From mechanical instruments to threads of the warp

Thus all appearances in nature result from the individual power of every creature, contained in the semen of its kind, to realise itself. Moreover, God Himself endowed the seed with its peculiar power of propagating. We have already seen that Boerhaave explained the growth of metals using a theory of regeneration. I shall now show that for the older Boerhaave the seminal principles came to be of utmost importance in his medicine as well and that he proposed chemistry as the best method to know their working. 

The seeds of things, according to Boerhaave, are eternally and everywhere the same and form the foundation and support for each single body existing. 

Thus the seed is one of the most simple bodies in namre and yet has in itself the power to develop into a particular being. Thus the atoms of the body do not unite via bhnd colhsion, but something steers their movements. Moreover, the variety of namre cannot be brought back to universal principles, but each single species acknowledges principles particularly its own. The only way to know the variety of forms of bodies, is to smdy the creation. Boerhaave referred to Moses who revealed namre in his bibhcal accounts. 

This is why I confess, willingly and reverentially, that the Prince of Sages, Moses, has in few words explained and set forth the order of nature far more beautifully than the other philosophers in their enormous volumes. Listen, I beg of you, listen to wisdom s summary on the subject of physics Accept that most energetic utterance, the effective power of which has made the world fmitful l et the earth hringforth the green herb, which shall yield its own seed, after its kind. 

Although the seeds guarantee the hfe and existence of the creation, Boer- 

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