348 PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



but, in itself, its progress is of too complex and 

 indefinite a nature to be advantageously compared 

 with that of the more exact sciences. The Roman 

 Law is held, by its admirers, to be a system of 

 deductive science, as exact as the mathematical 

 sciences themselves ; and it may, therefore, be use- 

 ful to consider it, if we should, in the sequel, have 

 to examine how far there can exist an analogy 

 between moral and physical science. But, after 

 a few more words on the middle ages, we must 

 return to our task of tracing the progress of the 

 latter. 



