewise we say regarding that. So know that and preserve these principles +first this +and not one of them, you will find from the members of the animal and the flesh ٩ and the drugs and the simples and the likes of that by the Balance. Then assemble each thing of it in its place - and begin by placing the bones then the flesh and the marrow and the veins and the arteries and the cartilages and all that is in it of nail - and fit the model piece upon piece ١٢ upon whichever of them you wish then * raise it by that which belongs to it of what holds it fast. Then you will have made inside that circle which is cut in two halves an axis for it, a spindle upon which the idol turns <...> in that spindle and the hur ١٥. And glue the half upon its half from the circle and seal the join and let there be for the circle

p. 346 (leaf n351)

Also composed and authored, revolving in a pit like a river. We have already fully supplied you this example in the operation of the bodies, their loosening and their return, in the Book known as the Regimen from the Books 150, the hundred and twelve. Then set up the circle upon its axis so that there be for it turns it continually and kindle beneath it with one fire and one existence. As for the Balance of the fire, we have already finished with it in a book of ours known as the Book of Purity and in what we exemplified in the Book of the Dispensing concerning the days. Its motion shall be continual by its own essence > <...> or a mill or other than that among the things whose property is motion, like the mills in the land of Egypt which move continually, for their support stands upon an iron column beneath which is a polished mirror; it is not in the nature of the column nor the mirror that they ever come to rest, the column being cylindrical, the circle and the mirror being concave, the head of the column being stable while the cylindrical form is yielding, there being in it no stability for the yielding cylinder. Its motion has thus been made continual for the age of time. That motion its maker made upon the motion of the sphere. This we have established in the Book of Natural Forms. His intention was nothing other than the sphere and its motion. He performs that continually until the completion of the days. Beware lest you be of little knowledge concerning the fullness of the days, so that you diminish them or increase them, whereby the generated thing perishes therein. For perhaps there emerges — and truly, my master — [something] better than every person in the world and more complete. Work upon

p. 347 (leaf n352)

It is completed by your being certain of the soundness of that. If one of its members is completed, then the whole will be likewise, since the parts are like their wholes in the simples; so know it (). This then is what is in this kind of generations, according to what Porphyry mentioned ٣. We have mentioned only that we are explaining in this book the book of Porphyry the Syrian and the book of Rasmus on the Balance. Whoever peruses these books and reads them knows what we have, because the two of them locked the discourse on these matters ٦ with an extremely severe locking. As for the group who spoke of putrefaction, they said: this generation is not completed from the side that it is without putrefaction, and generation occurs only by putrefaction; however they ٩ say: the procedure is good and precise, were it to have moisture. That occurs by carrying the model in the interior of a circle of well-made copper, as we mentioned in the first, its filling being water, the model placed in the interior of the water, and the copper circle in ١٢ the interior of the clay circle, the fuel being upon multiples of the first. It is necessary that you know that what the fire must be upon is the measure of the first degree, so long as it is in

p. 348 (leaf n353)

One circle and the third in its interior, which is that which we have mentioned that it is obtained by number. As for when the circle is in the interior of the circle, then the fuel shall be according to the measure of the second degree, and it is upon three measures of the first. And this is the statement of these two groups; there is nothing in it other than that, and they are those who spoke by Nature, so know that. As for him who said that the spirit is not generated except from air, then it has another form, and that is that they make the model in a circle resembling one perforated with many perforations of the subtleties, and it is empty, and they place it in a copper circle filled with water as we had explained previously, and we place that last circle in the great circle which is * clay, and your fuel shall be upon multiples of the first, five times, and it is the measure of the third degree. And there is not for the generations that which is more intense than this > in < all the operations, because it is the ultimate as we have said in what has passed if it occurs upon that. And it is necessary that you know that the measure * of the model ought to be from the first circle upon the measure of the half, equal, without increase or decrease in it. And this we have already mentioned to you in the intersection of the circles by the half and the two-thirds from the teachings of geometry. The example of that > ... < like its diameter three times and a seventh by one measure, and half > three times < a measure and half a seventh a measure, therefore in truth half a circle. The example of the first, two.

p. 349 (leaf n354)

And twenty to seven, and the second forty-four to fourteen; so let the greatest circle be sixty-six * and the diameter from the point twenty-one. It has become clear that the model must be in the half of the first, so it necessarily follows ٣ that if the model enters into the number > * the first circle becomes < eighty and the second sixty-six and the third forty-four and the model has the measure of twenty-two, or upon multiples and addition, so the first greatest became forty ٦ and the second twenty and the third thirteen and the model five. So understand that and be certain of it, for — by the truth of my master — I have made clear in it the aspects of the teachings to a great extent in addition to the discourse of Porphyry, so know ٩ And a group said: what must be inside the idol is the sperm, for it is the origin and nothing comes to be save by it. And this is a thing that is common to the rational and the sperm is not added to other than it among the figures, so know it. And a group said: if the sperm ١٢ the form is altered, a winged human is made, it needs the sperm of that bird or animal, and likewise by the single model, meaning > ... < the extension in it and the abundance of speech upon it. And a group said: no, but the measures that were mentioned must be taken, then triturated finely ١٥ and placed in the vessel which is the model after it has been kneaded with the sperm in a thorough kneading. And a group said: generation needs no drug nor remedy nor Balance, but rather from the blood of that genus must be worked for every genus, for from it there comes to be ١٨

p. 350 (leaf n355)

The kind that is desired. And whenever this knowledge mixes with the blood of a kind other than that kind, there is no escape for the kind that is born from it but that there comes forth in it a resemblance to the kind that

٣it mixed with from its blood, so recognize it. And a group said: Rather, the remedies and the quantities are to be triturated with the blood as the discourse we have set forth concerning the sperm, and that and this discourse are one.
So recognize its aspect and perfect the consideration of it so that nothing is mixed with it from the other kinds

٦lest knowledge go to waste vainly. And a group said: Rather, every part of the parts and what belongs to it of the quantities is to be kneaded with the blood — and we have already said the like of that concerning the partisans of the sperm, and it is true speech,
and it is necessary that this be conceived [١٥١] and that the consideration of it be made decisive. And it is necessary for you,

٩O learner, to know that all these aspects are true in that they are worked by them, so recognize
that. For the aspect that we have shown you has become an animal other than it, and its aspects are many in which it is possible, by management, to extract from them what does not perish, so recognize it and draw analogy from it

١٢— and it is that the people are those who have named themselves depictors, intending thereby
assimilation to the Cause that originated these things, because according to them >...> and they are in the position of >...> . And that is because these people, according to them, the active power for that

