About natural forces served

As for natural forces, they include service forces and serviced forces. The forces served are of two kinds. One type of force controls nutrition for the sake of preserving the existence of the individual and is divided into two types: nourishing and nurturing forces. Another type of force manages nutrition for the sake of preserving the species and is also divided into two types: generative and formative.

As for the nourishing force, it is the force that transforms nutrients into something similar to the nourished organ, so that they serve as a replacement for what has been dissolved in the body, and the nurturing force is that force that increases the size of the body, maintaining natural proportions, so that it has reached full growth thanks to the food entering it. The nourishing force serves the nurturing force.

The feeding force introduces food into the body, sometimes at the same level as what was dissolved in it, sometimes less, and sometimes more.

Growth occurs only because the food entering the body exceeds what is dissolved in it, although not every time this happens, growth occurs. For example, fatness after thinness during the years of stunted growth belongs to the same type of phenomena, but it is in no way growth. After all, growth occurs only when the natural relationships of all dimensions of the body are maintained, so that the body thereby achieves full development, after which there is no growth at all, although the body becomes fatter.

In the same way, before growth stops, there is no withering, although emaciation does occur; however, emaciation occurs less frequently and deviates further from the obligatory order of things.

The nourishing force carries out its entire functions with the help of three particular actions. One of them is obtaining a replacement substance, that is, blood and juice, which in their potential state, close to the transition into action, are similar to the nourished organ. Sometimes this function of the feeding force is disrupted; This happens with a disease called atrophy, that is, lack of nutrition. The second is "gluing"; it consists in the fact that the extracted substance actually completely becomes a nutrient, that is, it turns into a part of the organ. Sometimes this dispatch is disrupted; this happens with “meat dropsy”.

The third is likening, which consists in the fact that the extracted substance, having become part of an organ, becomes similar to it in all respects, even in composition and color. Sometimes this function is disrupted, as happens with leprosy and lichen; with these two diseases, replacement and “gluing” take place, but assimilation does not occur.

This action belongs to the changing force, which is among the nourishing forces. In man, it is the same in relation to the genus and the original source, but differs in appearance in organs that are similar in relation to particles, 6 for in each of these organs, in accordance with its nature, there is a force that changes the nutrient in the direction of likeness, different from likeness, produced by another kind of feeding force. However, the changing force located in the liver produces an effect common to the whole body.

Generative force is of two types. One species produces seed in both men and women; the other divides the power residing in the seed and mixes it in various mixtures corresponding to each organ separately. It assigns a special nature to the nerves, a special nature to the bones, a special nature to the arteries; moreover, this refers to the seed that creates organs similar in particles or similar in mixture. Doctors call this force the first changing force.

As for the formative force, this is the force that produces, with the permission of its creator, the outlines of organs, their figures, the cavities and holes in them, their smoothness and roughness, and also determines their position, what they have in common , the distance between them and, in general, functions associated with their boundaries and sizes. Servant to this force, which disposes of food in order to preserve the species, is the force that nourishes and nurtures.