ABSTRACT
The importance of a proper understanding of the mathematics in Aristotle lies principally in the fact that most of his illustrations of scientific method are taken from mathematics. The idea that a ship is lower in the water when it is in harbour than when it is in the open sea, and the reason given for this apparent difference, are odd. Archimedes proves in his treatise 'On Floating Bodies' that 'Any solid lighter than a fluid will, if placed in the fluid, be so far immersed that the weight of the solid will be equal to the weight of the fluid displaced'. In certain harbours where a freshwater river contributes to the water inside the harbour to a certain extent, the difference in specific gravity may have caused a certain difference in the extent to which the ship emerges from the water.