١٥was only a person like them [and it is that annihilation is inevitable for it because the substance does not cease from the Soul] and that He originated first a weak thing and continued to manage it until it died.

p. 351 (leaf n356)

They call death annihilation and they call it "the descent" — and it is that annihilation is indispensable for the descent of the substance from the Soul — and that after him, after a while, another person came who looked upon that Work and said: it is corrupt. + twice + in number, until when he understood the cause of that corruption from it, he corrected it and set it right. And upon this one comes after another until the sphere is dissolved. And verily the judgment is in its perpetual increase because of what befalls it from the extraction of people, so they made images likewise, since every soul inclines to the most beautiful form. And they only seek this first regimen so that precedence may be theirs even if they are delayed. For whoever runs * and he is first, then last * overtakes him, and none was more knowledgeable than he, and he was earlier in the second state, casting the first from the second precedence; so know that. And the first likeness is us and our likes from all the persons that are the subject of this science. This first is a thing that pertains only to the animal, even if its like may be said to be in the plant and the stone, not from the aspect of generation but from the aspect of our saying "the example" and seeking the first among their persons. And someone has claimed regarding that, not without assertion, that the first is superior to the second and the third.

p. 352 (leaf n357)

Because it is permissible to generate this First, and he knows the many sciences. And we and he are equal; the distinction has become clear to you. We have only preferred him for these ٣ reasons, and they claimed + because he composed the books and registers, and these wonders are a reminder for their souls like the pyramids and the wonders of talismans and their solutions within them. So look, my brother, at the opinions and how they are and their subject. ٦ This is the sum of what is in the First Generation. A group claimed that + the soul of the perpetual motion in the world <....> which is in it, for the womb is watered by a world and the greater world contains it, and that ٩ the motion of the sphere is perpetual as we exemplified in what preceded, and it is permissible that it does not move according to the statement of a people. They claimed that when the circle moves the point also from it is moved. This is speech that proceeds to the part and the leap and that in which people are ١٢ contending over the length of many years. They mean by that that the embryo in the state of its rest and its motion , so the example in [152] the state of its rest and its motion is moved since what surrounds it is connected, for that is perpetually moved, so it is ١٥ perpetually moved.

p. 353 (leaf n358)

And a group among them said: We say that its motion is perpetual in the state of its rest, and in the state of its motion it moves two motions, one of them the motion of the pole by the motion of the sphere and it is the first proportionate one, and the motion of the embryo from itself a motion ٣ contrary not according to order. And likewise we say in the example: it only revolves by the revolution of the great outer circle, so when the generation is begun in its interior there must be for it a motion occurring not according to order. This is the correct saying in which there is no disagreement ٦ and it is necessary that you know that the discourse on the first generation [and] we have already fully treated all that is in it, so let it now be when we take up the second generation which they named “the milk” and that it is the generated thing which occurred however it happened. And the saying on that, O my brother ٩ is that you know that this first cooker is a special thing which many of the masters of generation know. And that is because it is a natural regimen and it is taken for the last of them. And we shall mention it in its place when you reach it at our mention of the generation of the wise one which we exemplified from ١٢ one of the three.

As for the saying on the second generation, the philosophers all, of the people of generation and others, said: the putrefied things are four, one of them and it is the weakest of them is vinegar, and the second and it is a little stronger than the first is moisture and it is the one made from

p. 354 (leaf n359)

the moist + and the compacted time and the water and the earth — we have already finished for you these examples in the Hundred and Twelve Books and in the Seventy and in these our books, ٣ and likewise it is a thing known. And the third of the putrefactions is the strongest of the three and it is that which we named in the Ranks the Ultimate, for it is horse dung in particular and it is the strongest of them and the most intense in solution and putrefaction. And the fourth is the natural thing which universally applies to things ٦ from the putrefactions and the solutions and the congelations * over the length of days and it does not need to be renewed nor does it change from that its nature which is + a gradual progression to the dissolution of what it has congealed, its invalidation ever. Lo, dung cools and needs to be changed every three days and four ٩ and its slowest seven. And likewise vinegar, its vapour diminishes and it seethes, so it and its vessel need to be changed. And the cause in that * is the absorption of the artificer of its power and by it putrefaction occurs. And the moisture, in every three days its power is exhausted, so know that. And the fourth does not have its power exhausted ١٢ of what is taken from it because nothing departs from it until it takes its substitute and it does not delay ١٢ except from excess and it is the earth and its interiors, for its vapour is not exhausted except by their invalidation. And their example is >a< and the example of its vapour is b, so the statement concerning that: lo, a is in every b and b ١٥ is in every a, so it is not permitted that they ever separate — I mean the interiors of the earth from the vapour — so long as generation occurs upon them. For if generation is invalidated, vapour is invalidated, and this is absurd.

p. 355 (leaf n360)

We have conceived it. * Therefore it was thus. Three things have come to be: one of them is earth, which is a, the second is vapor, which is b, and the third is coming-to-be, which is j. So it came in every b and b in every a, and a in every b; and b in some j and a in some j [152]. It follows that earth is in all the vapor and vapor is in all the earth, and earth is in some of the coming-to-be and vapor is in some of the coming-to-be. This is a sound statement in which there is no contradiction.... It is necessary that you know that the generation of the animal in earth is slower and more distant because of coldness, since intelligence is swifter and more living, and its cause is the abundance of heat. For if we set down something of discourse and operation as a foundation and adduce its contrary, we need first to investigate whether it is from the extremities or from the middle. If it is from the middle we do not labor in it; if it is from the extremities we seek it. Some is found with ease and some is exceedingly difficult. We have already informed concerning these oppositions in our book in which we commented upon Aristotle on Rhetoric and Poetic and Logical Discourse, which is the eighth treatise of the Organon; yet some have doubted that and made it the seventh, both matters being one. An example of that is our statement that earth is slower and more distant because of coldness.

p. 356 (leaf n361)

And likewise the counterpart of this statement. Have we not already said that the animal generated in Earth is slower and more obtuse on account of coldness? So let us place opposite Earth [?]. ٣ And let it be four. So let us consider first what is the Nature of Earth, and we find it absolutely and essentially cold dry, as though it needs no proof. For Fire does not oppose or is not placed opposite Earth, because between Fire and Earth there is partnership in dryness, so there is an intermediary uniting them in the middle, and no ambiguity occurs. Then we opposed it with Water, yet it also did not oppose it from all directions, but the time of opposition was from the side of the passives, so there was for them an intermediary from the actives, [١٥٣] so it was invalidated that Water should be opposite Earth. ٩ And Earth is not opposite itself and its contrary, since natural things do not perform contrary operations * and because body is prevented from being both moving and at rest in one state—this is among the primary knowns, no doubt in it. Then if we place opposite Earth ١٢ Air, no intermediary occurs between them, rather each one of them is an extremity and distant, like the center and the circumference of the circle, and it is the farthest of distances, because the lines going out from the center to the circumference in the circle are one, and we considered the contrariety in them ١٥ and the opposition, and lo it is in the farthest distance, because Earth is cold dry and Air is hot moist, so opposite the cold of Earth is the hot of Air, and opposite the moist of Air is the dry of Earth; thus it was verified and necessary that it is in the farthest distance.

