IV NOTES. 



in all explanations of meteorological processes, as in the works De generatione 

 et interitu, Lib. ii. cap. 3, p. 330; Meteorologicis, Lib. i. cap. 12, and 

 Lib. iii. cap. 3, p. 372 ; and in the Problems (Lib. xiv. cap. 3, Lib. viii. No. 9, 

 p. 888, and Lib. xiv. No. 3, p. 909), which are at least drawn up 

 according to Aristotelian principles. In the ancient hypothesis of polarity, 

 /car' dvTnrfpKrraa-tv, similar conditions attract each other, and dissimilar 

 conditions ( + and ) repel each other (compare Ideler, Meteorol. veterum 

 Grsec. et Rom. 1832, p. 10). " Opposite conditions, instead of neutralising 

 tension by their combination, on the contrary increase it. The 

 ty v XP^v heightens the &epiJ.6v ; so also, inversely, in the formation of hail, 

 while the cloud sinks into warmer strata of air, the surrounding warmth 

 makes the cold body still colder." Aristotle explains by his antiperi static 

 process, by polarity of heat, what modern physical science explains by con- 

 duction, radiation, evaporation, and change of capacity for heat. See ingenious 

 considerations by Paul Erman, in the Abhandl. der Berliner Akademie auf 

 das J. 1825, S. 128. 



f 23 ) p. 15. "All variation in natural bodies, all terrestrial phsenomena, 

 are called forth by the motion of the celestial sphere." Aristot. Meteor, i. 2, 

 p. 339 ; and De gener. et corrupt, ii. 10, p. 336. 



( 24 ) p. 15. Aristot. de Ccelo, Lib.i. cap. 9, p. 279 ; Lib. ii. cap. 3, p. 286 ; 

 Lib. ii. cap. 13, p. 292, Bekker. (Compare Biese, Bd. i. S. 352357.) 



P) p. 15. Aristot. phys. Auscult. Lib. ii. cap. 8, p. 199 ; De Anima, 

 Lib. iii. cap. 12, p. 434 ; De Animal, generat. Lib. v. cap. 1, p. 778, Bekker. 



( M ) p. 16. Aristot. Meteor, xii. 8, p. 1074 ; of which passage a remark- 

 able elucidation is contained in the Commentary of Alexander Aphrodisiensis. 

 The heavenly bodies are not soul-less matter, they are rather to be regarded as 

 acting and living beings (Aristot. de Coelo, Lib. ii. cap. 12, p. 292). They are 

 the divinest of phenomena, TO, &eiJrepa TWV Qavep&v (Aristot. de Ccelo, 

 Lib. i. cap. 9, p. 278 ; and Lib. ii. cap. 1, p. 284) . In the little pseudo- 

 Aristotelian writing, De Mundo, in which a religious tone (respecting the 

 preserving omnipotence of God, cap. 6, p. 400) is often seen to prevail, the 

 upper aether is also termed divine (cap. 2, p. 392). What Kepler, in the 

 Mysterium cosmographicum (cap. 20, p. 71), fancifully terms "moving 

 spirits" "animae motrices" is the confused idea of a force (virtus) which 

 has its principal seat in the sun (anima mundi), diminishes by distance 

 according to the laws of light, and impels the planets in their elliptic paths. 

 Comp. Apelt, Epochen der Ge?ch. d<T Meuscheit (Epochs in the History of 

 Mankind), Bd. i. S. 274. 



