The Summary of Physics Restored

218The extraction of salts from ashes, in which the chief power of mixed bodies resides, and the increased fertility of fields after the burning and reduction of stubble to ash are the surest signs that this moisture, left untouched by fire, is the radical principle of generation and the foundation of Nature. Yet that power lies solitary and ineffective in the ashes themselves until, received by Earth, the common womb of Nature’s principles, it unfolds its hidden capacity suited to generation and multiplication, as also happens in the seeds of things.