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From the Text (p.13) ... 'At the conclusion of our survey of the ways in which human intelligence calls art to its aid in counterfeiting nature, we cannot but marvel at the fact that fire is necessary for almost every operation. It takes the sands of the Earth and melts them, now into glass, now into silver or various forms of lead, or some substance useful to the painter or the physician. By fire minerals are disintegrated and copper produced: in fire is iron born and by fire is it subdued: by fire gold is purified: by fire stones are burned for the binding together of the walls of houses. Fire is the immeasurable, uncontrollable element, concerning which it is hard to say whether it consumes more or produces more.'