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Full Idea
The standard view was that in a mixture there is only the mixed body and its substantial form (gold). There are no further substantial forms of the elements, because the elements do not actually exist within the body.
Gist of Idea
In mixtures, the four elements ceased to exist, replaced by a mixed body with a form
Source
Robert Pasnau (Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 [2011], 22.3)
Book Ref
Pasnau,Robert: 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671' [OUP 2011], p.500
A Reaction
This seems to me to be the key idea that was overthrown in the seventeenth century, so that corpuscular matter kept aspects of its ingredients, which science could then investigate. With the substantial form, investigation seemed impossible.
| 14503 | If a mixture does not contain measure and proportion, it is corrupted and destroyed [Plato] |
| 15857 | Any mixture which lacks measure and proportion doesn't even count as a mixture at all [Plato] |
| 15320 | Magnetic and gravity fields can occupy the same place without merging [Harré/Madden] |
| 12858 | Mixtures disappear if nearly all of the mixture is one ingredient [Simons] |
| 12859 | A mixture can have different qualities from its ingredients. [Simons] |
| 12818 | We shouldn't think some water retains its identity when it is mixed with air [Laycock] |
| 16727 | In mixtures, the four elements ceased to exist, replaced by a mixed body with a form [Pasnau] |