ARISTOTELES. 7 



ideas, as it has been introduced by persons who 

 were his friends ; " nevertheless it is a duty to dis- 

 regard such private feelings, for both philosophers 

 and truth are dear to me, but it is right to give the 

 preference to truth." Truth! what is truth? said 

 Pilate, and turned from the true. The Creator's 

 light, seen with our longing eyes, precious beyond 

 conception, the sweetest solace of intellect ; what 

 is, what was — yet not to be defined by finite man. 

 The very root of science, it is that which we are to 

 hold in our consciences against all opposition. 

 Appreciated by the savage, dear to pagan, the pride 

 of the Christian, the giver of confidence amongst 

 all men. Hard to get at, yet it is at the founda- 

 tion of all those branches of knowledge which 

 relate to the study of the Creation. Aristoteles 

 studied natural history, that is, the plants and 

 animals which came before him, especially. He 

 recorded their description, noted their reproduc- 

 tion, and tried to make out their resemblances. 

 He noticed the growth of things, and the decay 

 of the surface of the earth, and having the facts 

 and truths before him, he argued upon them. His 

 master, Plato, was not a naturalist, but accepting 

 the truths handed down to him by those who 

 were observers of nature, he generalized about 

 them, and got ideas by thinking out the bearings 

 of the truths. He loved the ideal, and wrote, 

 *' Behold this world! You will find that its 

 efficient cause is God, by whom it was brought 

 into being ; its moving cause, the goodness of the 



