On  his  exploring  tour  for  the  improvement  of  the  in-
tellect, Spinoza  picks  up  a  remark  which  seems  to  me
worthy  of  closer  attention.  He  says  in  so  many  words :
I  f  we  are  looking  for  a  way  to  improve  the  intellect,  is  it
not  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  finding  such  a  way  to
first  improve  the  intellect,  in  order  to  be  at  all  able  to
discern  the  way  which  leads  to  an  improvement  of  the
intellect,  and  so  on  without  end?  "We  must  have  a
hammer  to  forge  the  iron,  and  in  order  to  have  a  ham-
mer, it  must  be  made;  but  for  this  purpose  we  need
another  hammer  and  other  instruments,  and  so  forth
without  end.  In  this  way  it  must  not  be  proven  that
men  have  no  power  to  forge  iron.  Men  have  rather  ac-
complished  only  the  easiest  tasks  with  difficulty  and  im-
perfectly by  the  help  of  the  natural  tools  of  their  bodies.
