446 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 
who held that "the man who readily contradicts, and uses 
many words, is unfit to learn anything truly right.'' He 
is said to have discovered and educated Protagoras the 
Sophist, being struck as much by the manner in which 
he, being a hewer of wood, tied np his faggots, as by the 
sagacity of his conversation. Democritus returned poor 
from his travels, was supported by his brother, and at 
length wrote his great work entitled " Diakpsmos/' which 
he read publicly before the people of his native town. He 
was honored by his countrymen in various ways, and died 
serenely at a great age. 
' The principles enunciated by Democritus reveal his 
uncompromising antagonism to those who deduced the 
phenomena of nature from the caprices of the gods. They 
are briefly these: 1. From nothing comes nothing. Noth- 
ing that exists can be destroyed. All changes are due to 
the combination and separation of molecules. 2. Nothing 
\ happens by chance; every occurrence has its cause, from 
which it follows by necessity. 3. The only existing things 
\ are the atoms and empty space; all else is mere opinion. 
Y 4. The atoms are infinite in number and infinitely various 
in form; they strike together, and the lateral motions and 
i whirlings which thus arise are the beginnings of worlds. 
I 5. The varieties of all things depend upon the varieties of 
I their atoms, in number, size and aggregation. 6. The soul 
' consists of fine, smooth, round atoms, like those of fire. 
These are the most mobile of all: they interpenetrate the 
whole body, and in their motions the phenomena of life 
arise. 
The first five propositions are a fair general statement 
of the atomic philosophy, as now held. As regards the 
sixth, Democritus made his finer atoms do duty for the 
nervous system, whose functions were then unknown. The 
atoms of Democritus are individually without sensation; 
they combine in obedience to mechanical laws; and not 
only organic forms, but the phenomena of sensation and 
thought, are the result of their combination. 
That great enigma, " the exquisite adaptation of one 
part of an organism to another part, and to the conditions 
of life/' more especially the construction of the human 
body, Democritus made no attempt to solve. Empedocles, 
a man of more fiery and poetic nature, introduced the 
notion of love and hate among the atoms, to account for 
^j, . .. - . i fa~#~' 
