140 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



habitat, must rapidly disappear. Thus, more than 

 2,000 years ago, the doctrine of the * survival of the j 

 fittest,' which in our day, not on the basis of vague I 

 conjecture, but of positive knowledge, has been raised j 

 to such extraordinary significance, had received at all 

 events partial enunciation. l 



Epicurus, 2 said to be the son of a poor schoolmaster 

 at Samos, is the next dominant figure in the history of 

 the atomic philosophy. He mastered the writings of 

 Democritus, heard lectures in Athens, went back to 

 Samos, and subsequently wandered through various 

 countries. He finally returned to Athens, where he 

 bought a garden, and surrounded himself by pupils, in 

 the midst of whom he lived a pure and serene life, 

 and died a peaceful death. Democritus looked to the 

 BOU! as the ennobling part of man , even beauty, with- 

 out understanding, partook of animalism. Epicurus 

 also rated the spirit above the body ; the pleasure of 

 the body being that of the moment, while the spirit 

 could draw upon the future and the past. His philo- 

 sophy was almost identical with that of Democritus ; 

 but he never quoted either friend or foe. One main 

 object of Epicurus was to free the world from supersti- 

 tion and the fear of death. Death he treated with 

 indifference. It merely robs us of sensation. As long 

 as we are, death is not ; and when death is, we are not. 

 Life has no more evil for him who has made up his 

 mind that it is no evil not to live. He adored the 

 gods, but not in the ordinary fashion. The idea of 

 Divine power, properly purified, he thought an elevating 

 one. Still he taught, * Not he is godless who rejects 

 the gods of the crowd, but rather he who accepts them.' 

 The gods were to him eternal and immortal beings, 

 whose blessedness excluded every thought of care or 



1 See Lange,' 2nd edit., p. 23. Born 342 B.C 



