it is guardian of all subtle substances here below." Concerning the element _Air_, he writes:--"The most noble Element of Air ...

is volatile, but may be fixed, and when fixed renders all bodies penetrable....

It is nobler than Earth or Water....

It nourishes, impregnates, conserves the other elements." Finally, of the element _Fire_:--"Fire is the purest and noblest of all Elements, full of adhesive unctuous corrosiveness, penetrant, digestive, inwardly fixed, hot and dry, outwardly visible, and tempered by the earth....

This Element is the most passive of all, and resembles a chariot; when it is drawn, it moves; when it is not drawn, it stands still." Basil Valentine then tells his readers that Adam was compounded of the four pure Elements, but after his expulsion from Paradise he became subject to the various impurities of the animal creation.