?o OF THE ORIGIN OF CHEMISTRY. 



manner of philofophizing was followed by Epi, 

 curus the Athenian, at the beginning of the 

 fourth age, who, from the various modifications 

 of light upon the furfaces of bodies, firfl taught 

 the origin of colours *, 



Towards the ejid of the 4th century before 

 Chritt, Plato imagined every thing to depend 

 upon three principles, God, Matter, and Idea. 

 According to this hypothefis, Matter was infi- 

 nite and eternal, and deprived of all qualities, and 

 bodies were created from it by fome fccrct mov- 

 ing power. Cod was a pure fpirit not to be ap- 

 prehended but by the mind only; and Idea was 

 the eternal model according to which God 

 had made the world. He conceived matter 

 to have had in the beginning a triangular form, 

 from which the fcvcral elements were produced. 

 In the order of creation, heallirnsthc firil place 

 to fire and earth, as without them nothing can 

 have exillcncc ; next he places air and water, 

 which he contends may be mutually converted 

 into each other: To thefe he attributes particu- 

 lar {'acuities, as heat, drynefs, cold, amlnioiflure. 

 lie defcribes fermentation to be the motion and 

 evolution of earthy matter by the air that is 

 contained within it f . 



Ariftotle, the difciple of Plato, although he 

 infomemcafureforfook the doctrine of hi: matter; 



yet 



* Lucretius dc natura rcrar.i. 



f JnTiwjro. * 



