Flesh, nerves, nuts and shells

Meaning

Flesh and nerves, moist joining parts, and hard shells illustrate the claim that the same threefold material account operates across animals and plants. Salt supplies formed flesh and nerves; mercurial moisture gathers or joins; vitrification accounts for hard coverings. Almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts and fruit stones extend the comparison beyond animal anatomy.

Tortoises, snails and oysters supply shell-bearing examples of the hardening office. The list is evidence within the author’s triadic theory, not a modern analysis of tissue or shell composition. Its value for reading is the distribution of functions: forming, joining and hardening are distinguished even where the whole organism remains one natural body.