286 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



the Angelic Doctor regarding creation, we have, 

 according to St. Thomas, the creative act termi- 

 nating in elementary matter and spiritual sub- 

 stance. 



But here we must clearly distinguish between 

 elementary matter, properly so called the elements 

 of which St. Thomas speaks and primal matter, 

 materia prima, which was given such prominence 

 in the philosophical works of the Schoolmen. Ac- 

 cording to Aristotle, who follows Empedocles, there 

 are four primitive elements, earth, air, fire and 

 water; and from these, by suitable combinations, all 

 other material substances are derived. The Scho- 

 lastics, in accepting the philosophy of the Stagirite, 

 naturally adopted his theory of the four elements. 

 Chemistry, however, has long since exploded this 

 theory, as spectrum analysis has disproved the me- 

 diaeval view regarding the composition of the heav- 

 enly bodies. But whether there are four elements, 

 as the Schoolmen imagined, or some sixty odd, as 

 modern chemists maintain, or but one only, as some 

 of the old Greek philosophers believed, and as cer- 

 tain men of science still contend, it is quite immaterial 

 so far as our present argument is concerned. What 

 is necessary to bear in mind is, that the elementary 

 matter of which the universe is composed, whether 

 it be of one or of many kinds, was, in the beginning, 

 created by God from nothing. For it is manifest 

 that it was not the intention of the Angel of the 

 Schools, to commit his followers to any mere phys- 

 ical theory respecting the number and nature of 

 the elements, especially when the ideas entertained 



