HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF MYTH AND SCIENCE. 213 



being, and that everything was derived from a 

 primitive condition of germs. The same opinion 

 was held by Hippo, by Diogenes of Apollonia, by 

 Heraclitus, and by Anaxagoras. Aristotle states 

 that the theory- of development by germs was ex- 

 tremely ancient in his time. The other philosophers 

 of the Ionic and successive schools mingled these 

 fanciful ideas with the systematic arrangement of their 

 theories as to the origin and constitution of the world, 

 so that it is unnecessary to refer to them, since the 

 method and conceptions are identical. 



It is evident from this sketch that while thought 

 gradually evolved a more rational system of general 

 knowledge, the earlier idols and primitive mythical 

 interpretations were not abandoned, although they 

 assumed a larger and more scientific form. Thales 

 and others assigned a mechanical origin to things, 

 such as water, fire, or the like, which was contrary 

 to anthropomorphic ideas ; yet they still regarded the 

 world as a living being, developed and perfected by 

 the same laws and functions as all plants and 

 animals, and they peopled it with genii and demons, 

 thus handing on the earliest and rudest traditions 

 of the race. 



While the scientific faculty was gathering strength 

 and leading the way to a more rational considera- 

 tion of the world and natural phenomena, really ad- 

 vancing beyond the earlier ideas which had been 

 almost wholly mythical, myth was still the matrix of 



