DOGMATISM OF THE STATIONARY PERIOD. 347 



he crosses the track of many a controversy, which 

 in its time divided the world of speculators, and 

 of which the results may be traced, even now, in 

 the conduct of moral, or political, or metaphy- 

 sical discussions; or in the common associations of 

 thought, and forms of language. The wars of the 

 Nominalists and Realists; the disputes concerning 

 the foundations of morals, and the motives of 

 human actions; the controversies concerning pre- 

 destination, free will, grace, and the many other 

 points of metaphysical divinity; the influence of 

 theology and metaphysics upon each other, and 

 upon other subjects of human curiosity ; the effects 

 of opinion upon politics, and of political condition 

 upon opinion ; the influence of literature and phi- 

 losophy upon each other, and upon society; and 

 many other subjects ; might be well worth exami- 

 nation, if our hopes of success did not reside in 

 pursuing, steadily and directly, those inquiries in 

 which we can look for a definite and certain reply. 

 We must even neglect two of the leading studies 

 of those times, which occupied much of men's time 

 and thoughts, and had a very great influence on 

 society ; the one dealing with Notions, the other 

 with Things ; the one employed about moral rules, 

 the other about material causes, but both for prac- 

 tical ends; I mean, the study of the Civil Law, 

 and of Medicine. The second of these studies will 

 hereafter come before us, as one of the principal 

 occasions which led to the cultivation of chemistry ; 



