ions, does not
imitate the technic of man. Her process is one of unravelling and
unfolding. The infinity of forms under which matter appears was not
imposed upon it by an external artificer; by its own intrinsic force
and virtue it brings these forms forth. Matter is not the mere naked,
empty capacity which philosophers have pictured her to be, but the
universal mother, who brings forth all things as the fruit of her own
womb.

This outspoken man was originally a Dominican monk. He was accused of
heresy and had to fly, seeking refuge in Geneva, Paris, England, and
Germany. In 1592 be fell into the hands of the Inquisition at Venice.
He was imprisoned for many years, tried, degraded, excommunicated, and
handed over to the Civil power, with the request that he should be
treated gently, and 'without the shedding of blood.' This meant that
he was to be burnt; and burnt accordingly he was, on February 16,
1600. To escape a similar fate Galileo, thirty-three years
afterwards, abjured upon his knees, with his hands upon the holy
Gospels, the heliocentric doctrine, which he knew to be true. After
Galileo came Kepler, who from his German home defied the ultramontane
power. He traced out from pre-existing observations the laws of
planetary motion. Materials were thus prepared for Newton, who bound
those empirical laws together by the principle of gravitation.

4.

In the seventeenth century Bacon and Descartes, the restorers of
philosophy, appeared in succession. Differently educated and endowed,
their philosophic tendencies were different. Bacon held fast to
Induction, believing firmly in the existence of an external world, and
making collected experiences the basis of all knowledge. The
mathematical studies of Descartes gave him a bias towards Deduction;
and his fundamental principle was much the same as that of Protagoras,
who 'made the individual man the measure of all things. I think,
therefore I am,' said Descartes. Only his own identity was sure to
him; and the full development of this system would have led to an
idealism, in which the outer world would have been resolved into a
mere phenomenon of consciousness. Gassendi, one of Descartes's
contemporaries, of whom we shall hear more presently, quickly pointed
out that the fact of personal existence would be proved as well by
reference to any other act, as to the act of thinking. I eat,
therefore I am, or I love, therefore I am, would be quite as
conclu