Aphorism is a term used to denote either an unconnected maxim, or a short pointed sentence, comprising much in a few words. It is at present chiefly used in medicine, and law : thus we say, the Aphorisms of Boer-haave, Hippocrates, of the Civil Law, etc.

It would be highly conducive to the progress of learning, if ail el -mentary works, which treat of any particular art or science, Were written in an aphoristic form, so that every detached fact, or assertion, might be reduced to a distinct proposition.