Physics (alternative version)

​But indeed, neither is there anything between that which is altered and that which alters. And this is clear from induction. For in all cases it happens that the last altering agent and the first altered thing are together. For quality is altered by being sensible, and those things are sensible by which bodies differ from one another, such as heaviness and lightness, hardness and softness, sound and soundlessness, whiteness and blackness, sweetness and bitterness, wetness and dryness, density and rarity, and the intermediates between these, and likewise the other things under the senses, among which are also heat and cold, smoothness and roughness. For these are affections of the underlying quality. For it is by these that sensible bodies differ, or by suffering one of these to a greater or lesser degree. For in being heated or cooled, or sweetened or embittered, or in respect of any other of the aforementioned qualities, both animate and inanimate bodies are affected in like manner, and among animate bodies, such parts as are inanimate. And the senses themselves also undergo alteration; for they suffer action, since their actualization is a motion through the body, while the sense suffers something. In whatever respects, then, inanimate things are altered, animate things are also altered in all these respects; but in those respects in which animate things are altered, inanimate things are not altered in those respects (for they are not altered in respect of senses); and inanimate things are altered without it being noticed. But nothing prevents animate things also from being altered without it being noticed, when the occurrence of their alteration does not happen in respect of the senses. If, then, the affections are sensible, and the alteration is through these, it is clear in these cases at least that the patient and the affection are together, and there is nothing between them. For the air is continuous with the one, and the body touches the air; and the surface is in contact with the light, and the light with the sight. And likewise also hearing and smell are in contact with that which first moves them. And in the same way, taste and flavor are also together. And also that which is increased and that which increases; for increase is a certain addition, so that both that which is increased and that which increases are together. And decrease also; for the cause of decrease is a certain subtraction. It is clear, then, that there is nothing between the last mover and the first moved.