Tiv PREFACE. 



And in the firfl place, though I have a very high opinion of the 



genius of Ariftotle, it is highly improbable, I think I may fay, im- 



poilible, that one man, during the courfe of a fhort life, and a life 



too employed in fo many different things, fhould not only invent, 



but carry to perfeclion, a fcience fo complicated and fo difficult ; for 



that the fcience is perfect in the books of Ariftotle is evident from 



this, that notwithftanding all the labour that has been beftov^^ed upon 



this fcience fmcc the days of Ariftotle, both in antient and later times, 



nothing of any value hath been added to it, or if of any value, it 



was eafily to be deduced from the principles laid dov^rn by Ariftotle. 



Now all other fciences have required the fucceflive labours of men 



living in different ages or nations of the world, to bring them to 



perfedion. Thus, Geometry beginning in Eg)'pt with the fimple 



operation of meafuring Land, which the overflowing of the river 



made neceffary in order to preferve men's properties, came, in the 



courfe of many ages, to be a veiy perfedl fcience in that country ; and 



I doubt much whether any thing was added to it by the Philofophers 



of Greece. Now fuppofing that we had not known the hiftory of this 



fcience, and that there had been no other work upon the fubjec^ 



extant, except the Elements of Euclid, would it not have been moft 



abfurd to have fuppofed that Euclid was the fingle author of fo great a 



fyftem of fcience, when it is likely that all that he did was to compile, 



digeft, and conned:, the difcoveries that had been made by others in 



that fcience ? The art of Writing, which I think a much lefs difco- 



veiy than the Syllogifm, was not certainly made at once, or by one 



man, but there was a progrefs in it, as I have fhown elfewhere * : 



And as to the Art of Language, to which, as I have faid, the Logic 



of Ariftotle has a great affinity, is it poffible to believe that it was 



at once brought to the perfedion in which we fee it was among the 



Greeks ? Do not we fee among the barbarous nations, and even 



among ourfelves, how rude and imperfed our language is, compared 



with 

 * Origin of Language, Vol. II. p. 230. 



