136 Natural-Historical Collections. 



modified its principles, and introduced them at Athens, about the year 500 be- 

 fore Christ. 



The second school is that of Pythagoras, who was born in 584, and flourished 

 about the year 550 before our era. He had also received his doctrine from the 

 Eg)T)tian priests, and differed less from them than Thales had done. He even 

 attempted to establish their constitution ; for, having gone from Samas to Cro- 

 tone, he there founded secret societies which soon caused disturbances, in which 

 most of his partisans were massacred. 



The third or the Elean school derived its name from a small city of Lucania, 

 in which it was first established. It had for its founder Zenophanes, who was 

 bom at Colophon in Asia Minor, but who afterwards passed over into Italy. 

 This philosopher does not appear to have borrowed any thing from the Egyptians. 

 His doctrine bears a greater resemblance to that of the Indians, it being that of 

 unity or pure idealism. 



The fourth school, or the Atomistic, founded by Leucippus, adopted a system 

 entirely the reverse of that of the Eleans. It chose pure materialism, and saw 

 nothing in the universe but matter and motion. 



Along with these four purely speculative sects lived the family of the Ascle- 

 piada;, who cultivated the sciences solely with a practical object. They attached 

 themselves especially to facts, and their method at a subsequent period served as a 

 model, and greatly contributed to the advancement of the positive sciences. 



Lecture V.i— Schools of Philosophy before Socrates We have 



seen that there were formed in Greece, or rather in the Grecian colonies, foni 

 great philosophical sects or schools, which, in consequence of political events, 

 became concentrated at Athens. A useful rivalship took place among them, 

 and their labours in the hands of Socrates gave rise to a new school, which, by 

 the judicious method adopted by it, opened up a path for the sciences in which 

 they could no longer be seen to retrograde. But before speaking of this remark- 

 able epoch, we must revert to the four original schools, which as yet we have only 

 mentioned. 



Ionian Sect. The Ionian Sect, the oldest of all, is that whose dogmas have 

 most reference to the natural sciences. Its philosophy was at first almost entirely 

 material ; which proves that, at the time when Thales went to study in Egypt, 

 the priests of that country had already in a great measure lost the remembrance 

 of the metaphysical doctrines which were anciently preserved in their colleges. 

 The experimental method not being then known, the philosophers of the Ionian 

 school bent their efforts towards the discovery of a principle, that is, something 

 which existed before all. Thales thought he had discovered it in water. This 

 idea he had no doubt borrowed from the Egyptians, but he modified it in his 

 own manner. With him water was the first matter of which the world was 

 formed. But this water might exist in different states of density, and in each of 

 these states it formed a secondary principle, or element. These elements, com- 

 bining in different proportions, gave rise to all bodies in existence. Thales gave 

 a soul to the world, to animals and to plants ; but by the word soul he meant 

 nothing more than an internal cause of motion. 



Anaximander considered water only as the second principle, the first, according 

 to his system, being infinity. It is not easy at the present day to form a precise 

 idea of what he meant by this word. It is not likely that he meant by it that 

 limitless space existed before matter, as all the ancient philosophers considered 

 matter to be eternal. Be this as it may, Anaximander, having placed his se- 

 cond principle in water, maintained that men were at first fishes, and that they 

 arrived at their ultimate state only through a series of transformations. This 

 singular idea has been several times brought forward since, and even in our own 

 day. 



Anaximenes, a disciple, as is believed, of Anximander, placed his principle in 

 air, which, at different degrees of condensation, and by means of various combi- 

 nations, gave rise to all objects and even to the gods. 



