MONAD

(Gr. povai, a unit.) In Metaphysics, this word has been used by Leibnitz and his followers, partisans of what has been called the Monadic Theory. " After studying." says Stewart, "with all po ible diligence what Leibnitz has said of his monads in different parts of his works, I find myself quite incompetent to annex any precise idea to the word as he employed it." He then quotes the follow ing as " some of his most intelligible attempts to explain his meaning f " A simple substance has no parts: a compound substance is an aggregate of simple substances, or of monads.""Monads, having no parts, are neither extended, figured, nor divisible. They are the real atoms of nature; in other words, the elements of tilings." " Every monad is a living mirror, representing the universe, according to its particular point of view, and subject to no regular laws, as the universe itself." " Every monad with a particular body makes a living substance." (,Enc. Ilrit., Preliminary Di ertation,note c. c.) The groundwork of the monadic theory is to be found in the different philosophical systems of Zeno, Leu cippus, Demo crit us, and Epicurus: but Leibnitz was the first who reduced it to a system, and its chief supporters since his death have been M. Wolf and Madame Duchatelet. [s. 779]