p. 357 (leaf n362)

From it, not because it is a thing and it is a body, but because of the compositions, since there are not in the world two opposites except non-being and being. And our saying "word and meaning of speech and its reality" and the like has gathered them in one meaning, but opposition occurs ٣ in the compositions. Then we said "slower", he took slower and faster from speech, and there is no need for you to say how that is so that we explain more than what we explained in the chapter of the Earth, since ٦ the definition for speech is more than it is in the four elements. Because slower and faster are considered by us in speech like the two of them more than four times and four times many. And there is no disagreement among the sages that speed is opposite to slowness absolutely, ٩ so let us know that. Then if we said "more stupid with the Earth and slower" the image of the stupid intelligent one, and stupidity and intelligence we have already taught you previously how that is. And that is that we made the stupid similar to what ١٢ needs that we teach its reality, and that is that we described it as that things are not imagined for it at first glance, but they may be imagined for it and he looks at them with the eye of his intellect by much repetition and reiteration upon them in that, so this is the definition of stupidity, and it has many other limits ١٥ except that this we used to specify with the stupid alone. So the counterpart of this meaning which is imagined

p. 358 (leaf n363)

Things at first glance he sees them and some speech suffices him instead of much of it, and he is the intelligent one; thus it became fitting that one who is in this station be placed opposite one who is in that station. As for names, there is latitude in them, except that it is our custom and in the first of our Natures that we name the first of these divisions intelligent; thus the intelligent necessarily became opposite the stupid. Then we say this one is slower and stupider because of coldness and swifter and more intelligent because of heat, it is necessary that this be true [and] there is no disagreement in it, nor is it permissible for anyone to dispute it because of what we have advanced; it has been established and made necessary [on account of] that slowness and stupidity are under coldness and it is necessary that swiftness and intelligence are under heat, no doubt. It has necessarily followed from this entire discourse that the coming-to-be of [١٥٣ب] the second animal from earth and what runs the course of earth, and that the coming-to-be of the third, the intelligent one, from air and what runs its course; thus the conclusion was only that the stupid one among the bodies we have mentioned first is from the cold dry earthly things such as serpents, and they are earthy <...> sensation, and they are earthy. And this is true, because serpents, especially black ones, are generated from hair in glass.

p. 359 (leaf n364)

As for glass, it has no opposite and is like the mother, unless one makes the father hair. This is not so, because glass or what runs its course is a stone, and every stone is cold and dry. Likewise scorpions may be generated from the whale — that is, the badruj — and burial in glass. We see beetles generated from mint and also from burial. We see scorpions in particular generated from earth and the sediment of oil in the basin into which + one has scattered it, and the reeds made like baskets when the moist heat of fire strikes them. We see wasps generated abundantly from putrid flesh, that is, the dead. Worms are generated from slaughtered flesh, the cause of that being the outflow of the blood of this one and the retention of the blood of the other. We see bugs generated abundantly and constantly from the sediment of vinegar, and flies from all sweet things. The bug is a tree in which it grows and its growth is the measure of a cubit upon the face of the earth; it is like the walnut and larger; when it opens, the bug comes out of it — this is in plants. All of this is from the divisions of earth. We find all that we have said generated from the fetid earth, which is that taken at three cubits and more from the bellies of the earth; then when we putrefy it with moisture as the preceding statement about it, whatever form we desire for it comes forth, man or other. So investigate that to know what the cause is in it by the Balance and how it is. We see in the witnessed what is stronger than all of this, namely that we find

p. 360 (leaf n365)

The persistence of most of these animals occurs through earth, like the noxious creatures, vipers, scorpions, beetles and woodlice. As for the worm, even if it is from every thing, that which is generated from it has its subsistence through it, not otherwise; for the worm of wine and must, if cast into earth or vinegar, dies at once, and likewise the worm of plants and vinegar lives only by that from which it began, except in qurt. So know this and draw the analogy. On every section that you state, it is a great matter. As for the days in the generation of this fool, we have already taught it to you — and by the right of my master — in the Book of Tasrif, a complete teaching; if you are granted it, you have been granted a great thing. Since it has become clear that all these animals are earthy, let us distinguish between the earthy and the non-earthy so that you may know that. As for the bird in its entirety, like the hornet, the mosquito, the fly and the birds, some of them are earthy, their heat abounding so that the earthy [nature] surpasses by Nature; and some of them are aerial in the beginning. The proof of that is the flying scorpion [and] since we treat it with pure cold, snow is the healing of things in the sting of this scorpion, and that is in the treatment of every scorpion sting. If it is extinguished [and] rubbed on it, because if it is given to drink it dies; so know that, for it is among the great benefits. Likewise the statement concerning that which is from plants. It is not incumbent upon us to detail for you all the things, for we have already taught you the example and we have already placed you in another book.

p. 361 (leaf n366)

on the aspects of the chapters and especially in logical instruction. By my master’s truth, how little benefit there is in the small amount of knowledge of logic from all the books of the philosophers and our books with them. ٣ Since we have come — may God preserve you — to these principles in the first and second [books] of the dull-witted >....< something to be measured against it and we proceed from it to discourse on the intelligent and the swift, if God the Exalted wills. ٦ Most of the philosophers have asserted that whenever we take the white of any egg whatever and follow with it that path which has preceded of the circles by the moist specifically or by the air and the moist, there comes from it the bird from which that egg was, and if it is opposed ٩ between its members it is likewise. And if some of them is tinctured [with some] in different colours it comes out according to what has been tinctured, because the foundation of tinctures with them is sal-ammoniac and the colour desired, such as the yellow from arsenic and sal-ammoniac, and the green from the waters ١٢ of the green leaves and sal-ammoniac dissolved in them, and the white from the waters of the white colours and sal-ammoniac the whitener, and likewise if it is tinctured with other than these of what by its nature tinctures that colour, such as the conveyance of arsenic in the yellow of the colours ١٥ and the use of saffron and what follows its course, and likewise in all the colours. And the great Porphyry says in that chapter: whichever colour prevails, the skin of that animal is of that colour. He means by that that it may be chosen ١٨

p. 362 (leaf n367)

