Anaxagoras is accused, by Pliny and other early writers, of having predicted the fall of aerolites from the sun, and of regarding all bodies in the universe “as fragments of rocks, which the fiery ether, in the force of its gyratory motion, has torn from the earth and converted into stars” (Humboldt, “Cosmos” 1859–1860, Vol. I. pp. 133–135, note; Vol. II. p. 309; Vol. III. pp. 11–12; Vol. IV. pp. 206–207).
Aristotle also attacks Anaxagoras for not properly etymologizing the word aether, from αιθεἲν, to burn, and on this account using it for fire. He shows that aether, which signifies to run perpetually, implies that a perpetual motion and perpetuity of subsistence belongs to the heavenly bodies (“Treatises of Aristotle,” by Thos. Taylor, London, 1807, p. 43, note).
According to Anaximenes, named above (born at Miletus about 528 B.C.), the primal principle was Aer, of which all things are formed and into which all things are resolved. He belonged to the branch called the dynamical, whose doctrines as to the heavenly bodies were opposed to those of mechanical philosophers such as Anaxagoras, Empedocles and Anaximander of Miletus (“Engl. Cycl.,” Biography, 1866, Vol. I, p. 201).
References.—Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. I. part i. pp. 401–402, and Vol. II. p. 74; “Plato,” by George Grote, London, 1865, Vol. I. pp. 49–62; “Essai théorique et pratique sur la génération des connaissances humaines,” par Guillaume Tiberghien, Bruxelles, 1844, Vol. I. pp. 181–182; Dr. Heinrich Ritter, “History of Ancient Philosophy,” London, 1846, Vol. I. pp. 281–318; Chas. Rollin, “Ancient History,” London, 1845, Vol. I. p. 376; Paul Tannery, “Pour l’histoire de la Science Hellène,” Paris, 1887, Chap. XII; Theod. Gomperz, “Greek Thinkers,” transl. of L. Magnus, London, 1901, Chap. IV. pp. 556–558, 597; Ueberweg, “Hist. of Philosophy,” transl. of Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 63–67; Alf. Weber, “Hist. of Phil.,” transl. of Frank Thilly, New York, 1896, pp. 48–53.
Aquinas—St. Thomas—also called Doctor Angelicus (born at Aquino in Naples, A.D. 1225)—“the most successful organizer of knowledge the world has known since Aristotle”—was a famous schoolman and is considered by many the greatest of Christian philosophers. He is well worthy the profound respect and high admiration in which he is held always by Gilbert, who alludes to him in Book I. chap. i. and in Book II. chap. iii. of his De Magnete. The chief work of St. Thomas Aquinas is the “Summa Theologiæ,” to which he devoted the last nine years of his life and which by many has been called the supreme monument of the thirteenth century. The first part of the “Summa Theologiæ” is said to have been originally published in 1465 and the second part in 1471, the completed work first appearing during the year 1485.[62]
One of his critics remarks that those wishing to thoroughly comprehend the peculiar character of metaphysical thought in the Middle Ages should study Aquinas, in whose writings it is seen with the greatest consistency. He is thus spoken of in Dr. Wm. Turner’s “History of Philosophy,” published by Ginn & Co., 1903: “He had a comprehensiveness of purpose which, in these modern times, seems nothing short of stupendous. It is only when, as we study the history of later scholasticism and the history of the philosophy of modern times, we shall look back to the thirteenth century through the perspective of ages of less successful attempts at philosophical synthesis, that we shall begin to realize the true grandeur of the most commanding figure in the history of mediæval thought.”
Aquinas died at the Cistercian Monastery in 1274, and was canonized forty-nine years later by Pope John XXII.
References.—Carle (P. J.), “Hist. de la vie ... de Th. d’Aq.,” 1846; Maffei (Francesco Scipione), “Vita ...” 1842; B. Hauréau, “De la Phil. Schol.,” Paris, 1850, Vol. II. pp. 104, 213; G. Tiberghien, “Essai historique ... des con. hum.,” Bruxelles, 1844, Vol. I. pp. 374–378; Dr. Fried. Ueberweg, “Hist. of Phil.,” transl. of Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 440–452; “Thomæ Aquinatis Opera Theologica,” Venice, 1745–1760, 28 vols. quarto, edited by Bernardo M. de Rossi-Rubeis; “Petri de Bergamo, Super Omnia Opera D. Thomæ Aquinatis,” Bononiæ, 1473; “Biogr. Gén.,” Vol. XLV. pp. 208–218; “Siger de Brabant et l’Averroïsme au 13e siècle,” par Pierre Maudonnet, Friburg, 1899, Chap. IV passim; “Albert the Great,” by Dr. Joachim Sighart, transl. of Rev. Fr. T. A. Dixon, London, 1876, Chap. VI. p. 63; “The Great Schoolmen of the Middle Ages,” by W. J. Townsend, London, 1881, pp. 199–241; Alfred Weber, “Hist. of Phil.,” transl. of Frank Thilly, New York, 1896, pp. 241–246; Dr. W. Windelband, “Hist. of Phil.,” authorized transl. by Jas. H. Tufts, New York, 1893, pp. 313–314; Paola Antonia (Novelli), “De D. Th. Aquin.”; A. Hunaci, “Oratio,” Venice, 1507; likewise Veen (Otto van), Etiro (Partenio), Rodericus de Arriaga, Frigerio (Paolo) and Thouron (V. C.) in their works on Aquinas, 1610, 1630, 1648, 1688 and 1737–1740; Henry Hart Milman, “History of Latin Christianity,” London, 1857, Vol. VI. pp. 273–278, 281–286; Pellechet (Marie), “Catal. Gén. des Incunables,” 1897, pp. 210–249; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 264; “Le Journal des Savants” for May 1851, pp. 278, 281–298 passim, and also in the issue of December 1905.
Aristarchus of Samos, one of the earliest astronomers of the Alexandrian School, who lived in the third century B.C., is referred to in Gilbert’s De Magnete, at Chaps. III and IX of book vi. Vitruvius ascribes to him the invention of a concave sundial which he calls scaphe and which is described by Martianus Mineus Capella (cited by Weidler); and Censorinus says that Aristarchus was the author of an extensive work called “Annus Magnus,” covering a period of 2484 years.
References.—Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. I. p. 623; Montucla (J. F.), “Hist. des Math.,” Vol. I. p. 721; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 77; “Engl. Cycl.,” Vol. I. p. 314.