Ancient and Medieval

Aristotle

• Focus on substance and change
• Structure of the “Universe”
  • Essentially concentric zones largely defined by elements
• Properties
  • Wet – Dry; Cold – Hot
  • Primary building blocks of matter
  • May be mixed in various proportions
• Elements
  • Combinations of Properties
  • General categories: Air, Fire, Water, Earth
  • Variation in each domain due to exact mixture
• Exhalations
  • Wet and Dry
  • Result from the sun’s rays (heat) interacting with water and earth
  • Move elements/properties around; explain various atmospheric observations
•  Anima
  • Animating “force”
  • Gradient of different anima: vegetative, sensitive, rational

Generation of Stones

• Aristotle
  • Earth’s rays heat up the earth to produce dry exhalations
  • Exhalations move through earth and interact with other earths
  • Recombine to make new earths
  • Can harden material: clay into rock
• Petrific Seed
  • Low level of vegetative anima leads toward changes such as decay or growth; here result in the generation of new stones
  • Heat penetrates earth and forms dry exhalations that move below the surface
  • Recombines and flows to surface where it forms new stones under the influence of anima
• Lapidifying Juice
  • “Succus” moves through the earth interior and acts to form stones as it interacts with materials, picks up heat or cools, etc.
  • It also flows through animals and humans (forms gallstones)
  • Different types of juice postulated to explain different kinds of stones
• Common examples
  • Caves, stalagmites and stalactities
  • Bands in rocks

Figured Stones

• Problem is the geometric forms of “earths”
• Plato stress on idealized forms provides a mental framework
• “Correspondences” in that same shapes are imprinted on various substances
• Influenced debates about “fossils” (anything dug up)