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CH. V.]
ARISTOTLE ON THE VITAL PRINCIPLE.
[157
speaking, it does not pre-exist, as that cannot be said to pre-exist which sometimes is, and sometimes is not reflected on. But that alone, whatever it be, which thinks, is separate from all else, immortal and eternal; and, because it is impassive, we derive from it no memory. But the impressionable mind, on the contrary, is perishable; and without it there can be no cogitation.
