Prejacent subject

Meaning

A subject prejacent or prejacente matiere is matter already present and available to receive action. The requirement opposes an attempt to begin with nothing: under Nature’s ordinance, fire must have an apt subject capable of becoming earth, not one already specified as ordinary earth. This is not a denial of divine creation. Nuysement also softens the practical impossibility with the alternative that the imagined undertaking would be too difficult or too lengthy for an ordinary human lifetime. “Prejacent” therefore directs the search towards an already begun natural subject, rather than granting art the power to manufacture a primordial beginning at will.