ONE:In the last chapter we considered the philosophy of Plato chiefly under its critical and negative aspects. We saw how it was exclusively from that side that he at first apprehended and enlarged the dialectic of Socrates, how deeply his scepticism was coloured by the religious reaction of the age, and how he attempted, out of his masters mouth, to overturn the positive teaching of the master himself. We saw how, in the Protagoras, he sketched a theory of ethics, which was no sooner completed than it became the starting-point of a still more extended and arduous enquiry. We followed the widening horizon of his speculations until they embraced the whole contemporary life of Hellas, and involved it in a common condemnation as either hopelessly corrupt, or containing within itself the seeds of corruption. We then saw how, by a farther generalisation, he was led to look for the sources of error in the laws of mans sensuous nature and of the phenomenal world with which it holds communion; how, moreover, under the guidance of suggestions coming both from within and from without, he reverted to the earlier schools of Greek thought, and brought their results into parallelism with the main lines of Socratic dialectic. And finally, we watched him planting a firm foothold on the basis of mathematical demonstration; seeking in the very constitution of the soul itself for a derivation of the truths which sensuous experience could not impart, and winning back from215 a more profoundly reasoned religion the hope, the self-confidence, the assurance of perfect knowledge, which had been formerly surrendered in deference to the demands of a merely external and traditional faith. That God alone is wise, and by consequence alone good, might still remain a fixed principle with Plato; but it ceased to operate as a restraint on human aspiration when he had come to recognise an essential unity among all forms of conscious life, which, though it might be clouded and forgotten, could never be entirely effaced. And when Plato tells us, at the close of his career, that God, far more than any individual man, is the measure of all things,133 who can doubt that he had already learned to identify the human and divine essences in the common notion of a universal soul?
THREE:"Great German defeat at Libramontnine thousand prisoners taken."For disadvantages there is, on the other hand, a want of uniformity in fittings that prevents their interchange from one part of a line shaft to the othera matter of great importance, as such exchanges are frequently required. A line shaft, when constructed with pieces of varying diameter, is special machinery, adapted to some particular place or duty, and not a standard product that can be regularly manufactured as a staple article by machinists, and thus afforded at a low price. Pulleys, wheels, bearings, and couplings have all to be specially prepared; and in case of a change, or the extension of lines of shafting, cause annoyance, and frequently no little expense, which may all be avoided by having shafts of uniform diameter. The bearings, besides being of varied strength and proportions, are generally in such cases placed at irregular intervals, and the lengths of the different sections of the shaft are sometimes varied to suit their diameter. With line shafts of uniform diameter, everything pertaining to the shaftsuch as hangers, couplings, pulleys, and bearingsis interchangeable; the pulleys, wheels, bearings, or hangers can be placed at pleasure, or changed from one part of the shaft to another, or from [47] one part of the works to another, as occasion may require. The first cost of a line of shafting of uniform diameter, strong enough for a particular duty, is generally less than that of a shaft consisting of sections varying in size. This may at first seem strange, but a computation of the number of supports required, with the expense of special fitting, will in nearly all cases show a saving.
