336 PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



treatise on Theology, except this Theology were 

 intended to constitute the whole of Philosophy. 



We may observe, that in this work, though 

 Plato, Avecibron, and many other heathen as well 

 as Christian philosophers, are adduced as authority, 

 Aristotle is referred to in a peculiar manner as 

 "the philosopher." This is nbticed by John of 

 Salisbury, as attracting attention in his time; (he 

 died A.D. 1182.) "The various masters of Dia- 

 lectic," says he 13 , "shine, each with his peculiar 

 merit; but all are proud to worship the footsteps 

 of Aristotle ; so much so, indeed, that the name 

 of philosopher, which belongs to them all, has been 

 pre-eminently appropriated to him. He is called 

 the philosopher autonomatice, that is, by excel- 

 lence." 



The Question concerning Corporeal Action, in 

 Aquinas, is divided into six Articles ; and the con- 

 clusion delivered upon the first, is 14 , that "Body 

 being compounded of power and act, is active as 

 well as passive." Against this it is urged, that 

 quantity is an attribute of body, and that quantity 

 prevents action; that this appears in fact, since a 

 larger body is more difficult to move. The author 

 replies, that "quantity does not prevent corporeal 

 form from action altogether, but prevents it from 

 being a universal agent inasmuch as the form is 

 individualized, which, in matter subject to quantity, 

 it is. Moreover, the illustration deduced from the 



13 Metalogicus, lib. ii. cap. 16. M Summce, P. i. Q. 115. Art. 1. 



