A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



The nature of limbs (organization) which thinketh in men, 

 Both in one and in all ; for the highest degree of organization 

 gives the highest degree of thought." 11 



Here it will be observed that there is virtual agree- 

 ment between the translators except as to the last 

 clause, but that clause is most essential. The Greek 

 phrase is TO jap TrXcov co-re vorjjua. Ritter, it will be 

 observed, renders this, "for thought is the fulness." 

 Lewes paraphrases it, " for the highest degree of organ- 

 ization gives the highest degree of thought." The 

 difference is intentional, since Lewes himself criti- 

 cises the translation of Ritter. Ritter's translation 

 is certainly the more literal, but the fact that such 

 diversity is possible suggests one of the chief ele- 

 ments of uncertainty that hamper our interpreta- 

 tion of the thought of antiquity. Unfortunately, the 

 mind of the commentator has usually been directed 

 towards such subtleties, rather than towards the ex- 

 pression of precise knowledge. Hence it is that the 

 philosophers of Greece are usually thought of as mere 

 dreamers, and that their true status as scientific dis- 

 coverers is so often overlooked. With these intangi- 

 bilities we have no present concern beyond this bare 

 mention ; for us it suffices to gain as clear an idea as we 

 may of the really scientific conceptions of these think- 

 ers, leaving the subtleties of their deductive reasoning 

 for the most part untouched. 



EMPEDOCLES 



The latest of the important pre-Socratic philosophers 

 of the Italic school was Empedocles, who was born 

 about 494 B.C. and lived to the age of sixty. These 



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