DOGMATISM OF THE STATIONARY PERIOD. 337 



ponderousness of bodies is not to the purpose ; first, 

 because the addition of quantity is not the cause of 

 gravity, as is proved in the fourth book, De Coelo 

 and De Mundo" (we see that he quotes familiarly 

 the physical treatises of Aristotle) ; " second, be- 

 cause it is false that ponderousness makes motion 

 slower ; on the contrary, in proportion as anything 

 is heavier, the more does it move with its proper 

 motion ; thirdly, because action does not take place 

 by local motion, as Democritus asserted ; but by 

 this, that something is drawn from power into act." 

 It does not belong to our purpose to consider 

 either the theological or the metaphysical doctrines 

 which form so large a portion of the treatises of the 

 schoolmen. Perhaps it may hereafter appear, that 

 some light is thrown on some of the questions 

 which have occupied metaphysicians in all ages, by 

 that examination of the history of the Progressive 

 Sciences in which we are now engaged ; but till we 

 are able to analyze the leading controversies of this 

 kind, it would be of little service to speak of them 

 in detail. It may be noticed, however, that many 

 of the most prominent of them refer to the great 

 question, "What is the relation between actual 

 things and general terms?" Perhaps in modern 

 times, the actual things would be more commonly 

 taken as the point to start from ; and men would 

 begin by considering how classes and universals are 

 obtained from individuals. But the schoolmen, 

 founding their speculations on the received modes 

 VOL. i. Z 