In the thing that the tinctures be a group like the red, the blue, the green and the yellow; so if the red overcome the other three the colour of its body is red, ٣ and likewise the statement concerning the other colours. And he also says: if they are mixed they become aba flus, and this is clear; I need not disclose it to you. So understand, O my brother, these principles and make them clear; you will hit upon the way. ٦ And likewise if it putrefy in the earth dung or dew or vinegar it comes according to what we have said, equally. So if you make the form which you compose and place in it from the element which the philosophers sometimes call element and sometimes * matter and sometimes the essence of the thing, sometimes its body, sometimes —for everything from which a thing is generated is, according to the philosophers, seed, so know it—then take for it a perforated vessel as we have said and place the form which is the model upon its axis in the perforated vessel on condition that it is ١٢ rounded—() and the great Porphyry has mentioned that this instrument may be allowed to be pine-cone-shaped—then place it in the interior of a wide pot, then pour into

p. 363 (leaf n368)

That vessel of the water which shrinks it, and it is cooked with a gentle fire, for it dispenses with every single one of the putrefactions [correct]. And Porphyry says : “This generation is also earthy,” and when he says: “It is aerial.” As for he said that it is earthy, it is on account of the water and its sharing in the coldness of the earth; and as for what he said that it is aerial, it is on account of the cooking vessel which attaches to it and the air whose occurrence is from the water at that time, and he sometimes calls it aerial +little+ but only +it floats from here to here+ out of caution from the cold and deficiency upon it. And likewise all who are fair to themselves among the wise learned men, because when the learned man is fair, he does not descend anything in the divisions except that he mentions it and argues for it and against it and takes its due from its opponents and renders them their dues, otherwise the crier has fallen into folly and ignorance. And likewise also if the hair is cooked or putrefied and its days are many, there occurs from it the blacks, and the statement regarding what has blackened is like the statement regarding what has blackened while the colour remains in its state, I mean in the white it becomes white and in the black it becomes black, and even if the hair >....< until it tinctures with a permanent tincture by Nature like its white tincture by Nature.

p. 364 (leaf n369)

It is necessary for the colours of the serpents to be with those colours — glory be to the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner; to Him belong the most beautiful names, exalted is He above what the wrongdoers say.

٣Porphyry has said in the book from which we have taken these things, called On Generation: If one takes from the great hair a serpent upon the shapes that can be taken, there emerges from it a great animal obedient to its master to whom it emerges in the first opening of its eye from the generated + prepared for him. The explanation of that is that this shape <...> that one knows first that the single line may be found, and likewise the circle from it and the non-circle and its like ا. And that which is upon two lines, nothing circular or other than it comes from it, its example being ظ. And the triangle may be found and is divided into three parts, its example being ب. And the square may be found and is divided into more than that in number, for we find it according to its nature upon five, its example being ج. And the pentagon may be found and its number is many, its example being د, and the hexagon may be found, its example being ه. And the heptagon, its non-existence is like the first that we mentioned in the second, and its sign is غ. And the octagon may be found, its sign being و. And the enneagon may be found, its sign being ز. And the decagon may be found, its sign being ح. And the hendecagon may be found, its sign being ط. And the dodecagon may be found, its sign being ى. And the tridecagon, its existence is difficult if divided into two parts, the seven entering into one of them, while its existence may be easy upon

p. 365 (leaf n370)

Other than that and conversely, and the sign of what exists is k. And the fourteenth may be strongly impossible of existence, because whenever it is divided by seven it is thus, and it is not permissible that it be divided on that account because of evenness and oddness; rather we find in it a hexad and an octad, and these ٣ are unique to us. Likewise if the statement is reversed regarding the thirteenth; and because the seventh is not found by adjoining another to it so that it is not found in its sign fi. And the fifteenth may exist sound and its sign is l. And the sixteenth may exist and its sign is ١٠٥ m. ٦ And the seventeenth does not exist either except in the form of the thirteenth, and the return of the odd to the even, which does not issue forth; and if the Intellect conceives it, demonstration refutes it, and its sign is z. And the eighteenth we find, and its sign is h. And the nineteenth we find, and its sign is ٩ si. And the twentieth we find, and its sign is ʿ. And the twenty-first + we find + and its sign is f. And the twenty-second we find and its sign is f. And the twenty-third we find and its sign is s. And the twenty-fourth we find ١٢ and its sign is w. And the twenty-fifth we find and its sign is . And the twenty-sixth we find and its sign is si. And the twenty-seventh we find and its sign is t. And the twenty-eighth is impossible of existence and its sign is t. ١٥ It is evident that what produced for us this statement is that existence in the living beings

p. 366 (leaf n371)

It may be from a considered example like the life of the small particles and it may be from three hairs which are b, and b is divided into three parts if one operates in each

٣one of them> the being< because its life is proportionate to its measure, if one operates in the upright figure—for the definition of the upright is that its two sides are like its base—its life is without doubt like its measure, and that is taken from the text. And the meaning of its measure, I mean if it was in a day its being was completed it remains a hundred and nine days and if it was in a year it remains a hundred and nine years. Likewise if it increased or decreased: if >it was< acute its measure is less than its life since the base of the acute is less than its two sides, and if it was obtuse its life is more than its measure because its sides are less than its base. So know that
٦

٩and upon it measure the square for the setting up of the way.
And truly my master we have shown you of the letters what it is proper that you seek, and that

١٢is possible in اب ج د ه وزع ط ى ك ل م ن س ع ف ص ق ر ش ت and it is impossible in مخز مضلع so know it. And it is proper that you labour with these faces, but as for the other faces then seek them, so most of them that one operates upon b for it becomes a figure

١٥of lives great + and امر وسدب so let us return to the speech of its author for knowledge from its zero + and let not the speech of another be heard lest his action be nullified and faults be claimed by it. And

p. 367 (leaf n372)

We have mentioned that in the book in which we refuted Plato [in] his book which he named the Laws. Then generation continues to occur by these modes in all things so that they come to be. ٣ We were told by more than one truthful man about places among the islands of the sea and what is found in them of hares, foxes, rats and serpents of which half or a third or part is fashioned — while the remainder of them is not complete — from clay; glory be to ٦ our Creator from this clay for that mighty power and His bestowal upon us of Intellect so that we came to know these things, glory be to Him. I myself have seen on more than one island rare kinds of animals [١٥٥] likewise that were not complete, of crabs, tortoises and serpents. As for Mount Makran + many so that I saw none other + it is men +. ٩ What I saw in the mountain of that was abundant > than < scorpions, serpents, hares and foxes; this I saw in its original state, not upon any other. Is not ١٢ He who does that capable of giving life to the dead? Yea, by the might of my Lord and my Creator, it is easy and light for Him. We also see that the hornet has in it a strange nature, namely that it is generated from ١٥

p. 368 (leaf n373)

