Note 143 — Chapter III

“The heavenly orbs, according to the principles of philosophy, possess a reasonable mind.”—Akhlák-i Jalálí. “This,” remarks W.F. Thomson, the translator, “is inferred from continuity of motion and influence without perceptible external cause, and it seems men’s earliest conclusion and the origin of star-worship. Admitting Plato’s notion that souls were introduced, or perhaps kindled, by the heavenly bodies, nothing could be more reasonable than to attempt, by observation and induction, to ascertain the influence contributed by each. The premises only are to be attacked; and for these the chiefs of classical as well as Oriental literature are responsible.”