MEDICINE AND PHILOSOPHY IITH AND 12TH CENTURIES 77 



the indivisibility of the element, such as, whether the compound 

 is divided actually or intellectually; whether the elements so 

 produced are corporeal or incorporeal; whether they are indi- 

 viduals or classes; and whether they are infinite or finite; 

 whether they are characterized only by properties like size, 

 shape, weight, and motion or also by other qualities. Questions 

 about universals arise from the opposition of different con- 

 ceptions of logical and scientific method. Questions about 

 elements arise in the opposition of different interpretations of 

 data. The problem of universals and the problem of elements 

 are important in periods like the twelfth and the fourteenth 

 centuries and they are subject to similar resolutions, but the 

 differences of disciplines and of information in two such periods 

 change the implications of the problems and the considerations 

 relevant to their treatment. 



The history of the treatment of elements in the Middle Ages 

 reflects the indirect influence of earlier theories of elements and 

 repeats in ironic fashion the customary history of Greek phi- 

 losophy. Aristotle taught us that the Ionian and Italian philoso- 

 phers used the " elements " as principles in their philosophies in 

 " lisping anticipations " of his own use of " causes " as prin- 

 ciples. We fill in or modify this version of the development 

 of thought by giving the elements interpretations suggested by 

 the ways in which they are used in cosmological or medical 

 accounts of the origin of the universe or the development and 

 functions of organisms. Thales' conception of water as a prin- 

 ciple is given meaning in application to the structure and origin 

 of the universe, and Hippocrates' theory that all natural objects 

 are characterized by four qualities — hot, cold, dry, and moist — 

 has its obvious applications in physiology and therapy. The 

 theories of elements propounded in the medical works of the 

 eleventh century and the cosmologies of the twelfth century 

 likewise provide the principles of the relevant sciences and 

 prepare for the more diversified treatment, in the thirteenth 

 century, of principles and sciences devised from the interpre- 

 tation of Aristotle's works. 



