68. Præterea agens materiale non potest agere nisi in passum similiter materiale; tritum siquidem est axioma philosophorum, quod agens et patiens debent communicare in subjecto; nec id quod materiatum est, potest agere in rem pure spiritualem. Dantur autem agentia naturalia, quæ agunt contra hujusmodi Dæmones Incubos, sequitur igitur quod isti materiati, seu corporei sunt. Minor probatur ex iis quæ scribunt Dioscorides, l. 2. c. 168. et l. 1. c. 100., Plinius, lib. 15. c. 4., Aristoteles, =Probl. 34.=, et Apuleius, =l. De Virtute Herbarum=, apud Guaccium, =Comp. Malef.=, l. 3. c. 13. fol. 316., et confirmatur experientia, nempe de pluribus herbis, lapidibus ac animalibus, quæ Dæmones depellunt, ut ruta, hypericon, verbena, scordium, palma Christi, centaureum, adamas, corallium, gagates, jaspis, pellis capitis lupi aut asini, menstruum muliebre, et centum alia; unde habetur 26, q. 7. cap. final.: =Dæmonium sustinenti liceat petras, vel herbas habere sine incantatione=. Ex quo habetur, petras aut herbas posse sua vi naturali Dæmonis vires compescere, aliter Canon hoc non permitteret, sed ut superstitiosum vetaret. Et de hoc luculentum exemplum habemus in Sacra Scriptura, ubi Angelus Raphael dixit Tobiæ, c. 6, v. 8.: =Cordis ejus= (nempe piscis, quem a Tigri attraxerat) =particulam, si super carbones ponas, fumus ejus extricat omne genus Dæmoniorum=. Et ejus virtutem experientia comprobavit: nam incenso jecore piscis, fugatus est Incubus, qui Saram deperiebat. 68. Besides, a material agent cannot act but on an equally material passive. It is indeed a trite philosophical axiom, that agent and patient must have a common subject: pure matter cannot act on any purely spiritual thing. Now, there are natural agents which act on those Incubi Demons: these are therefore material or corporeal. Our minor is proved by the testimony of Dioscorides, Pliny, Aristoteles and Apuleius, quoted by Guaccius, _Comp. Malef._ b. 3, ch. 13, fol. 316; it is confirmed by our knowledge of numerous herbs, stones and animal substances which have the virtue of driving away Demons, such as rue, St-John’s wort, verbena, germander, palma Christi, centaury, diamonds, coral, jet, jasper, the skin of the head of a wolf or an ass, women’s catamenia, and a hundred others: wherefore it is written: _For such as are assaulted by the Demon it is lawful to have stones or herbs, but without recourse to incantations_. It follows that, by their own native virtue, stones or herbs can bridle the Demon: else the above mentioned Canon would not permit their use, but would on the contrary forbid it as superstitious. We have a striking instance thereof in Holy Scripture, where the Angel Raphael says to Tobit, ch. 6, v. 8, speaking of the fish which he had drawn from the Tigris: “_If thou puttest on coals a particle of its liver, the smoke thereof will drive away all kinds of Demons._” Experience demonstrated the truth of those words; for, no sooner was the liver of the fish set on fire, than the