The dust and the dead flesh, and indeed this is a property of it, and the bees in particular are generated from the dead more than from non-bees ... (٠) ٣ And it says: Whoever takes a bull—and if it is red in colour, it is better—then enters a house and throws to it some of the herbage leaves, then seals upon it the door by which he entered and opens for it at its top four apertures as the house revolves, then leaves the bull until it dies ٦ and putrefies, there is generated from it the bee hornet and it makes a hive in that house after a short time. This and its like are among the things that + confirm what we have said and support it and increase its clarification. It is therefore necessary that you understand the principles of these books and what lies beneath each of their words. For by the truth of ٩ my master, I have not mentioned a word except that beneath it there is a meaning from the books of this [science]. And since we have already presented to you an example of that—the first and the second, the dull one—there remains upon us [to explain] how the affair of this dull one may be rectified. For Porphyry said in this chapter ١٢ > ... < and the matter is attached to the first and it is not permissible that the third be attached to it, meaning that the return of discourse in the judgment and the degree is slight, and it is not possible that it be disclosed to an intellect; and truly, that is in the matter. And it was not permissible that the second be attached to the third because the third ١٥ is intelligent from the beginning of its motion in generation, whereas the dull one only learns what it learns at its end ... (٠٠)

p. 369 (leaf n374)

The saying on the generation of the special intelligent Spirit from all kinds * and their investiture by the generation of the masters of the laws. The saying on the instrument - may God preserve you - is like the saying on what preceded, the same, whether of an instrument of glass, copper or clay; there is no disagreement in that, and the perfection of the image belongs to its engineer + because we have mentioned their doctrine and what they seek by themselves. Likewise one prepares the mixtures of the image and considers its figures, for it is likewise according to what preceded in the beginning of this book. It is necessary that you know that the philosophers hold many opinions on that - and by philosophers I mean especially the masters of generation - because among them there is he who said: the time must be known. That is taken from our book known as the Book of the Balance, and we have already informed about these degrees and their causes in a book among the books of talismans especially, and the number of the degrees of the Sphere and their figures. A group said: we perform that however it occurs and happens; the first is better in every opinion and doctrine because it does not deviate from the sound and does not lie. It is necessary that you know that the agent of that - I mean the generator of one of

p. 370 (leaf n375)

These intelligent persons — are of two kinds: if from diverse things then it is not susceptible of coming-to-be, but if from one thing then it is the opposite of that and it comes to be for him as he wills. And in that there are examples which we cannot openly declare, but look to all the laws, for they are thus even if they are not from the generation which is connected to our time. Know that and beware of disclosing it, for that is taken from politics; so learn, otherwise beware while you know. They also spoke concerning the term in which the completion of that occurs. The philosophers agreed on many years therein. One group abridged and said: like its stay in the womb in months and its cooking which belongs to it, the natural one assigned to it. [2158] One group said three years only, and that is the nearest of these aspects in the triplicity of the kinds and their days in nearness and distance. Also we have informed concerning it by the ranks and what must be known, that it should be in that generated thing from one of the elements; so know that. There remains incumbent upon us from these divisions one division, which is that we mention what each group of the masters of generation said regarding what the intelligent one ought to be from among the medicaments and the drugs and the foods, and how the occurrence of knowledge to him and speech comes about in time.

p. 371 (leaf n376)

the easy [part], and it is the last thing he mentioned concerning the animal; and after that we proceed to speech concerning the plants, by the will of God, mighty and majestic, and His help. Since we have already made this division by way of example in this our book when we mentioned the subject of this book, we therefore speak concerning the operations as to how generation comes to be from it, firstly, since it is the first, if God most high wills. A group said — and they mention that they are the highest authorities of this generation — : The origin from which the intelligent [being] ought to be generated is the brain of that animal from which the thing is desired, such as man from man and horse from horse. They argued in that matter that the brain * is the seat of the Intellect. These people divided into three divisions corresponding to the division of the brain. One group said: It comes to be from the first division of the ventricles of the brain [the first] and it is called the chamber of imagination, and by it man imagines all things. — We had already informed > concerning > that in the Book of Prophetic Medicine among these books — and it is the first chamber facing the forehead up to what is level with it in elevation from the head. A second group said: It cannot come to be from the second division of the ventricles which is called the chamber of thought, and it is sounder and better than imagination. For that person is only imagining things, and it may be permissible that he imagines falsehood.

p. 372 (leaf n377)

And thought is better: if it is safe from defects its mention is true, and if safety is stipulated in the first it is exactly like the first.

٣And a third group said: rather the third division is the most excellent, which is the seat of memory. That — they claimed — is necessarily better because man in knowledge is one who remembers, since the intellectual sciences only come to be through knowledge that has preceded; as for the first, they placed it in the brain entirely. And if the matter is thus, then this division is better than the divisions, since it gathers what was in the power of those.

٦And a group said: the place of the intellect is the heart, and that the better is that it be from the blood of the heart >....< this group is one, with nothing between them of disagreement.

٩And these two doctrines are the mother of these statements.
And also other people said: rather that comes to be by taking the quantities that ought to be compounded from which that generated thing is composed, and they are mixed after

١٢trituration with the brain. And those people divided into three statements: some said it is mixed with the brain while it is sound. Others said: with the perforated brain alone, not by admixture. And another group said: rather it is from the perforated brain by means of medicaments.

