APPENDIX. 2>2,7 



prehendlng In its nature other ideas, fuch as thofe of fpeciefes; and 

 in the fame manner the idea of a fpccies comprehends the ideas of 

 all the individuals contained in that fpecies. To fuppofe ctherwifc 

 would be to maintain that there are no fuch things exifting as genus, 

 or fpccies, or individuals ; for, if the fpecies could exifl; without the 

 genus and the individual without the fpecies, then there would be 

 an end of that moft important order of things in the univerfe, with- 

 out which we could not conceive it to be a fyftem. Now as genufes, 

 fpeciefes, and individuals are thus fo neceflarily connected that they 

 cannot be feparatcd, we mufl; fuppofe that they all form one gene- 

 ral idea, which is fo much more comprehenfive than tiie particular 

 idea, that all the particular ideas are derived from it ; for there is 

 nothing in the univerfe that is not either genus, fpecies, or indivi- 

 dual. Of thcfe three the genus is the moft comprehenfive, and 

 therefore comprehends the fpeciefes ; and, as the fpecies is likewife 

 a general idea, though not fo general as the genus, it comprehends 

 only individuals : And, as the genus comprehends the fpeciefes, wc 

 muft fuppofe them to be derived from the fpeciefes ; and, as the fpe- 

 ciefes comprehend the individuals, we muft fuppofe in like manner 

 that the individuals are derived from the fpeciefes. In the fame 

 manner we muft conceive genufes, fpeciefes, and individuals in 

 minerals, though they run together fo much, that the genufes and 

 fpeciefes of them are not fo eafily diftinguiflied. 



Thus I think I have proved that the ideas of Plato have a real 

 cxiftence, and that, by being incorporated with matter, they have 

 produced the material world ; for the produdlion of which they are 

 io neceifary, that even Body could not exift without them, as Ti- 

 maeus the Locrian informs us, who has given us the firft ften of 

 cofmogony, by telling us that out of the matcr'ui prima, which lias 

 of itfclf no form or dimcnfions nor any thing that can be appre- 

 licnded even by the fenfes, Body is formed, by an idea being incor- 

 Voi.. Vr. U u pora'cd 



