add a single organ to his body. This shows him that, in his deficient state and at the time of his weakness, he was even less capable of doing so. He also sees himself pass from youth to middle age and then to old age, although he did not move himself from youth and strength to old age and decrepitude, nor did he choose this for himself. Nor is it within his power to leave behind his grey-haired state and regain the strength of youth. He thus knows that he did not bring about these changes in himself, but that he has a Maker who fashioned him and one who moves him from state to state. Were this not so, his states could not change without anyone to move or govern him.

If it is said:

The drop of fluid is eternal and contains a capacity to receive nourishment. When it enters the womb, with the natural properties in balance, it receives nourishment and growth through its inherent capacity, until it takes shape as a bodily organ and his physical formation is completed through it.

The reply is:

Were the drop of fluid eternal, as you claim, it could not undergo transformation or change, for change and transformation are marks of having come into being. It is therefore untenable that something which undergoes transformation and alteration should be eternal.

As for their claim that the drop of fluid receives nourishment and growth through its inherent capacity, this is not denied, provided that it is reliably known through the customary course of things. What we reject, however, is that this action should be