Etienne Gilson: St. Augustine and "seminal reasons"

“WHEN Augustine speaks of the kind of existence those creatures have which were only preformed at the time of creation, he says that they were made “invisibly, potentially, causally, as future things which have not been made are made” (invisibiliter, potentitaliter, causaliter, quomodo fiunt futura non facta). The technical phrases he uses to designate this kind of existence are “rationes causales” or rationes seminales,” which are usually translated “seminal reasons.” Because of these hidden seeds which contain everything future ages are to see unfolded, the world created by God may be said to be pregnant with causes of beings still to come. In one sense, then the world was created complete and perfect, since none of the things seen in it escaped the creative act; but in another sense, the universe was only created in an unfinished state, because everything that was to appear in it later was created only in germ or seminal reason.”

~Etienne Gilson: The Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine, Part III, Chap. II.