122 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



primal matter seemed to lend itself better than another to the explan- 

 ation of phenomena. The elements were interesting only as means to 

 an end. It was the regularities of phenomena more than anything 

 else that drew the attention of the philosopher ; presumably it was this 

 aspect of nature which counted most strongly in favor of a single pri- 

 mary substance. But the tendency to simplify was indulged too far 

 and led ultimately to the opposite extreme. 



Science, then, in attempting to explain things, assigns the cause 

 and interprets the facts in accordance with analogies drawn from expe- 

 rience. In Hippocrates, II. (frvawv, c. 15 we read : "Airs, then, have 

 been shown to be most mischievous in all diseases : other causes are 

 only accessory and ancillary, but this has been shown to be the real 

 cause of diseases. I promised to declare the cause of diseases, and I 

 have shown that wind (-n-vcvfjia) lords it over other things and particu- 

 larly over the bodies of living beings. I have applied the reasoning 

 to known maladies, and in them the hypothesis has been shown to be 

 true." " It is the function of the same intelligence to know the causes 

 of diseases and to know how to treat them with all the resources of the 

 art of healing." 163 What applies to the microcosm, 164 is equally 

 true of the cosmos. The causes must be sought everywhere ; for as 

 Plato says, 165 citing Hippocrates as his authority, one cannot know 

 the nature of man without knowing the nature of the whole. We are 

 accustomed to think that strict science, based upon the knowledge of 

 causes, dates from the age of Plato and Aristotle, but such is not the 

 case. 166 In the Republic 167 Plato suggests that in the effort to read 



163 Hippocrates, IT. rix v Vh H (6, 20 Littre). 



164 The comparison is old (cp. Anaxiineues, fr. 2), though the expression only 

 occurs later ; cp. Democritus, fr. 34. 



165 Phacdr. 270 B foil. 



166 Cp. Arist. De Partt. Animal. 640M foil. ; De Sensu, 436" 15 ko.1 far? ko.1 Oava- 

 roy * irepl uiv ffeuprjTeov ri re (kolgtov olvt&v, Kal Olo. rtVas alrlas avpjialvei. (pvaiKou 5e 

 /cat 7rept vyietas /cat vbaov ra? irpuras ioelv apxds (cp. Hippocrates, II. dpxalvs lyTptKrjs, 

 ttjv apx^v ttjs at'rt'ijs . . . vovawv re Kal davdrov) ' ovre yap vyieiau otfre voaov oTbv re 

 yivea6ai rols earepvpevois fw?}s. Std ax^ov rwv re irepi cpvffews ol irXtiaroi Kal tQjv 

 loLTp&v ol <pi\off<Mp(j}T£pix)S T7]V rex" 7 !" periuvres, ol fj.ev reXevruiai els ra irepl larpiKrjs, ol 

 be €K tQv irepl (pvcreus apxovTai irepl rrjs i'arpi/c/}s. De Gener. Animal. 769* 6 elprjKacri 

 de rives tQv <pv<no\6ywv ko.1 '{repot, (the medical writers) irepl robrwv, did t'lv airlav 6p.oia 

 ko.1 dvbpoia ylyverai rot's yoveuai. Cp. De Partt. Animal. 641* 7 ; Met. 1069*25 pap- 

 rvpoucri 5e ko.1 ol dpxaioi Zpyy ' rrjs yap ovalas e^rjrovv dpxas Kal aroixela /cat atria; 

 Ibid. 9SS b 22 ocroi pev oiV ev re to icav Kal pilau rivd <p6aii> cos v\i}v ridtacri, Kal ravrrju 

 awpariKqv Kal peyedos e'x ol " Tav > dv^°" ort woWax&s dpaprdvovaiv . . . Kal irepl yevecrews 

 Kal (pdopds ewixeipovvTes rds at'rt'as Xeyeiv kt\. It is evident that Aristotle is here 

 enlarging upon the criticism of the monists contained in Hippocrates, Id. tpvaios 

 dvdpwirov, c. 1, quoted above, p. 119 foil. 



« 7 368 D foil. 



