which are the material for most of the works of man's hand; as the human intellect can confer upon its creations nothing save newness of form. Without asserting that all which is has emanated from living bodies, modern science has shewn that vast masses of matter, now inorganic, were the product of what once had life.
Note 3, p. 59. Thus every natural body partaking of life, &c.] The text seems to be in accordance with what had preceded, but it has been objected to by some on account of its supposed obscurity; it seems, however, to imply that the three primordial conditions, matter, essence and form, are necessary to, and concur in the formation of every specific body.
Note 4, p. 59. And since the body is such a combination, &c.] This passage is obscure both in wording and purport, but it seems to imply that the living body, being what it has been said to be, is independent and self-existent, and, as such, cannot be Vital Principle, because it cannot be among the subordinates of a subject, which is the part seemingly ascribed to Vital Principle, as merely realising what already had existence in potentiality.
Note 5, p. 59. Now reality is, in the twofold signification, &c.] These two terms, which, as has been said, pervade and illustrate Aristotle's philosophical writings, are, themselves illustrated, as it were, here, under the forms of sleep and watching—the one, being the analogue of potentiality, and the latter, of reality—and thus knowledge,
