Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 47 



To one or other of thefe three heads may be reduced all the gene- 

 ral principles of this fcience, of which 1 propofe to treat in this nrfl 

 part of my work ; and, if thefe are well explained, I hope the appli- 

 cation to both nature and man, will appear not very difficult, at the 

 fame time that it is produQive of great and important confequences. 



As to the/r/? head, under which I treat of the efficient and ma- 

 tend caufes of the univerfe, and what may be called the elements of 

 nature^ I have already anticipated feveral things falling under it, fach 

 as motion^ change^ poiver, habits and the other things mentioned above, 

 which I thought neceffary, in order to make my definition of body 

 and mind more Intelligible ; and, particularly, I have been very full 

 upon the fubjed oi Jiiotion^ without the knowledge of which, It is im- 

 pofTible, in my opinion, to know what either body or 77iind is. I now 

 proceed to fpeak of ?natter dsAform. 



That thefe are the elements of all natural fubflances, and that the 

 whole vifible world is a compound of thefe two, is a philolophy, I 

 believe, as antient as any ; for, it is not only the philofophy ot Plato 

 and Ariftotle, but v/e find It laid down in that moll valuable niece of 

 genuine Pythagorean philofophy already mentioned, viz. Timaeus the 

 Locrian his treatife De Anima Mundi ; and 1 have no doubt that Py- 

 thagoras brought it with him from Egypt. That there Is, in the 

 works of art, a diilindtion betwixt matter 2.wAform^ and that every 

 piece of art is a compound of thefe two, every man, who knows the 

 meaning of the terms, will admit. Nor is it pofTible, 1 fhould tUmk, 

 to deny that the works of nature are compounded In the lame 

 manner ; for example, that every animal and vegetable fubltance has 



a 



and thzt principle which is always a^ivc, and that which is zUvnys pajivc. Whereas 

 Archytas, in his trc.itiic, Ipeaks ot what I propofe to coiiii'lcr under the fecond head, 

 viz. the general principles of things already conftituted, which he reduces to certain 

 claffcs, called Categories. 



