63 OF THE ORIGIN OF CHEMISTRY. 



Sonic, however, arc of opinion, that he confi- 

 dercd it as the univerfal vehicle only * 



Anaximenes the Milelian, the third teacher 

 of that fchool, about 100 years afterwards, con-, 

 tended that air was the firil general principle; 

 Hcraclitus was for (ire -j- and Heliodus for 

 earth. 



Pytliagonw of Sumo*, about the middle of 

 the ilxtli century before Chrill, travelled into 

 Kgypt, Arabia, Jud;ea, and Italy, and taught in 

 the mod abitrufc manner, for feventy years at 

 Cremona. He was the founder of the Italian 

 fchool, and Hill fhines, by the fplendour of hL 

 knowledge, like a fun in the hcmifphere of 

 fcience and learning. From the telllmony of 

 Plutarch, we leain, that he propofed to himfelf 

 a pcrfccl fyitem of the world. Being initiated 

 in the fueled rites of the Egyptians and Chal- 

 deans, he fct a great value en mathematics ; and, 

 perhaps, his partiality for this fcience led him 

 too fir, when he condtnlvd tint not i>uly tlii;. 

 '.voiUt wai made by number, wci/.ht, and nva- 

 ture, but that there was a iingular p<nvr in 

 numbers and figures. According to hi* ienti- 

 jnents, tiro was of a pyramidal form, air was oc- 

 tahedral, wuter was icofahcdral, earth cubical, 

 imd the globe itfelf dodecahcdral J. Hence pro- 

 ceed 



* J. M. Vcrdrlc- phyf. p. 283. 



f Piutarcliuv dc plac. philolupli. viJ. OU.Tiiu* Jc prlnclpio 

 vtruji\ Jiatura.* ex mcbtc PJcracli'.u 



