Know, that except thou subtiliate the bodie till all become water, it will not rust and putrifie, and then it cannot congeale the flitting soules, when the fire toucheth them: for the fire is that which congealeth them by the ayd therof vnto them. And in like maner haue the Philosophers commanded to dissolue the bodies, to the end y^t heat might enter into their bowels. Again we returne to dissolue those bodies, & congeale them after their solution, with that thing which cõmeth nigh to it, vntil we ioyne all those things which haue beene mingled togither, by an apt and fit commixtion, which is a temperate quantitie. Whereupon we ioyne fire and water, earth and ayre togither: when the thick hath bin mingled with the thin, & the thinner with the thick, the one abydeth with the other, and their natures are changed and made like, wheras before they were simple, because that part which is generatiue, bestoweth his vertue vpon the subtill, and that is the ayre: for it cleaueth vnto his like, and is a part of the generation from whence it receyueth power to moue and ascend vpward. Cold hath power ouer the thick, because it hath lost his heate, and the water is gone out of it, and the thing appeared vpõ it. And the moisture departed by ascending, & the subtil part of y^e aire, and mingled it selfe with it, for it is like vnto it, and of the same nature. And when the thicke bodie hath lost his heat and moysture, and that cold and drinesse hath power ouer him, and that their parts haue mingled themselues, and be diuided, and that there is no moysture to ioyne the partes diuided, the parts withdraw themselues. And afterwards the part which is contrary to colde, by reason that it hath continued, & sent his heat and decoction, to the parts of y^e earth, hauing power ouer them, and exercising such dominion ouer the cold, that where before it was in the thicke body, it now lurketh and lieth hid, his part of generation is changed, becomming subtil and hot; and striuing to dry vp by his heat. But afterward the subtill part (that causeth natures to ascende) when it hath lost his accidentall heat, & waxeth cold, then the natures are changed, and become thicke, and descend to the center, where y^e earthly natures are ioyned togither, which were subtiliate and conuerted in their generation, and imbibed in them: and so the moysture coupleth togither the parts diuided: but the earth endeuoureth to drie vp that moysture, cõpassing it about, and hindring it from going out: by means wherof, that which before lay hid, doth now appear: neither can the moysture be separated, but is retained by the drinesse. And in like maner we see, that whosoeuer is in the worlde, is retained by or with his contrarie, as heate with colde, and drinesse with moysture. Thus when each of them hath besieged his Companion, the thin is mingled with the thicke, and those things are made one substance: to wit, their soule hote and moyst, and their body colde and drie: