PLANTS, AND INANIMATE MATTER. 



89 



shows.* Aristotle, however, preferred to carry his analysis 

 still further. He considered these so-called elements to be 

 compounded of the forces (Si/ra/*^) to which he gave the 

 names Hot, Cold, Wet, and Dry. I The Hot and Cold 

 were considered to be active, and the Wet and Dry pas 

 sive. I The way in which these forces were combined to 

 form the elements is usually represented graphically in the 



Earth 



Cold 



Water 



way shown in Fig. 5. The combinations shown are the 

 only ones, because heat and cold, wetness and dryness, are 

 contraries which cannot exist together. This conception of 

 the composition of bodies out of the forces, rather than 

 out of the so-called elements, agrees better with Aristotle s 

 statement, in De Coelo, ii. c. 3, that the elements act on each 

 other and, as a result, destroy each other. 



* Metaphys. i. c. 4, 9S5a ; De Gener. ct Corr., ii. c. 1, 329a. 

 f P. A. ii. c. 1, 64Ga ; De Gener. ei Corr., ii. cc. 2-5. 

 | Meteorol. iv. c. 1, s. 1. 



