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52

stated with great
emphasis without finding anybody in modern
times to comprehend what he said, not even Trendelenburg
who come the nearest to it. Aristotle is
understood by modern critics to be in a childishly
naïve state of mind on this subject. Now it is
quite true that Aristotle was almost the first pioneer in logic and just stood at
its threshold. It is also true that there are some
monumental follies in his physical books;
but the worst of these may fairly be presumed to be insertions
made by different students during the thirty
years when his manuscripts lay on the
shelves of his school for general use. But
Aristotle was by many lengths the greatest
intellect that human history has to show;