INFLUENCE OF ABSTRACT THOUGHT 21 



the mother that nourishes it. The physician's son 

 did not accept without modification the view that the 

 philosopher should turn his back upon the things of 

 sense. He had been trained in the physical science 

 of the time, and believed in the reality of concrete 

 things. At the same time he absorbed what he found 

 of value in his master's teachings. He thought that* 

 science did not consist in a mere study of individual 

 things, but that we must pass on to a formulation of 

 general principles and then return to a study of the 

 concrete. His was a great systematizing intellect, 

 which has left its imprint on nearly every depart- 

 ment of knowledge. Physical astronomy, physical 

 geography, meteorology, physics, chemistry, geology, 

 botany, anatomy, physiology, embryology, and zool- 

 ogy were enriched by his teaching. It was through 

 him that logic, ethics, psychology, rhetoric, aesthetics, 

 political science, zoology (especially ichthyology), 

 first received systematic treatment. As a great mod- 

 ern philosopher has said, Aristotle pressed his way 

 through the mass of things knowable, and subjected 

 its diversity to the power of his thought. No wonder 

 that for ages he was known as " The Philosopher," 

 master of those who know. His purpose was to com- 

 prehend, to define, to classify the phenomena of or- 

 ganic and inorganic nature, to systematize the knowl- 

 edge of his own time. 



Twenty years' apprenticeship in the school of Plato 

 had sharpened his logical powers and added to his 

 stock of general ideas, but had not taught him to dis- 

 trust his senses. When we say that our eyes deceive 

 us, we really confess that we have misinterpreted the 

 data that our sight has furnished. Properly to know 



