28-29.] NOTES. 105 



Page 29, 1. 3. vermiculate, wriggling like a worm, intricate, 

 which have indeed, etc., a book which bristles with discussion 

 appears to be full of life : but if the discussions are trivial, the 

 book is worthless. 



1. 4, quickness, see p. 13, 1. 24. 



1. 8. their wits being shut up, etc., their knowledge being con 

 fined to a few authors. 



1. 9. their dictator, the authority whom they followed blindly. 

 The Dictator was a magistrate whom the Romans appointed on 

 extraordinary emergencies, and who, so long as he held office, 

 possessed absolute power. Dante, in the Divina Commedia (A.D. 

 1300), calls Aristotle "the master of those that know." He 

 represents him as sitting as head of "the philosophic family," 

 and says that Plato and all the rest look up to him. 



1. 15. which, viz., working on matter. By working on matter, 

 say." 1 Bacon, I mean studying nature. 



1. 16. creatures, i.e., all created things. We now use the word 

 to express living things, worketh according to the stuff and is 

 limited thereby, i.e., does not transcend experience, but asserts 

 such propositions only as are warranted by experience. 



1. 17. if it work upon itself, i.e., if it employ itself merely 

 with ideas of its own creation, and not about ideas which are 

 abstracted from actual facts. 



1. 23. whereof there are no small number, Bacon regarded all 

 metaphysical speculation as 'fruitless,' because not productive 

 of any material result. The following questions, which are dis 

 cussed by Thomas Aquinas, may serve as more glaring instances 

 of the 'fruitless speculation of the Schoolmen': Whether all 

 angels belong to the same genus. Whether demons are evil by 

 nature, or by will. Whether they can change one substance into 

 another. Whether Christ possessed merit in the very instant of 

 his conception, or not till the following instant. Whether an 

 angel can move from one point to another without passing 

 through the intermediate space. Whether, if Adam had not 

 sinned, exactly equal numbers of males and females would have 

 been born. 



1. 24. the manner, etc. The method of the Schoolmen is 

 correctly described in the text. Generally each inquiry begins 

 with a statement of the different points which are to be eluci 

 dated. To each of these is allotted a separate paragraph. One 

 or more reasons are alleged in favour of the opinion which the 

 author means to reject. Some objection, generally founded on a 

 quotation from some conclusive authority, is then stated against 

 it, and then the author gives his own opinion in what is called 

 the conditsion, and proceeds to refute one by one the arguments 

 he has adduced on the other side. It is impossible not to recog- 



