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PHLOEM

1472

PHOCION

been called the mother of the sciences, as it was only by slow degrees that the separate sciences came into life, each developed and formulated by men imbued with the philosophical spirit, which is the "love of wisdom." As the number of special sciences increased, philosophy could no longer in a strict sense "take all knowledge to be her province"; but her claim to be the only science of the universe as a whole was not thereby given up, but rather emphasized. Unity and harmony in one conception of the universe are the aim which philosophy always has in view. Whether this ideal can ever be reached by man is another question; but the conception of a complete system of things satisfactory to the season %and the moral sense must ever be the spring "and inspiration of philosophical effort. The philosopher, therefore, always has his eye upon the whole, and his function is to study the relation of all the parts to the whole and to one another. No one thing can be fully undertood except in the light of its relation to other things, and therefore the philosopher seeks to penetrate the reason and essence of things and to know the why and the ivherefore of all the phenomena of nature. The history of philosophy is an important part of philosophical study. Indeed, philosophy cannot be studied with profit apart from its history.

Thales of Miletus is generally reckoned the first Hellenic philosopher, and the history of philosophy is generally said to commence at his time. It is usual to divide the history of philosophy into three distinct periods: Ancient or Greek philosophy, from B. C. 600 to about 500 A. D.; medieval philosophy, from 500 to 1600; and modern philosophy, from 1600 to the present era. Ancient philosophy is subdivided into three periods: The pre-socratic philosophers — Pythagoras, Parmenides, Anaxagoras and others — who devoted their attention mainly to the phenomena of external things; Socrates and the sophists who turned man's attention upon himself; and the idealistic systems of Plato and Aristotle. The Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics and, later, the Neo-Platonists and other schools make up the history of philosophy until the downfall of the Roman Empire and the death of Boe'tius. Medieval philosophy is mainly an effort to apply the logic of Aristotle to the doctrines of the church and to harmonize his philosophy with Christian ' theology. Bacon and Descartes, in the beginning of the 17th century, may be considered the founders of modern philosophy, to give an adequate history of which requires volumes. See English translations of histories by Erdmann, Ueberweg and Schwegler.

Phloem (fto'em), (in plants). A woody strand is known as a vascular bundle, because it contains different forms of the cells known as vessels. Each individual vascular

bundle consists of two elements, the wood and the bast. The bast elements of a vascular bundle taken together are called the phloem in contrast with the wood elements, called the xylem. In an ordinary tree it is the xylem tissue which accumulates as the permanent wood, while the phloem tissue forms the fibrous lining of the bark. In the stems of monocotyledons, as the cornstalk, the vascular bundles are scattered and no bark is formed, but each bundle is composed of phloem on its outer side and xylem on its inner side. In the vascular bundles of the stems of most ferns the phloem completely surrounds the xylem; while in all roots the phloem and xylem occur in alternate strands about the center. The phloem is concerned in the transfer of foods

Phlox (floks), a genus of the Polemonium family containing about 30 species, which are natives of North America and northern Asia, nearly all of the species being found in North America. They are mostly hardy herbs with usually showy red, violet or white flowers. The perennial species are among the most popular of garden plants. P e r h a ps one of the best phloxes of cultivation is P. drum-mondii, occurring throughout Texas and cultivated everywhere. P.sub-ulata and its varieties are the best known of the dwarf creeping kinds, and are frequently called ground or moss pinks. P. maculata% the wild sweet-william probably is the best known and widely distributed of the wild forms.

Phocion (fd'sht-un), an Athenian general, was born about the end of the 5th century B. C. Although of humble origin, he studied under Plato and perhaps under Diogenes. In 341 B. C. Phocion was successful in overcoming the Macedonian party in Euboea and in restoring the ascendency of Athens. Next year, being sent to the relief of Byzantium, he forced Philip to abandon the siege of that city and to evacuate the Chersonesus. A little later, however, he placed himself in opposition to Demosthenes and others who advocated resistance to Philip's demands. After the assassination of Philip in 336 B. C. we find him striving to repress the desire for war among the Athenians, on account of which many regarded him as a traitor*

PHLOX