European
Philosophers have maintained several Notions altogether as improbable. Some of
Plato's
followers in particular, when they talk of the World of Ideas, entertain us with Substances and Beings no less extravagant and chimerical. Many
Aristotelians
have likewise spoken as unintelligibly of their substantial Forms.
shall only instance
Albertus Magnus
, who in his Dissertation upon the Loadstone observing that Fire will destroy its magnetick Vertues, tells us that he took particular Notice of one as it lay glowing amidst an Heap of burning Coals, and that he perceived a certain blue Vapour to arise from it, which he believed might be the