36 THE GREEK SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY. 



we see, very vague and loose ; it might, with equal 

 propriety, be explained to mean what we now un- 

 derstand by mechanical or by chemical attraction, 

 or pressure, or evaporation. And in like manner, 

 all the first attempts to comprehend the operations 

 of nature, led to the introduction of abstract con- 

 ceptions, often vague, indeed, but not, therefore, 

 unmeaning ; such as motion and velocity, force and 

 pressure, impetus and momentum (/WJ). And the 

 next step in philosophizing, necessarily was to en- 

 deavour to make these vague abstractions more clear 

 and fixed, so that the logical faculty should be able 

 to employ them securely and coherently. But there 

 were two ways of making this attempt ; the one, by 

 examining the words only, and the thoughts which 

 they call up; the other, by attending to the facts 

 and things which bring these abstract terms into 

 use. The latter, the method of real inquiry, was 

 the way to success; but the Greeks followed the 

 former, the verbal or notional course, and failed. 



If Herodotus, when the notion of the sun's at- 

 tracting the waters of rivers had entered into his 

 mind, had gone on to instruct himself, by attention 

 to facts, in what manner this notion could be made 

 more definite, while it still remained applicable to 

 all the knowledge which could be obtained, he would 

 have made some progress towards a true solution of 

 his problem. If, for instance, he had tried to ascer- 

 tain whether this Attraction which the sun exerted 

 upon the waters of rivers, depended on his influence 



