HISTORY OF THE ATOMIC THEORY. 99 



force and substance, as distinct ; that in fact the early mind 

 looks on matter in an abstract sense as a thing made of qualities; 

 which qualities may change indefinitely, and all things easily 

 be transformable. The elements in this philosophy are not 

 elements of science, but the common elements of every day 

 life ; in other words those aggregate objects with which nature 

 has made the world, without reference to their mechanical or 

 chemical disunion. In reading the ancient authors, one is 

 disposed to think that this was the general sense in nearly 

 every system, and that a strict meaning was not attained by 

 any one of them, except the atomists. In vain do we quote 

 their opinions, another quotation comes with a meaning in 

 exact contradiction, and the vague and indefinite is the only 

 final result. It is not to be wondered at that this should occur 

 with the Alexandrian school, which neglected the body, 

 despised the world, and sought truth only in that state of 

 mind called ecstasy, which, however exalted it may be, is 

 very naturally shunned by us as a dangerous forerunner of 

 the loss of reason, or as a state of hallucination. With them, 

 there are four elements, it is true, but these are like the 

 elements of Plato and others, they are convertible, and there 

 is an abstract matter from which all things are made by the 

 putting on of various properties. It is the origin of all things 

 that exist, and has the power of becoming everything, but it 

 exists only as a power. This leads into metaphysics, which 

 I avoid; for us, it is enough that they looked on the four 

 elements as transformable, which have, therefore, not the 

 character of elements. What are they, then? They are 

 nothing real, the qualities are changeable, but there are no 

 data given for finding whence these qualities come, and so we 

 are led into a region of mere dreams, and nature is a power 

 playing upon us every imaginable illusion by means of its 

 forces; "all which forces have their origin in owe, because 

 unity is the basis of all things." Here, then, being no begin- 