١٥And those people divided into two divisions: one of them said: by means of sharp medicaments only. And the others said: by means of whatever medicaments there may be, provided there is in them a specific property.

p. 373 (leaf n378)

In 158 strengthening of the brain like the drowned (?) and lavender and lemon balm and aloe and what runs their course of what cannot be enumerated in multitude. As for Porphyry he claimed in this chapter in particular what we mention in his wording, ٣ and that is that he said [in this chapter in particular what we mention in his wording he said]: If the accustomed motions are balanced and time is also balanced for them then generation occurs from all parts of the triad with wisdom that stillness is of great importance in what ٦ comes forth in it from time, and let it be known that that is difficult of existence therefore they are few in existence in the world. The explanation of this discourse is that you know the balance of the accustomed ones and their motions are ٩ the matters arising from the stars and that it be at the extremity of natural balance appropriate in the division so that there be for him in the ascendant the master of intelligence and the master of safety and success and all that ought to be in it from the rest of ١٢ the times and likewise + the age also. And this too is of what rarely occurs from that together with those things we have set forth. As for the balance of time then he sees it occurs

p. 374 (leaf n379)

much in the season of spring because generation in it is nearer and swifter. And Pherekrides always calls this similitude the time of the lights. And a party of the philosophers has opposed him in that and said: rather at the time of the appearance of the crown among men + appeared the king. Socrates + and by that he means smallpox and the time of its pustulation and it is the height of winter. And the majority of them said spring and its mildness is better. And a party did not attend to anything of that and said: that is in the Elixir. And it is an error in all respects just as that is an error in the Elixir since it was on the path of the Balance, so let that be known. So it is right, my master, that there has been disclosed to you by these words a great secret if you perceive it, and perhaps it explains thousands of the books so act upon it. And as for his saying “from the one made threefold by wisdom”, then Amores * always calls it in his poetry the one made fivefold by the second supernal. And whoever reads the book of Galen called + the Remedies knows that with complete knowledge where he relates the medicine which he claimed [it is] that it benefits from all pains of the belly in particular ] where he says I am from the composition it benefits from all pains of the belly ] where the physician of Tarsus says: if there is taken of this medicine in the weight of a man’s Intellect it benefits from

p. 375 (leaf n380)

These are the senses. And upon the intellect of man [rests] the sensation of man; and the sensation of man is divided into five parts: hearing, sight, taste, smell and touch, because the cause of that is the brain, for all the senses exist only in it. As for ٣ Porphyry, that did not escape him; rather he said: that which performs these five [senses]—and it is the triangle of wisdom—i.e., it is divided into three parts, just as we have exemplified, [namely] memory, imagination and thought. And it is the last thing in this chapter, so know that and clarify it so that you may know ٦ all that is in it, and God knows best. The discourse on the occurrence of knowledge for this generation, which [takes place] in a short time. This chapter is the last of the discussion on the animal; and mankind ٩ [٢٥٩] is divided in it into three groups: one of them is he who said: the generator must intend the movement of that, so that when it moves and emerges from the vessel, all the sciences and kinds of disciplines and the sciences of the hidden things or other than that which is desired from that ١٢ generator, that it be skilled in it and speak with it. () The adherents of this opinion say: it speaks after the measure of time it remained in the generation. And a group said:

p. 376 (leaf n381)

Less. Others said: greater. Porphyrius mentions that it is among the proportionate things that indicate the success of that which is generated, from the fact that if the cooker of it is balanced, his speech is like the days of its coming-to-be—and this is praiseworthy, and by my life it is so—and that if the cooker falls short the days increase, and if he exceeds they decrease. ٣ This is a truth in which there is no disagreement whatever. ٦ As for the second group, they said: nothing of that is needed. For they claim that that person is self-sufficient for the things from himself at the first of the matter, by his own nature. And Porphyrius mentions in this chapter that he <.......> which we ourselves have mentioned in particular in the beginning of our book known as Ustuqus al-Uns, where we said: then the matter became threefold and returned a second time and a third time and continually until the Hour is established. And we mentioned in its explanation among the purposes that it is the balanced and that

p. 377 (leaf n382)

The balanced person is the one who extracts things by his own nature and knowledge befalls him by immediate intuition at the first glance; so know him. By the truth of my master, if you have understood what you say, even though it is plain and not encoded, you will surely be among the most excellent of people; indeed you may be like ٣ these philosophers. Porphyry says: We see that the one whose path is this is Socrates the Wise, for they do not doubt that much knowledge befell him with little training and that this was by nature. Whoever has read the commentary on our Book of the Element of the Foundation ٦ from the Book of Purposes knows this at once: so know what you say * it renders the way easy and simple. () The third group says: This does not occur by immediate intuition nor ٩ by instruction from childhood, but occurs by immediate intuition according to what we say. They claim that immediate intuition is desire, that is, that the one who generates these sciences desires them. We sought by immediate intuition that this is mostly in the soul and that it cannot be a first cause by necessity, since its definition is as we have mentioned and previously stated from our discourse.

p. 378 (leaf n383)

that it is capable, active, ignorant. And [I] only intend elegance in the generation of the soul for that animal alone, so it is not permissible that it be knowing. As for those, they argue in that by [saying] that the soul generated in this person is only from the soul which has already ٣ been repeated and spread out * and become clear. If it is in the definition of the soul * that it is > ignorant, then it . . . . < and it has * the choice of all life and the bodies dwelling in it, and if what is composed of these noble things is not permitted to be dissolved except by a noble soul. ٦ Whoever rejects this argues against them that we indeed see eminent people, masters of the world and their kings, whose souls are base, vile, and dull; so if your analogy [١٥٩] is upon this, then it must be that none of these is indwelt except by a noble soul, since it was ٩ chosen. Their answer in that is + its removal * and the easy, and it is not among the things in which the soul is mentioned in the first state, because we have not permitted concerning it that it is ١٢ knowing; and if we have not permitted concerning it the names of the knowing, then it does not attain what comes to be from it thereafter; and it only chose what it found of nobility and greatness in it from the purity of that thing, I mean

p. 379 (leaf n384)

The body which you claimed is the most excellent of bodies, and the meaning of “most excellent” is most pure and lightest. And when the body is light it is thus from the question by the upper that is distinct from the lower. And when it is thus, the upper portion is the fiery and beneath it the airy, and both are the cause of intelligence, and the lower portion is the watery >and< the earthy, and both are the cause of dullness. We had already said previously: it is necessary to investigate the existence of opposition, and when it is sound that establishes those definitions, so know it, you will find the way which we mentioned. And it is necessary that you know that one of the teachings which we have presented to you among what facilitates for you the quest for the extremes and the means and facilitates for you the finding of the oppositions is a book of ours among these books known as the Book of Definitions, and it is necessary that you practice in it a complete practice, for when things are known by their definitions and their ways are found for the learner, all the work has become easy for him since it has appeared in the sciences which we mentioned that they are the roots of the operations. So know that, the existence of consideration in each one of these books and what we have mentioned that they have of sequences among them from the other books. So know these aspects, for it is the way to the attainment of all these sciences.

p. 380 (leaf n385)

