Note 62 — Chapter II · A DINNER AT THE GRANGE—A PAIR OF OWLS. (continued 2)

Cardinal Tolomei, who was not only a well-read man, but also a peripatetic at heart, candidly confesses that the peripatetic view of generation has never been substantiated. “Depend upon it,” says he, “either no sound argument can be adduced in proof of the peripatetic system, and we must, accordingly, simply postulate it; or, if any proof can be adduced, it consists in the sole argument from authority.” Crede mihi; vel solidi nihil afferri potest pro systemate peripatetico adstruendo, adeoque simpliciter erit postulandum; vel unico a nobis allecto argumento (auctoritatis) satis est roboris ad ipsum confirmandum.—Phil. Mentis et Sensuum, diss 8, phys. gen. concl. 2. And speaking of the argument drawn from substantial changes, he declares it to be a mere sophism: Est mera petitio principii, et æquivocatio inter materiam primam ab omnibus philosophis admissam, et materiam primam Aristotelicam.—Ibid. See Tongiorgi, Cosmol., lib. 1, c. 2, n. 42 et seq.