as elementary qualities; and distinguished from visual or
sonorous impressions, by being necessary to animal exist-
ence. It is uncertain whether the work "upon the
Elements" here alluded to was a distinct work, or a
chapter in one of the treatises which have been cited;
but the question is of little consequence, and foreign,
besides, to the purpose of these notes.
Note 5, p. 123. The mean, in fact, is critical, &c.] This
is a transfer, so to say, of moral to physical relations.
"Whatever is continuous and divisible comprehends," Aris-
totle[1] says, "the three terms, more, less, and equal, which
all bear a relation either to the thing itself or to our-
selves; for the equal is a given mean between excess and
deficiency. Now, the mean implies that which is equi-
distant from either of the extremes, and it is one and the
same in all material conditions; but the mean, in relation
to us, implies a state in which there is neither excess nor
deficiency." Thus, temperance nourishes and preserves
the body, while excess or deficiency of food and drink
tends to destroy it. Moderate exercise increases, while
immoderate or insufficient exercise impairs the strength;
and so for other conditions which are readily adducible.
Note 6, p. 123. As vision was said to be in some
sense, &c.] The passage is obscure, but it seems to repeat
a former observation, that, as the senses can judge of sen-
tient properties only in their mediate state, the terms
invisible and intangible are, strictly speaking, incorrect
- ↑ Ethica Nicom. II. 6. 5.
