CAUSE OF ITS FAILURE. 79 



how unjust it would be to accuse him of disregarding 

 facts. Many large treatises of his consist almost 

 entirely of collections of facts, as for instance, those 

 "On Colours," "On Sounds," and the collection of 

 Problems to which we have already referred; to say 

 nothing of the numerous collection of facts bearing 

 on natural history and physiology, which form a great 

 portion of his works, and are even now treasuries 

 of information. A moment's reflection will convince 

 us that the physical sciences of our own times, for 

 example, mechanics and hydrostatics, are founded 

 almost entirely upon facts with which the ancients 

 were as familiar as we are. The defect of their phi- 

 losophy, therefore, wherever it may lie, exists neither 

 in the speculative depreciation of the value of facts, 

 nor in the practical neglect of their use. 



3. Nor again, should we hit upon the truth, if 

 we were to say that Aristotle and other ancient 

 philosophers, did indeed collect facts ; but that they 

 took no steps in classifying and comparing them ; 

 and that thus they failed to obtain from them any 

 general knowledge. For, in reality, the treatises of 

 Aristotle which we have mentioned, are as remark- 

 able for the power of classifying and systematizing 

 which they exhibit, as for the industry shown in the 

 accumulation. But it is not classification of facts 

 merely which can lead us to knowledge, except we 

 adopt that special arrangement, which, in each case, 

 brings into view the principles of the subject. We 

 may easily show how unprofitable an arbitrary or 



