118 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [PAGES 



exemplifications of his metaphysical distinctions. The seed and 

 the tree for instance exemplify 'potentiality' and 'actuality.' 

 See Bk. 2, p. 88. Aristotle ought to have kept distinct the 

 logical question, What is the meaning of the terms actuality 

 and potentiality ? and the physical question, By what process 

 is the tree, as a matter of fact, developed out of the seed ? Cf. 

 below Bk. 2, p. 32. It is only fair to Aristotle to remember 

 that, as he lived before the age of physical science, his task was 

 not so much to explain the world as to conceive it. The most 

 elementary ideas of physics were not defined in his time. Besides, 

 we can hardly blame Plato or Aristotle for not doing the work of 

 a man of science. Plato, as a philosopher, was properly concerned 

 to show that the universe is a rational system ; and Aristotle, as 

 a metaphysician, was properly concerned with the characteristics 

 of being as such, and not with the discovery of the properties of 

 any particular kind of being. Many of Aristotle's conceptions 

 are still of the greatest value as applied even in science. 



1. 23. the second school of Plato, i.e. the Neo-Platonists, the 

 last representatives of ancient philosophy. The doctrines of 

 Plato and the vaguer traditions of Pythagoreanism, coming into 

 contact with the ideas of the East, produced the philosophy 

 of Neo-Platonism, the chief characteristic of which is its 

 mysticism. Proclus (A.D. 412-485) was born in Constantinople, 

 but spent most of his life in Athens. He wrote commentaries 

 on Plato's dialogues, that on the Timaeus being especially well 

 known. His own philosophical ideas are mainly contained in 

 his treatise ' On the Platonic Theology. ' Pythagoras first 

 attempted to find in numbers the key to the explanation of the 

 Universe. He exercised a profound influence on the mind of 

 Plato. It was not therefore wonderful that this influence was 

 transmitted to the Neo-Platonists. See Whewell's History of the 

 Inductive Sciences, vol. 1, bk. iv. ch. 3. 2. 



1. 24. which had a kind of primogeniture with them, of which 

 they were fondest. The Latin has ' which they used to fondle 

 as if they had been their first-born children.' 



1. 26. the alchemists, See Bk. 2, p. 50. 



1. 27. Gilbertus, cf. Nov. Org., 1. 54. Bacon means to say that 

 he tried to explain by magnetism phenomena which it would not 

 account for. For instance, he explained the phenomena of 

 gravitation as cases of magnetism. William Gilbert (1540-1603), 

 Court Physician to Queen Elizabeth, and author of the celebrated 

 treatise ' On the Magnet,' was, according to Fowler, the real 

 founder of the sciences of Electricity and Magnetism. Else 

 where Bacon praises him for his industry and method : though he 

 justly censures him for endeavouring to build a universal philosophy 

 upon so narrow a basis. E. See also Whewell's Philosophy of 

 Discovery, ch. xiv. 7. 



