When the influences of these stars had acted on the whole of*

these elements, they were reflected back from the midst of the earth and water, from that imaginary point [mentioned above], by the aid of the fire and wind, and the phenomena of the inorganic world were produced, such as mountains and mines, clouds, lightning, thunder, thunderbolts, shooting stars, comets, meteors, …,*

halos, conflagrations, earthquakes, and all manner of fountains, as has been fully explained in works treating of the effects of the celestial bodies, but for the explanation and discussion of which there is no room in this brief manual. But when time began, and the cycles of heaven became continuous, and the composition of this lower world became matured, and the time was come for the fertilization of that interspace which lay between the water and the air, the vegetable world was manifested. Then God, blessed and exalted is He, created for that substance whereby the plants were made manifest four subservient forces and three faculties. Of these four subservient forces, one was that which kept drawing to it whatever was suitable for its purpose, and this is called ‘Attraction’ (Jádhiba). Another keeps what the first may have attracted, and this is called ‘Fixation’ (Másika). The third is that which assimilates what has been attracted, and transmutes it from its former state until it becomes like unto itself, and this is called ‘Assimilation’ (Ḥáḍima). The fourth is that which rejects what is not appropriate, and is called ‘Excretion’ (Dáfi'a). And of the three faculties, one is that which increaseth it by diffusing throughout it nutritious matters with a suitable and equal diffusion. The second is that which accompanies this nutriment until it reaches the extremities. The third is that which, when the organism has attained perfection and begins to tend towards defect, appears and produces germs, in order that, if destruction overtake the parent in this world, these may become its substitute and repre­sentative, so that the order of the world may be guarded from detriment, and the species may not cease. This is called the ‘Reproductive Faculty’ (Quwwat-i-Muwallida).

So this kingdom rose superior to the mineral and vegetable kingdoms in these several ways which have been mentioned; and the far-reaching Wisdom of the Creator so ordained, that these kingdoms should be connected successively and continuously, so that in the mineral kingdom the first thing which attained completeness and underwent the process of evolution became higher in organization until it grew to coral (marján, i.e. bussad), which is the ultimate term of the mineral world,*

until it was connected with the first stage of plant life. And the first thing in the vegetable kingdom is the thorn, and the last the date-palm, which has been assimilated to the animal kingdom, since it needs the male to fertilize it so that it may bear fruit;*

while another [member of this kingdom] flees from its foe, for the vine flees from the 'ashaqa,*

a plant which, when it twists round the vine, causes it to shrivel up. In the vegetable kingdom, therefore, there is nothing higher than the date-palm and the vine, inasmuch as they are connected with the superior kingdom, and have outstepped the limits of their own world, and have evolved themselves in a higher direction.