288 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



it being. 1 An element, accordingly, is a composite 

 entity, a composttum, constituted of matter which 

 is the subject, potentiality or inferior part of the 

 composite and form, which is the act or superior 

 part. And although there is but one matter, there 

 are many forms. 2 And it is because this one matter 

 is actuated by diverse forms, that we have the mani- 

 fold elements which constitute the material uni- 

 verse. 



Seminales Rationes. 



But these elements, composed of matter and 

 form, required something more, in order to be com- 

 petent to enter into combinations and to give rise to 

 higher and more complex substances. 



1 " Simpliciter loquendo, forma dat esse materise. . . . 

 Sciendum etiam, quod licet materia prima non habeat in sua 

 ratione aliquam formam, . . . materia tamen numquam 

 denudatur a forma. . . . Per se autem numquam potest esse ; 

 quia cum in ratione sua non habeat aliquam formam, non potest 

 esse in actu, cum esse actu non sit nisi a forma ; sed est solum 

 in potentia." Ibidem. The whole of this masterly and inter- 

 esting treatise should be carefully pondered by those who desire 

 to know the mind of the saintly Doctor respecting the nature 

 of matter. 



2 The words " matter" and "form," it will be observed, are 

 here employed in a strictly metaphysical or technical sense. 

 Matter is that element in an entity which is indeterminate, pas- 

 sive, potential, " of all real entities the nearest to nothingness." 

 It is one of the two essential constituents of all bodies. The 

 other element or constituent of bodies is form. It is that which 

 differentiates and actuates matter; which determines the spe- 

 cific nature of any composite. " The matter in which form ad- 

 heres," according to Aristotle, " is not absolutely non-existent ; 

 it exists as possibility 8vva.[us, potenfia. Form, on the con- 

 trary, is the accomplishment, the realization evreAejem, h'/yjj-eto, 

 actusoi this possibility. For an elaborate explanation of these 

 terms, see chaps, n and in, vol. II, of Harper's " Metaphysics 

 of the School." Cf. also, 48, vol. I, of Ueberweg's " History 

 of Philosophy." 



