Note 1349 — Chapter XVII

Vol. i. p. 54. A modern writer has remarked, that Aristotle employs letters of the alphabet to express indeterminate quantities, and says it has never been observed before. He refers to the Physics, in Aristot. Opera, i. 543, 550, 565, &c., but without mentioning any edition. The letters α, β, γ, &c. express force, mass, space or time. Libri, Hist. des Sciences Mathématiques en Italie, i. 104. Upon reference to Aristotle, I find many instances in the sixth book of the Physicæ Auscultationes, and in other places.