Cause Principle Unity

On magic
How a magnet attracts iron, coral attracts blood, etc.
What was said above explains why magnets naturally attract things. There
are two kinds of attraction. The first occurs by agreement, as when parts
move to their proper place and are oriented to that place, and when similar
and harmonious things attract each other. The second type occurs without
agreement, as when contraries come together because the one which
cannot escape is overwhelmed, as when moisture is attracted by fire. This
is clear in the case of a burning object being held above a bowl containing
water, where the water is sucked up by the heat and rises rapidly. The same
thing happens when waterspouts and hurricanes occur at sea, with the
result that sometimes even ships are thrown a great distance upwards by
the waves.
Attraction occurs in three ways. The cause of the first type is clear to the
senses, as is shown in the cases mentioned above. This also happens when
the attraction and absorption of air attract objects contained in the air. This
is, likewise, evident in pipes through which water is sucked, and thus rises
to any level. This happens for the reason given. For if the air in the tube is
attracted, and if there is no other air to take its place, then water or earth or
something else will fill that space. If nothing can replace it, then the air
would be held back and retained by the power of the vacuum, as is clear
when an opening is obstructed by objects being sucked in and swallowed.
Another example occurs when the tongue and lips are held together and
their opening is very tightly compressed around the mediating air, and vice
versa, when one sucks so that there is elicited from the mouth’s pores a
spirit which restores and re-establishes what had been removed from its
proper place or space.
There is another type of attraction which is not perceived by the senses.
This is the case of a magnet attracting iron. The cause of this cannot be
attributed to a vacuum or to any such thing, but only to the outflow of
atoms or parts, which occurs in all bodies. For when atoms of one type
move towards and mutually encounter other atoms of a similar type or of a
congenial and compatible nature, the bodies develop such an attraction and
impulse for each other that the overpowered body moves towards the whole
of the stronger body. For since all the parts experience this attraction, then
so must the whole body also be attracted.
This is illustrated for the senses in the case of two burning lamps. When
the lower one is extinguished, fumes and spirits flow up from it (these are
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