ANCIENT SCIENCf. / n 

 ^ / /.* . 



7? 



in one direction rather than another, for ' everything was Vm/6rmly 

 disposed around. Anaximander thought that 4bfe- pun was a ball' of 

 fire, and that its actual size was less thap. that of the : earfh^ . 



ANAXIMANES (B.C. 557 504), who in his/turn was succe"ssor> ^cx 

 Anaximander in the school of Ionian philosophersj Had/hist own solu- 

 tion of the problem regarding the origin of things. He $afd,["^// 

 comes from air, and into air returns." Even water, which to Thales'had 

 appeared the primordial substance, was regarded by Anaximanes as 

 originating in air, since it is in air that the clouds are formed, and these 

 are the source of the rain which feeds the springs and rivers that supply 

 the ocean itself. Anaximanes held that the air was a life-giving prin- 

 ciple, and that even the soul of man was in some way derived from it. 

 It is curious that these words may be interpreted as expressing the 

 modern discovery of the invariable dependence of all animals upon the 

 oxygen of the atmosphere ; but it is certain that the old Greek could 

 not have been possessed of a knowledge of such facts as are now so 

 familiar to us. Yet it is hardly possible that this doctrine could have 

 been a mere conjecture. Is it not more likely that some well-founded 

 observation suggested the theory, which was at once carried to that 

 extreme degree of generalization which we shall find to have been a 

 special feature of scientific thought among the Greeks ? Anaximanes . 

 supposed that the air extended to an infinite distance from the earth ; 

 and this idea was entertained for centuries after his time. It was a 

 very natural one, for there is no limit to the atmosphere visible to the 

 senses. 



At first sight the doctrine of Anaximanes, which declares that all 

 things come from air, and return to air again, appears a very extrava- 

 gant assumption. But observe the words in which an eminent chemist 

 of the present century sums up the facts of his science as relating to 

 organized beings. " Plants and animals are derived from the atmo- 

 sphere, and are but condensed air. They come from the air, and they 

 return to it." (Dumas.) These are almost the very words of the ancient 

 philosopher ! Has modern science, then, only come to confirm a truth 

 guessed at four and twenty centuries ago ? It is not possible that the 

 ancient philosopher could have used the words with the full import 

 which the modern chemist attached to them. The latter sums up in 

 his statement the results of hundreds of refined experiments, which 

 had been expressly contrived to elicit the truths of nature; but to the 

 former such experimental demonstrations were quite unknown. We 

 may well suppose, however, that the old Greek observed some facts 

 which first suggested his theory, and this having been confirmed by a 

 few further observations, he generalized it by applying it to all objects 

 whatever. 



Like the other Ionian philosophers, Anaximanes appears to have 

 occupied himself with certain astronomical problems ; but it is now 

 impossible to determine the discoveries made in this department of 



