The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-07-22
WASHINGTON, D, C, THURSDAY JULY g. 1858. !

vltiates logic. Words are signs of ideas, but the
ideas ere loose and indefinite, and hence the
words Jack necessary precision. MANY. perhaps
most 'ords In common use, are fgurative the
same words convey different ideas different
words, the same ideas and many words. no idea
atall. Allthe exact sciences, and those apnroacb.
ing exactness, of necessity, have vocabulary
OF their own. Even most of the practical pur-
suits OF life require such vocabulary to be
conducted with any efficiency. The apprentice
to any calling must frat learn its technics. he.
fore be can obey his superiors. 1t would be
somewhat amusing, but for the attendant dan.
ger, to witness the master of vessel perfectly
acquainted with his profession, except its tech.
nics, undertake TO manage his craft in a storm.
The blunders arising from the unadaptedness
of com mon language, the different understand,
ings Of some terms, the blindness or fgurative
use OF others, the necessary circumlocution,
would not cause greater confusion than they
have, when employed in reasoning without ex-
pertinent upon principles of natural philosophy.
" The syllogism," says Bacon, (Org, Syl. I3,
l6,) us very unequal to the subtlety of nature
1t forces assent, therefore, and not things. The
syllogism consists of propositions, propositions
OF words; words are the signs of notions. If,
therefore, the notions (which form the basis
OF the whole) be confused, and carelessly alb.
straeted from things, there is no solidity in the
superstructure. Our only hope, then, is in
genuine induction. We have no sound notions.
either in logic or physics substance, quality.
action, passion, and existence, are not clear
notions; much less, weight, levity, density.
tenuity, moisture, dryness, generation, cor.
rupnon, attraction, repulsion, element, matter
form. and the like. They are all fantastical
and Ill defined"
Aristotle was the last of the great masters
and discovery died with him. After the re-
covery and publication of such of his works az
had not been entirely lost, which was not till
100 vars after his death, he began to divide
the w1rld with Plato, and, in the middle ages
obtaited over Christian and Saracen almost
Papd supremacy. His dicta became the ulti.
maturl. What he had not taught, was not
worth learning; and wo to the visionary who
dreamed of going beyond him. Nothing can
mind, than the celebrated sentence of Edmund
Lully, who ventured to write against Aristotle
not many years before the advent of Bacon
So hacked was gowned dulness at his temer
! ity, that authority was appealed to he was ar
| raigned before the Parliament of Paris, solemn
ly deereed to be impudent, ignorant, and q
| liar, lis works ordered to be burned, and he
| forbidden to write more, or read himself wha
ne had written 1t must not be supposed thai
the ages since the beginning of Aristotle's
reign, including the fall of the empire and the
birth of the kingdoms, have been destitute Of
| speculative works, without conflict, because
without discovery. 1t may be rather said that
in the multitude of their books, and in the fierce.
ness, or rather character, of their disputes, lay
their barrenness. The immense folios of the
middle ages were chiefly to illustrate the mas.
ter, and the fierce disputes as to what was truly
Arstotelian, as common before Luther's day as
since, upon speculative theology, were as bar.
rem of useful or scientific discovery as the latter
of charity and good works. Yet, while the fol.
lowers of Aristotle worshipped, they corrupted /;
and in the endless mazes of their false ref.
nings, they seemed to have forever closed the
paths of substantial knowledge The barren.
ness of these writer's is most aptly described in
the first book of " The Advancement of Learn.
ing: " This kind of degenerate learning did
chiefly reign amongst the sohoolmen, who.
having sharp and strong wits and abundance
{ of leisure, and small variety of reading, (but
their wits being shut up in cells of a few su.
thors, chiefly Aristotle as their dictator.
as their persons were shut up in the celia
of monasteries and coleges,) and KNOWING
little history, either Of nature or time, did.
out OF no great quantity of matter, and infinite
agitation of wit, spin out unto US those labo.
rious webs of learning which are extant in
their books. For the wit and mind Of man.
if it work upon matter, which is the contern-
plation of the creatures of God, workeih &C.
cording to the stuff, and lie limited thereby :;
but if it work upon itself as the spider workeih
his Uco, luen u 10 ehuleb6, ana Drlngs forth
indeed cobwebs Of learning, admirable for
the fneness of thread and work, but of no
substance and profit"
But the night of discovery was not always to
continue-a night none the less real, because
by the dim Borealis we could see afar off the
fitting forms of ideal life, or because the dull
moon revealed around us the long. trodden
paths of scholastic progression, ever appa.
rently onward, yet always ending at the point
of departure. The dominion of Aristotle had
been much shaken about the period of the
Reformation. The invention of printing had
increased the opportunities for
study the new and general use of gunpowder
and the mariners compass, the vast discoveries
in geography, and the increasing development
Of startling facts-al the fruit of experimen,
rather than oflogic-could not fail of their effect
Copernicus and Calico had, in opposition to
Aristotle, taught the true theory of the heaven
y motions; the Reformation itself greatly
stirred the minds of men and some of the
Reformers, especially Luther, had ventured to
assail the whole philosophy of the schoolmen,
and that of their great master. The times had