ARISTOTLE.
[1.] “Schoolmen.” Philosophers and divines who in the middle ages adopted the principles of Aristotle and dwelt much upon abstract speculation. Scholasticism was a philosophy of dogmas. “Its elements were doctrines which the authority of the church made indisputable,” and which were looked upon as absolute truth. Facts in nature were set aside and an artificial, logical scheme developed. Scholiasts thought experiment only fit to follow and illustrate theories.
[2.] “Haroun-al-Raschid,” Aaron the Just. (765-809.) The caliph who raised Bagdad to its greatest splendor, and whose reign was looked upon as the golden era of the Mohammedan nation. He reigned twenty-three years and performed the pilgrimage to Mecca nine times. He is famous as the hero of the Arabian tales. Tennyson wrote of him in his “Recollections of Arabian Nights.”
[3.] “Ex post facto.” A Latin expression, meaning an after act or thing done afterward. An ex post facto law is a law enacted after the commission of a crime, for the purpose of being enforced upon the person having committed the crime, who could not be held a criminal, or at least a criminal in the same degree, until after the enaction of the law. All such laws are forbidden by the constitution of the United States.
[4.] Transcriber’s Note: This note (presumably “Hypolais.”) was omitted in the original. Hippolais is a scientific genus of tree warblers.