And since we have already treated all the divisions of animals and their causes, let the discourse on animals now be cut short; and we ask God for aid in all matters and we ask Him for reward and recompense, and God knows best. The Discourse on Plants We had already taught you previously the difference between animals and plants and what each of them specifically possesses + both drawing together from nourishment and intellect, and since we only said: the animal gathers the two parts and the plant has one of them in it. This statement therefore yields that the plant falls short of the animal by one degree in the scale. We need to investigate the distinction between them in operation, whether they are equal or one of them exceeds and falls short of the other; so we say: We have already exemplified what the animal needs of tools and what disagreement occurred in it and what was chosen for it > the brain and all the members and what was said in each chapter of the doctrines. As for the plant, it needs in the first instance only one thing and in the second state more than what the animal needs, rather of it except for two things, since the plant has no need of them, namely soul and intellect, because nourishment and differentiation in the members already gather them. > The plant needs ... < and the leaves and the fruit and the bark just as the animal needs the bones and the veins and the flesh and other than that of all

p. 381 (leaf n386)

The rules. And by my life there is indeed another relation between them on account of the Natures, and — truly, my lord — I have already informed about that and that it is approximately good in our book [260] known as al-Safwa. And what I see is that this discourse has produced for us that it is easier in the generation ٣ from it in all respects, since the first of the plants is only the formation of its root without fruit or leaf or blossom or anything except the root and the branch and the bark, and the second of it is what needs all the rules > which < were in the animal upon ٦ three + things: first and dull and intelligent. The plant therefore ought to be upon three aspects because it is found divided into them, not because the animal is likewise as though one of the three aspects in the plant > ........ < ٩ the first like the first, and the second is the station of the dull, and its meaning in the plant is that which exists for a short while of time and departs, just as we find in the animal the like of that, and it has + a return and this + has a return like the saying ١٢ and the things swift to vanishing and withering which you always see, and it is permissible that the like of it be taken from it. So understand these sections and principles upon which our discourse is built in every place of them. And the station of this last is the station of the intelligent, and it is necessary that we know that the principles of their operations are one but only the remedies differ in them.

p. 382 (leaf n387)

And <the things that are taken from it, so it is the chapter and it is necessary that you know it< And peace.

٣The discourse on the procedure for plants: the first thing that it is necessary to take for it is the apparatus that we have already illustrated made of glass. And this apparatus is divided into three parts: as for the first <.....> what is difficult and problematic for it. And the position of the leaf is placed upon other than * the form of the leaf because it is not in need of that, since it is naturally articulated for that leaf which is desired; and if it were in need of that, it would need trouble and difficulty. And a group has said: the first of the parts and especially the third must have everything that is in it like everything of the water of the form. So know, and it is the doctrine of a people who have precedence in the Work. And as for Porphyry, he holds that this is a necessity in all three parts. And it is the best of opinions in my view, because that which operates in a form other than one that exhausts the entire shape of that generated thing, it is permitted in it that it come upon other than the path by which it is desired that it be taken and its like, to other than the intended, and it is the truth in analogy.
١٢

١٥And as for the vessel, that is agreed upon that the apparatus be exactly like its like: if it is round then round, or square then square, or oblong then oblong, and however it may be, thus it is necessary that it be. And if the verifiers choose other than that, as

p. 383 (leaf n388)

Choose other than the paper and the light, this if the intent from that generated thing is that it appear with its leaves and its light and its fruit and its branches and all that is in it of its causes ٣. As for if only the root is intended, then it is much easier in the operation than that, because if the apparatus is contrary to the first in the surround, meaning in the formation of the form, then it is undeniable that the doing of that is harder and more laborious than the doing of that ٦ of the plant or its generation. Since you have learned these principles in their totality, let us now speak of the manner of the generation of that. It is that we know in it another condition, and it is that a group of these people ٩ [١٦٠] said: Let there be an apparatus of glass inside another apparatus of glass, the inner one being in the form, and let it be much perforated from its beginning to its end, and let one of them be inserted into the other and its extraction be possible, ١٢ and let the measure of the first relative to the second be the measure of two thirds, like twenty to thirty. Then there is taken of the pure red earth from the earth of the common [soil], not from the bitter earth which drinks and is used in the treatments; then it is buried in ١٥ a clean jar that no water has ever touched, buried in dung for a long period, then it is heated. So when it becomes like rennet in milk, it is taken and projected into the first model which we have mentioned that it

p. 384 (leaf n389)

that it be the upper one. Then he places in it of that earth in the measure of the inner form which is the model so that the model cannot be disturbed in it at all ٣ nor move. Then the form is introduced into its cavity, and there has already been placed in it by the Balance what is needed for it and what is intended for its generation; and he begins according to what we have delineated of that in the matter of the animal. Let the outer form be a round vessel of copper like clay, ٦ and if it be of hard wood to which rot does not hasten, it is better and nearer to generation. Then he places in it what the outer form needs of glass and waters it in the fire with that watering which we mentioned in the chapter of the animal, for the growth is completed in these times which we have defined for it. Whoever has read our book known ٩ as the Book of Dispensing knows that with certainty. This is the natural growth in the plant specifically. As for the second > from the plants and < it is in the station of the second dull one [from the plants] ١٢

from the animals < Porphyry says in his book on this Art: the animal and the plant which is not benefited from except at its time is that whose Natures, if they are different, one does not attain thereby from them * and after the ordering of their speech it proceeds in the meaning of the Balance, so recognize it, for it suffices. As for the fire and the instrument, they are one or it is upon ١٥

p. 385 (leaf n390)

What I have made known to you in the postulate of this book, understand it, for it is the secret, if God wills. And one must understand from the second that it may be completed even if error and negligence are permissible in it, ٣ but if something else is intended thereby, then that is better. Porphyry and his teacher said: The learner must begin, for it is the foundation of the trials and the experiments, and through it the work of man is perfected by itself; so know that. And since we have finished mentioning the first two kinds of plants, let us mention ٦ the third whose rank is the intelligent one among animals. So we say: As for the third kind of this chapter, one must first rely in it upon the selection of the medicaments in which the heat is greater, or the cold, or the moisture, or the dryness, and the deficiency ٩ of the remainder, that is, of the Natures. And that is that there should be in the medicament five parts of heat and of cold, dryness and moisture + as much as possible, or none at all +. One must use in it only the literal, and analogy and syllogism are not to be used in it, ١٢ and one must rely that the Nature in it [٢٦١] be according to what is found of the letters, not the reverse, and the compounds. And if you have read the Book of the Result you will have perceived that and known it; otherwise seek it and you will find that, and it is the due of my master. And the literal is not to be used if it is upon ١٥ an excess, but the operations are to be taken just as we have described; so know it. As for the first, if it is the first, then the aspects most fitting to it are...

p. 386 (leaf n391)

