222 AKTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book If. 



and whether it exifts 'after the diflblution of the body, I have faid 

 fomethuig in a preceedhig chapter, and will fay more in the fecond 

 part of my work. 



What I have faid here concerning the animal and vegetable natures, 

 agrees perfedly with Ciidworth's dodrine of Plajlic Nature^ which, 

 though it has been thought a peculiar fancy and conceit of this very 

 karned divine, is in truth no other than the doQrlne of Arlrtotle ; for 

 Cudwmih^s PlaJIic Niiture is neither more nor lefs than what Ari- 

 Rotle calls fimply Nature, or <pv^ii. This he has every where diftin- 

 guifhed from matter, and has faid, that it is a principle or caufe much 

 fuperior to ?natler *. And, in his admirable treatife, De Partibus A- 

 nimalium, cap. i. he diftinguifhes it from the matter, figure, colour, 

 or any other property of the body ot animals, and makes it to be the 

 principle of 'all the order and regularity that we obferve in the move- 

 ments and operations of animals. It is true, that Ariftotle, in this 

 work, fpeaks of it as belonging only to animals ; and Cudworth feems 

 to think, that it extends no further than to animals or vegetables. But 

 it is evident that Ariftotle carried it to all phylical bodies, unorganized as 

 well as organized; for it is a fundamental principle in his natural philo- 

 fophy,that all phyfical bodies have in them a principle of motion; which 

 principle he calls by the fame name of nature. And, in the books De 

 Coeh, he has explained the different manners in which this principle 

 moves different bodies. It is true, indeed, he has not dwelt fo nmch upon 

 the operations of this principle in the elemental bodies, as in the ve- 

 getable, 



* 'ji (pvc-i? fAuXU¥ u^'^/i pcici eciTtx T»i« i/Xm- De Part- Jnimalium, lib, i. cap, i. pag. 97.0. 

 Edit- Du Val. And, in another paffage in the fame chapter, page 969. he fays, that 

 this "principle, which he calls <^vs-<j 'v£x« tov ^«;s« ;r«>T«, that is, does every thing for 

 fome end. And he fays elfewhere, that it works moft artificially for this end, exceeding, 

 by far, any thing of human art. 



