DIFFERENT SYSTEMS. 71 



Much more might be faid upon this fubje(a:. 

 But I pretend not to write a treatife on philo- 

 fophy ; and fhall therefore return to phyfics, 

 from which the ideas of Plato, concerning uni- 

 verfal generation, have diverted my attention. 

 Ariftotle, who was as great a philofopher as 

 Plato, and a better phyiician, inftead of wan- 

 dering in the regions of theory, collects fadts, 

 and fpeaks in a language more intelligible. 



Matter, he remarks, which is only a capacity 

 of receiving forms, aflumes, in generation, a fi- 

 gure fimilar to the individual which furniihes it : 

 And, with regard to animals which generate by 

 the intervention of fexes, he imagines, that the 

 prolific principle proceeds folely from the male *: 

 For though, in another place, when fpeaking of 

 animals in general, he fays, that the female 



fheds 



They, accordingly, ftraln every nerve to remove them. But 

 their force is fo irrefiftible ; their numbers are fo immenfe ; their 

 beauties are fo ftriking, and correfpond fo intimately with the 

 warm and benevolent feelings of the, heart ; the concatenation 

 and mutual dependence of all created beings recognifable by 

 our fenfes are fo apparent, and fo illuftrious, that no powers of 

 fophiftry, no artful mifreprefentations, no ftrokes of ridicule, 

 will ever be able to diminifh their influence, or weaken the force 

 of thofe fentiments which the Supreme Being intended ihey 

 fhould excite in the breafls of his intelligent creatures. Final 

 caufes not only demonftratc the exiilence of a Supreme Intelli- 

 gent Power, but the infinite beneficence, and minute attention 

 of that power to the happinefs of thofe beings upon whom He 

 has thought proper to confer exiftencc. 



* See Arlftct. dc Gen. lib. i. cap. 20. and lib. 2. cap. 4. 



