PHILOSTRATUS 



described above, it is always con- 

 I'crnrd to see things as a whole, 

 to overcome the departmentalism 

 of the different branches of human 

 activity, and to attempt to say what 

 they all come to. 



Its assumption in this task is 

 that the world we live in is an 

 intelligible one, and by means of 

 that assumption it rules out many 

 ill-patched-together views of the 

 universe which will not bear think- 

 ing out. It can and does also sketch 

 what would be an intelligible uni- 

 verse ; what must be the relation 

 of the various things we know, and 

 all that is beyond our knowledge 

 if the whole is to be thought of as 

 intelligible. This is the construc- 

 tive side of philosophy. No one 

 can read a great constructive 

 philosopher like Plato or Spinoza or 

 Hegel without feeling that he has, 

 somehow, in the process come to 

 understand more of the meaning 

 of life and of the nature of the 

 vorld we live in. 



It is a mistake, however, to sup- 

 pose that such constructive philo- 

 sophy, such a world vision, as the 

 Germans call it, has either the 

 precision of the exact sciences 

 or the rigour of logical criticism. 

 The great philosophies bear upon 

 them the stamp of the personality 

 of their authors. They seem to 

 stand between science and poetry. 

 Their illumination and truth are 

 of the order of poetic rather than 

 of scientific truth. It has a value 

 all its own, because of its com- 

 prehensiveness, because it is the 

 wisdom of a mind which has tried 

 to think through and comprehend 

 the great mass of human know- 

 ledge. Such philosophies, therefore, 

 can never be final. For, as the sum 

 of human knowledge increases, as 

 science lays open new fields to 

 man's understanding, the compre- 

 hensive and synthesising work of 

 philosophy has to be done afresh. 



Bibliography. Handbook of Philo- 

 sophy, A. Schwegler, Eng. trans. 

 J. H. Stirling, 1867; History of 

 Philosophy, J. E. Erdmann, Eng. 

 trans. W. S. Hough, 1890 ; Out- 

 lines of the History of Greek Philo- 

 sophy, E. Zeller, Eng. trans. F. S. 

 Alleyne and E. Abbott, new ed. 

 1901 ; The Republic, Plato, Eng. 

 trans. A. D. Lindsay, 2nd ed. 1908; 

 Brief History of Modern Philosophy, 

 H. Hoffding, Eng. trans. C. F. San- 

 ders, 1912; The Problems of Philo- 

 sophy, B. A. W. Russell, 1912 ; His- 

 tory of P., C. C. J. Webb, 1915. 



Philostratus (c. A.D. 170-250). 

 Greek sophist. Born in Lemnos, he 

 studied and taught at Athens, and 

 later took up his abode in Rome. 

 At the instigation of his patroness, 

 Julia Domna, wife of the emperor 

 Septimius Severus, he wrote a 

 romantic Life of Apollonius of 



6116 



Tyana, Lives of the Sophists, and 

 a treatise on Gymnastics. Another 

 Philostratus wrote on Paintings, 



Philtre (Gr. philtron, from' 

 philein, to love). Magical potion 

 supposed to have the power of ex- 

 citing the affection of the person to 

 whom it was administered. ,t> 



Phiz (abbreviation of physi- 

 ognomy). Pseudonym taken by the 

 comic draughtsman and Dickens 

 illustrator, Hablot K. Browne (q.v. ). 



Phlebitis (Gr. phleps, vein). 

 Scientific name for the inflam- 

 mation of a vein (q.v.). 



Phlegethon (Gr., flaming). In 

 Greek mythology, a river of fire 

 in the lower world. 



Phloem (Gr. phloios, inner 

 bark). Botanical term, denoting 

 the bast or soft cellular tissue on 

 the exterior of the fibro-vascular 

 bundles found in stems, leaves, and 

 roots of plants. Its cells are the 

 channel through which the sugar 

 and amides elaborated in the leaves 

 are transmitted to those parts of 



Phloam. Diagram of transverse 

 section of fibro-vascular bundle from 

 an herbaceous plant. A. Liber or 

 phlo?m, consisting of hard bast, 

 a', and soft bast, a". B. Cambium 

 layer or tissue of delicate growing 

 cells. C. Wood or xylem 



the plant where they are required 

 for building up and for reserves. 

 See Plant. 



Phlogiston (Gr. phlogistos, 

 burnt). Term formerly used in 

 chemistry for a supposed sub- 

 stance contained in all materials 

 which could be burnt. The phlogis- 

 ton theory was widely held by 

 leading chemists in the 18th cen- 

 tury, it being believed that, the 

 more phlogiston present in a sub- 

 stance, the more violently it burnt. 

 The theory was exploded by the 

 researches of Lavoisier. 



Phlogopite (Gr. phlox, flame; 

 ops, face). In mineralogy, a mag- 

 nesium mica. It is a light yellow to 

 brown and red, and when looked at 

 through a thin sheet it shows star- 



PHOCAEA 



shaped reflections. A constituent 

 of serpentine rocks, phlogopite is 

 found in Europe and N. America. 



Phlomis. Large genus of shrubs 

 and herbs of the natural order 

 Labiatae. They are natives of the 

 temperate and mountainous parts 

 of Asia and the borders of the 

 Mediterranean. They have yellow, 

 purplish, or white flowers in whorls 

 around the upper parts of the stems. 

 The wrinkled leaves are in many 

 cases cottony or woolly beneath. 

 Some of the species are very 

 showy. 



Phlox (Gr., flame). Genus of 

 about 50 species of herbs, mostly 

 perennials, of the natural order 



Phlox. Foliage and flower clusters 

 Polemoniaceae, natives of N. 

 America (chiefly) and Siberia. 

 They have undivided leaves, and 

 showy salver-shaped flowers of 

 some tint of red, violet, or white, 

 borne singly or in panicles. Many 

 of them have become favourite gar- 

 den flowers in Britain, to which the 

 smooth-leaved P. glaberrima was 

 introduced from the southern 

 United States in 1725. This species, 

 with P. panicidata and P. maculata, 

 introduced a few years later, were 

 the original parents from which 

 most of our garden hybrids have 

 descended. These are perennials, 

 propagated by cuttings and root- 

 divisions ; the natural species 

 may also be increased by seed sown 

 as soon as ripe. There are several 

 dwarf perennials, such as the tufted 

 moss-pink (P. subulata) and the 

 creeping P. reptaiis ; whilst the 

 favourite half-hardy annual is 

 P. Drummondii. Phloxes do well in 

 any well-drained garden soil ; 

 the tall-growing forms need one 

 that is heavy and deep, and in hot 

 weather require ample water. 



Phocaea. Ancient Greek city 

 of Asia Minor. Situated on a pro- 

 montory N. of the Gulf of Smyrna, 

 it became a great maritime and 

 colonising power : the Greek 

 colony of Massilia (Marseilles) was 

 an offshoot from Phocaea. When, 

 with the other Greek cities of Asia 

 Minor, Phocaea passed under the 

 dominion of Persia, about the 



