The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-09-29
s.
BY JAMES PARTON.

u VI OCAOAO biiCJ AAa0
seen the light of publicity. The phil
osopher b~equeathed his numerous
writings to his friend Theophrastus,
who, after having been his favorite
disciple, had become his successor as
chief lecturer in the Lyceum at
Athens. Theophrastus at his death
left them to his favorite pupilNeleus,
who conveyed them from Athens to a
city in Asia Minor, where he lived.
When Neleus died the precious manu-
scripts became the property of his
heirs, who not being men of letters,
valued them only as so much property
By this time the works of philoso-
pliers end men of genius had acquired
a great pecuninry value; for many
kings had caught, from the example
of Alexander, the fashion of collecting
manuscripts and founding libraries
Literary works had become indeed OBJ
jects of such intense desire to kings
and princes, that they began to be un-
safe, because they were so easily stol-
en-. The heirspfrN eleug, Aherefore,
while awaiting some royal purchaser
for the. works !dia with
them what the anciehts weFeE aeepss
toned to do With money and Jewels
theyibu4iedJ them IN the, earth And
in the earth they remained till they
wereTf0rgotten.E Mich hlriedgtreass
ure of other descriptions was lost in an
cient times by the death of the sole
~possessors of. the secret. Travellers
tell us that, to this day, a large amt
of gold, silver, and jewels is annually
lost in this way in China, India, and
others parts. of Asia
The writings of Aristotle narrowly
escaped destruction for it was only
after they had been buried one humid
red and thirty years, that they were
discovered, and then only by accident.
They were much defaced BY the damp
ness of the earth, and some of the
writing was l~obliterated: By.a happy
chance, a wealthy disciple of Aristotle
heard. of the.discoyery of the books,
bought them, and employed several
copyists In transcribing them. Many
pages. and some whole treatises were
lost beyond recovery, and it is suppos-
edDthat many Of the errors now found
in the text were owing to tile we'll
meant endeavors of the purchaser to
restore sentences and passages that
were partly efaced. i4A on o 5HD-
The works thus ac~cidently preserys
ed were conveyed to Athens, where
they remained nntil5heI city was CAP
tured, and p!undered by Sylla, by
whomfthey We're carried away to Rome,
with 4 vast amount of other literary
treasure? This was a fortunate cir
cu6mstahee.1 At Rome they attracted
the attentioP9 of q learned Greek, who
made additional copies Of them. At
length, about three hundred years afi
ter the death of Aristotle, his works
may be said to have been published:
that is, copies Of them became an ar
ticle of literary merchandise. and any
body could have q copy who could af-
ford to pay a sum of money equal to
four iori five thousand dollars! - From.
that time to about two centuries age,
fireworks of Aristotle constructed
themselves an important portion ofthe
scientific property of man. 1t is only
during the 1asttwo hundred years that
discovery has rendered his scientific
writings valueless, and only interest
ing as a curiosity of the past.
1T is surprising how little he-knew
that could be depended upon; and all
because he did not follow his own
maxim. r,eJ 1Hr '1
rt"Afen who desire to learn, must first learn
to doubt; for science is only the solution Of
doubts.n
He did not doubt enough. He took
things too much for granted. He be-
ieyed too easily. Although n writer
on anatomy, for example, it is almost
certain that he never examined the
inside of the human body-much less
dissected one. Imagine a doctor OF
the present day giviHg such an account
of the liver as the following:
-SThe liver is compact and smooth, shin
ing and sweet, though somewhat bitter; and
the reason Is, that the thoughts falling on it
from the intellect, as on a mirror, might
terrify it by employing a bitterness akin to
itsnature ; and threateningly mingle this Bit
terness with the whole liver, 50 as to give 1t
the black color of bile; or, when the images
of a different kind are reflected, sweetening
Its bitterness and giving place to that part OF
the soul which lies near the liver, giving 1t
rest at night, with the power of diyination
LII = <AAtLOo6h AZ - VIII
structed for ~divination, it is only during life
that its predictions are clear: after death its
oracles become obscure, for It becomes blind"
This Is wonderfully absurd. Else
where he informs us that, In his opin-
ion, the seat of the soul is that portion
of the brain called the Pineal gland, a
small solid mass of nervous matter in
the midst ofthe lobes Of the BRAIN
The reason which this great philoso-
pher gives for SO thinking is; hat "all
the-6th9f"parts Of the bfain re'doub.
lie, and thoughts SINGLE
Mans soul thus being in the head,
hefeelsI pecessary-t &c, explain why We
afeHpEeyidedywit bodies and limbs.
Sinee1he soaIsisc ompletelysinclosed
Within the skull, why should we bein.
canberedAgith such a great mass o.
unspiritua1 matter? The gods fore
saw, he tells us, that the headSbeinf
roandwould roll down the hills, anc
could not ascend steep places; and t.
prevent this, the body was added as
carrier and locomotive of the head.
He has some strange ideas with re
gard to the heavenly bodies.
1aThe heat and light of the stars" h
says, stare eyolYedfrom the friction o
their bodies against the air; for mo
ton naturally produces heat, even il
wood and stones; and still more mus
this be the case. with bodies, which ar
naorar To fra. and air Ia nearer 4