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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: and condensed from dew, hoar-frost. Then, again, there are the numerous
kinds of water which have been mingled with one another, and are distilled
through plants which grow in the earth; and this whole class is called by
the name of juices or saps. The unequal admixture of these fluids creates
a variety of species; most of them are nameless, but four which are of a
fiery nature are clearly distinguished and have names. First, there is
wine, which warms the soul as well as the body: secondly, there is the
oily nature, which is smooth and divides the visual ray, and for this
reason is bright and shining and of a glistening appearance, including
pitch, the juice of the castor berry, oil itself, and other things of a
like kind: thirdly, there is the class of substances which expand the
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