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Propositions about
the elements|
FIGURE IX THE PROPOSITIONS OF THE ELEMENTS The elements are instruments of nature without which no natural operation can proceed. Now in order to truly perceive anything it is naturally necessary to know its quiddity and essence by means of a definition or description of it and of its operations, as there is nothing superfluous in nature, the way the thing operates can subsequently be perceived, through the way that natural principles operate. So these propositions are divided into three parts devised in order to determine the said things. Now the first part deals with the essence, entity, principles, operations and description of nature. The second part deals with the powers of nature and their acts, namely the elements. Finally, the third part deals with the way the propositions of the elements apply to the propositions of figure T. The first part contains sixteen natural principles used to describe the essence, substance and nature of the elemental figure. Each principle has three propositions which gives forty-eight propositions in the first part. The second part contains ten cameras resulting from the combination of the cameras of the elemental figure, and each one has three propositions, totaling thirty, or ten times three propositions. The third part contains the fifteen angles of figure T., with three propositions each which gives forty-five propositions. So as there are forty-eight propositions in the first part, thirty in the second and forty-five in the third, the total number of propositions in the elemental figure is one hundred and twenty-three. Now let us proceed in sequence, beginning with the first part . |