Operation of poisons only; thus it must be conducted according to the first comparison. But if it is not on the first, then it admits both meanings, namely poisons and others; so let that be known. When it is chosen in it that one of the agents or patients be made more and the deficiency of the other three, as we have already presented to you that natural things do not perform two contrary operations, that is its Balance, if you have understood. Thus there was not chosen, in what we desire of it, the swift action at the time [and] that there be made in it only what is most specific to that action from one side only; otherwise, if there were made from the four its existents which are heat, cold, dryness and moisture, the action of each one according to its Nature, then it would be the balanced thing, and it is what we seek in the Elixir, not in the coming-to-be of the examples of things in which that is not made nor are they in it. For when heat acts in what it has been made specific for, and likewise cold and moisture and dryness, then what heat has performed may be counterbalanced by the action of cold, and what dryness has performed may be balanced by the action of moisture; thus what we have said is necessary in them, according to what we mentioned in the Book of the Quintessence concerning these ranks and states. We sometimes call that “utmost” and sometimes “predominant,” and that is because what we call predominant is what was upon the named form. I have already seen, in the knowledge of the Balance after generation, a science it does no harm to mention.

p. 387 (leaf n392)

so that we may have fully treated all the divisions of the Balance, and in God is my trust in all states. That is when the medicines are mixed from which and by which the generation of the animal or the plant or the Stone is completed; then a sign is placed in each one of its parts according to what is in it of ٣ the Natures, and the resting is completed as we have said and exemplified was in that generated thing from the Natures, according to what we have conjectured. Porphyry has said concerning that: that after the generation there is a matter, and this is a true statement because we ourselves have performed that; so when it is completed, then ٦ that which we have performed has become true. Except that it is from the matter of Porphyry that this is not named as the moderns name it, for they call it conjecture, whereas Porphyry said: it is necessary that the names be appropriate to their states, meaning their meanings; so know that, if God wills, ٩ the Exalted. It is from the custom of Porphyry that he places this form from the plant in the earth and the water; he does not work >in< other than it from what has preceded, water and earth. He says: that ١٢ is completed without water and without earth, meaning he says in a chapter in which he mentions the first Sphere: > it is necessary< that the Sphere have from the wood of torment, and + has erred from Porphyry ١٥ from this, and it has been said concerning it that he said: the Sphere may be a tribe of wood, for

p. 388 (leaf n393)

wood of the jujube tree. And this, O my brother, if thou hast understood it, it behooves that thou praise God greatly when thou hast discerned it, for it is excellent. ٣ Now that we have treated of all that is in this, let us speak of how its cooker is. As for Porphyry, he says: The earth is the first of the cookers of the plants above all cookers, and this is his doctrine which is peculiar to him, and it had spread from him for a period of time in which none spoke otherwise; then he mentioned after it the remaining doctrines. ٦ As for the masters of the generations among the Peripatetics in particular, they held that all the cookings in all the generated things are by fire alone and that what ought to reach the generated thing from them is living, like the incubation of the bird or the body of man before sweating and the like of that. As for the Pythagoreans, they do not prefer anything at all in the cookings over water, because they make the greatest upper circle of wood and place it in the boiling water until what is desired from it is completed. And it is only a circle continually, while the fuel is one, and our existence of the Balances has already informed us concerning that

p. 389 (leaf n394)

Fire in the Book of al-Safwa among these our books which are thirty-two, and from that place it must be taken and learned, if God Most High wills. We have already mentioned the aspect with the earth, ٣ and the chief of the philosophers and their master ٣ all of them, Socrates, [spoke] of the aerial cooker extracted from the vapour of water, and that is because he said: If its sphere is made to revolve upon the water by a measure that nothing reaches except its vapour — and the circle which he sometimes calls a sphere and sometimes a circle pierced with small holes, inside it ٦ a circle like it upon the divisions of the half equally — then becoming is more balanced than otherwise; so know it. We need to mention the matter of the water which Socrates sees, which water it is. The half-shape, how its emergence is permitted according to the view of Socrates. Verily ٩ Socrates holds that the water be from the sharp waters so that [the water be from the sharp waters so that] he says: water of the bird and the green pure light halqus and the sharp salt. The clarification of this is that you know that Socrates always calls this water the water of life, and that is because it is, in his view, among the most efficacious of waters, because in his view it acts upon all things with the slightest intermixture with other things it works things and their opposites.

p. 390 (leaf n395)

like solution and coagulation and what resembles it. Let us explain the doctrine of Socrates concerning this water first and what he meant by it. He says: the water of the bird is, according to him, the water of the shells of living eggs, and halqus is verdigris, and the sharp salt is, according to him, the mother of salts, meaning sal-ammoniac. For when these three stones are gathered in equal parts and distilled, there comes out from them the water he mentioned, and it is, by God, as he said and better. Then one cooks with this water that which is generated, for it becomes marvellous. Socrates has spoken truly in that, and how often did Porphyry speak of the excellence of this water and that it is fitting. So learn the need that called Socrates to that, for it is outside the Balance. As for the figure that is upon the half, if it is round—and it is the best of them—it is as ten from twenty, and likewise if it is not round then it is according to its measure. We have already finished for you with that in the beginning of this book at our mention of these quantities for the First Animal and its brethren. Since we have come to all the divisions of the animal and the plant and their generation and all the opinions and doctrines and doubts occurring in every chapter of the chapters needed in the difficult places and have explained all that, let the section of this chapter now be the discourse on the animal and the plant, and let what follows that be the discourse on...

p. 391 (leaf n396)

stones according to what we have outlined and estimated in the beginning of this book. And know that what we have mentioned of that is not the entirety of the discourse concerning animals and plants. Rather we have mentioned only the sums needed for it in the science of animals in their entirety ٣ and not one of them falls short of what is needed in the matter of all animals and plants. And if the student of these books excels he will extract from them in the sciences and in these arts that which does not perish and to which there is no limit; and we ask God ٦ for good reward and recompense, for He is Generous, Noble.

p. 392 (leaf n397)

Praises to God, Lord of the Worlds, and may God bless Muhammad, Seal of the Prophets, and grant him peace. We have previously set forth before this our book many books on the science of the Balances, and we taught therein the modes of their employment, yet we did not indicate how the operation is to be performed upon them; and we taught the qualities of things by means of the letters according to the principles which are heat, cold, moisture and dryness, yet we did not indicate the quantity. That is because the demonstration of quantity belongs to another science not sharing with what has preceded, therefore we have turned it aside to another book. For when we demonstrated that speech occurs only through the composition of letters—for a single letter cannot be pronounced—and we demonstrated the simple [letters] and their places, it was indispensable for us to mention how the operation is performed with those letters which are the simples and the compounds—for the benefit then becomes great and weighty—and it was not for us

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