96 
MEMOIR OF ARISTOTLE. 
beautiful fancy of the Pythagoreans about the music 
of the spheres ; for, according to Aristotle, they could 
emit no sound as they moved with their spheres “ like 
the parts of a ship with the ship.” To account for 
the apparent irregularities in their motions, he ima- 
gined that there were as many additional spheres 
employed in the revolutions of each body, as it ap- 
peared to have different motions. 
The necessity of explaining what it was that im- 
parted to the different spheres their principle of mo- 
tion, led him to carry his speculations up to some 
ultimate cause, itself unmoved, in which they had 
their origin ; hence the close connexion with the 
physical and the metaphysical philosophy of Aris- 
totle ; and hence too the reason why he gave the lat- 
ter science the designation of theology. According 
to him, the several spheres of the heavens presented 
a distinct class of beings ( mmu ) or substances, 
whose principle of motion ho considered to be the 
vital energy itself in which they had their existence; 
but it does not appear that he attributed to them a 
proper divinity in themselves, although he speaks of 
them as possessed of a divine nature, for he refers 
their perpetuity of motion to the ultimate principle 
or First Mover — the Deity of his system. This great 
first principle he regarded merely in a metaphysical 
point of view ; for it must be observed, that in his 
philosophy there is no notion of a Divinity inculcated 
as the Creator and Governor of the universe ; it is 
merely as the soul — the intellect — the energy — the 
excellence and perfection of the system that he con- 
