Kitap 1
12
Now, speaking generally, there have arisen the following two sects in medicine and philosophy among those who have made any definite pronouncement regarding Nature. I speak, of course, of such of them as know what they are talking about, and who realize the logical sequence of their hypotheses, and stand by them; as for those who cannot understand even this, but who simply talk any nonsense that comes to their tongues, and who do not remain definitely attached either to one sect or the other — such people are not even worth mentioning.
12
What, then, are these sects, and what are the logical consequences of their hypotheses?Here follows a contrast between the Vitalists and the Epicurean Atomists. cf. p. 153 et seq. The one class supposes that all substance which is subject to genesis and destruction is at once continuous A unity or continuum, an individuum. and susceptible of alteration. The other school assumes substance to be unchangeable, unalterable, and subdivided into fine particles, which are separated from one another by empty spaces.
