54 ALOIS RIEHL 



In the Academy all the fields of knowledge 

 were systematically investigated from central 

 points of view. Plato in person set their prob- 

 lems to the friends who joined him in re- 

 search. Thus he introduced the analytic 

 method into the solution of geometrical prob- 

 lems: he gave the initial impetus to the study 

 of solids through his pupil Theaetetus ; and to 

 him is due the well-known astronomical prob- 

 lem of estimating, by means of hypotheses, the 

 uniform and regular movements required to 

 keep the phenomena of the planetary move- 

 ments as they are. The aco^eiv tol (f)aLv6fjieva, 

 the demand that phenomena shall be kept in- 

 tact, is altogether in the spirit of present-day 

 positive science, and is the guiding maxim of 

 our exact investigation. We too endeavor to 

 approach the understanding of reality through 

 mathematical assumptions, comparing the en- 

 suing results with the actual appearances. We 

 too "preserve" phenomena in our scientific 

 investigations. 



Just as the Academy occupied a central 

 position in the common work of research, so it 

 speedily became a court of appeal in questions 



