HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY. 475 



The curiosity with which we revert to this subject can, unfortunately, 

 be but very partially gratified, from the obscurity which envelopes it. 

 Thales taught little in public, and wrote less. Occupied with the im* 

 portant affairs of the government of his own country (Miletus), he 

 studied from taste, and contented himself with communicating his dis- 

 coveries to his immediate friends. We have, however, some authen- 

 tic records of opinions attributed to him which are sufficient to.explain 

 the nature of the revolution he originated in the kingdom of philo- 

 sophy. 



Thales was a mathematician and astronomer. He predicted an 

 eclipse of the sun, and had tolerably correct notions of the figure of 

 the earth arid the planetary motions. He travelled for the improve- 

 ment of his knowledge, and visited Crete and Egypt, where he dis- 

 played his superiority of learning over the priests, and taught them 

 to measure the pyramids by the shadows they cast. Instead of blindly 

 following the doctrines communicated by these sages, he threw aside 

 all supernatural methods of accounting for the origin of existing mat- 

 ter ; he endeavoured to deduce its previous nature from its present 

 state : hence the title of physical (<j>vffie nature) applied to the dis- 

 ciples of the Ionian school. 



This is the distinguishing merit of Thales. He separated physics 

 from the metaphysics, and so made the first step towards the distinct 

 division which has since been made between these branches of science. 



To Thales is universally attributed the doctrine that " water is the 

 universal principle." It is but just to give his own explanation of his 

 dogma. He did not assign to it the dignity of a cause, but considered 

 it the primitive source from which all other forms of matter were or- 

 ganized. 



We must not criticise too closely this conceit, which is not altogether 

 unfounded on fact, but recollect that in a species of research entirely 

 novel he gave in three respects a good example. Firstly, not satis- 

 fied, like his predecessors,with gratuitous affirmations, he endeavoured 

 to prove the truth of his assertions. Secondly, he adduced from ex- 

 perience the analogy in which he sought for his proofs. Lastly, in- 

 stead of treating natural phenomena as isolated, he supposed them 

 to be links of a great] chain which united them, being the first pro- 

 mulgator of the ideas of general laws in nature. With him too ori- 

 ginated the doctrine that nature abhors a vacuum. 



Of his notions on psychology we know but little. One apophthegm 

 remains : '* The essence of soul is spontaneous movement." Thales 

 has been accused of atheism, on the ground that he admitted none 

 but material causes. Highest vindication, perhaps, is the opinion ex- 

 pressed byj Cicero: Aquam dixit rerum initium, Deum autem, earn, 

 mentem qute ex ed omniajingeret. " He considered water the origin 

 of all things, and the Deity as that intelligence which could give figure 

 and solidity to this primitive matter." 



In summing up the few facts which we know concerning the father 

 of the Ionic school, we obtain nevertheless some important conclusions. 

 We see that he dared to think for himself, and was the founder of 

 physical science ; separating it from the heterogeneous mixture from 

 which were derived cosmogonies and theogonies. He was the first 



