more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
There is 'alteration' when the substratum is perceptible and persists, but changes in its own properties. ...But when nothing perceptible persists in its identity as a substratum, and the thing changes as a whole, it is coming-to-be of a substance.
Gist of Idea
If a perceptible substratum persists, it is 'alteration'; coming-to-be is a complete change
Source
Aristotle (Coming-to-be and Passing-away (Gen/Corr) [c.335 BCE], 319b11-17)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'The Basic Works of Aristotle', ed/tr. McKeon,Richard [Modern Library Classics 2001], p.484
A Reaction
[compressed] Note that a substratum can be perceptible - it isn't just some hidden mystical I-know-not-what (as Locke calls it). This whole text is a wonderful source on the subject of physical change. Note too the reliance on what is perceptible.