possesses
the virtue of what composes it, just as a rivulet has the taste of its
fountain head. But it is a known fact that stones are composed of the
elements, therefore whatÂever there is in stones comes entirely from
the elements and not from any other virtue. Plato and his followers,
who hold the doctrine of Ideas, say that all composite bodies,
in whatever species, have their own Idea (or type) that infuses virtue
into them; and in proportion as such mixed or composite bodies possess
a purer substance of their own derived from the elements, in the same
degree does their Idea, when it is infused into them, produce a more
perfect result through the means of the same pure matter. But inasmuch
as the ' Precious Stones' are of this nature, it follows that their
Idea superinduces in them a greater virtue than in the case of other
composite bodies that are less pure; and thus they account for the
special virtues in stones by means of the Idea."
"
But Hermes, and several other astronomers who have studied matters
celestial, assert that all virtues of things below proceed from the
planets and the constellations of heaven. And according as the
composite body is made up out of purer or coarser elements, so do the
stars and the constellations infuse a greater or a lesser virtue into
the same. And since precious stones possess a purity of their elements,
and, so to speak, almost a celestial composition or syncrasis (as is
apparent in the Sapphire, the Balais, and the rest), these stones have
greater virtue than others not composed of equally pure elements.
Wherefore Hermes saith concerning the virtue of stones : ' We should
hold it for certain, that the virtues of the things below all proceed
from the things above; for the things above, by their subÂstance,
light, position, motion, and also figure, infuse all those remarkable
virtues that be in stones.' It is therefore made out from the decisions
of these philosophers, and
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