PERIPATETIC 
opinions the air of novelty, by clothing them 
in new language. This latter method he 
adopted on the subject of mind. He as- 
serted with Plato, that there are in men 
different faculties, which have respectively 
a different organ ; but he designedly ex- 
pressed his doctrine upon this head in ob- 
scure terms, which cannot be explained 
with entire perspicuity without suppos- 
ing, as many writers have done, what 
Aristotle ought to have taught, instead of 
endeavouring to discover what he actually 
did teach. His leading tenets on this sub- 
ject are these : — The soul is the first prin- 
ciple of action in an organised body, pos- 
sessing life potentially. The soul does not 
move itself; for whatever moves is moved 
by some other moving power. It is not a 
rare body, composed of elements ; for then 
it would not have perception more than the 
elements which compose it. The soul has 
three faculties, the nutritive, the sensitive, 
and the rational; the superior comprehend- 
ing the inferior potentially. The nutritive 
taculty is that by which life is produced and 
preserved. The sensitive faculty is that by 
which we perceive and feel ; it does not 
perceive itself nor its organs, but some ex- 
ternal objects through the intervention of its 
organs, which are adapted to produce the 
sensations of sight, hearing, smell, taste, 
and touch. The senses receive sensible 
species, or forms, without matter, as wax 
receives the impression of a seal, without 
receiving any part of its substance. The 
external senses perceive objects; but it is 
the common, or internal sense, which ob- 
serves their difference. The internal sense 
perceives various objects at the same in- 
stant. Perception differs from intellect; 
the former being common to all animals, 
the latter to a few. Fancy is the percep- 
tion produced in anj' animal by the imme- 
diate action of the senses. It is accompa- 
nied with different feelings, according to 
the nature of the object by which it is pro- 
duced. Memory is derived from fancy, 
and has its seat in the same power of the 
soul. It is the effect of some image im- 
pressed upon the soul by means of the 
senses. Where this image cannot be retain- 
ed, throueh an excess of moisture or dry- 
ness in the temperature of the brain, me- 
mory ceases. Reminiscence is that faculty 
of the mind by which we search for any ■ 
thing which we wish to recollect through a 
series of things nearly related to it, till at 
last we call to mind what we had forgotten. 
The intellect is that part of the soul by 
PHILOSOPHY. 
which it understands. It is of two kinds, 
passive and active. Passive intellect is that 
faculty by which the understanding receives 
the forms of things : it is the seat of species. 
Active intellect is the efficient cause of all 
knowledge; and is either simple, when it is 
ehiployed in the near apprehension of its 
object; or complex, whei; it compounds 
simple conceptions, in order to produce be- 
lief and assent. Tlie latter is either true or 
false, the former neither. The action of the 
intellect is either theoretical or practical : 
theoretical, when it simply considers what 
i.s true or false ; and practical, when it judges 
whether any tiling is good or evil, and here- 
by excites the will to pursue or avoid it. 
The principle of local motion is the desire, 
or aversion, which arises from the practical 
exercise of the understanding. This desire, 
or aversion, produces either rational voli- 
tion or sensitive appetite. The production 
of animal life arises from the union of the 
nutritive soul with animal heat. Life is the 
continuance of this union ; death, its disso- 
lution. 
Tlie nature of the first principle of animal 
life, and of all perception, intelligence, and 
action, Aristotle, as well as all other philo- 
sophers, was at a loss to explain. Having 
no other way of judging concerning it than 
by observing its operations as far as they 
are subjects of experience, be could only 
define the mind to be that principle by 
whicli we live, perceive, and understand. 
When he attempted to form an abstract con- 
ception of this principle, he saw that there 
must be some substance whicli enjoys such 
perfection as to be capable of performing 
this function ; but he was wliolly ignorant 
of the nature of this substance, and there- 
fore ill defining it he made use of a term ex- 
pressive ot the confused idea which he had 
formed to himself from observing its opera- 
tions, and called it perfect energy ; that is, 
if he had confessed the truth, some sub- 
stance which is adapted to produce sensi- 
tive and rational life in certain organized 
bodies. 
This term will afford the attentive reader 
a striking example of the manner in which 
Aristotle endeavoured to explain the prin- 
ciples of nature by vague notions and un- 
meaning words. But on other subjects he 
is sometimes remarkably clear, as in his 
discussion on “ Politics” he states, in few 
words, the only legitimate purpose of politi- 
cal establishments. “ Every political .so- 
ciety forms, it is plain, a sort of community 
or partnership, instituted for the benefit of 
