AMONG THE GREEKS 51 



oped his cosmogony, and also derived men from 

 the primitive earth shme directly engendered by 

 the sun's heat. 



The Physicists (535-428 b. c.) 



The Physicists — Heraclitus, Empedocles, De- 

 mocritus, and Anaxagoras — were far bolder and 

 more fruitful in their physiological and biologi- 

 cal suggestions. Among them we find that the 

 vague notions of animal metamorphosis and the 

 notions of abiogenesis derived from the lonians 

 were developed into surprising anticipations of 

 the true evolution idea. 



Heraclitus (535-475 b. c.) 



Heraclitus of Ephesus gave the impetus to 

 this advance. He was so profoundly impressed 

 with the ceaseless revolutions in the universe that 

 he saw in movement the universal law. Every- 

 thing was perpetually transposed into new 

 shapes. It must not be supposed for a moment 

 that Heraclitus had even a remote notion of the 

 transformation process of life. He was rather a 

 metaphysician than a natural philosopher; and 

 his principal contribution to the evolution idea 

 was manifestly in his broad view of Xature, as 

 involved in perpetual changes, yet always con- 

 stituting a uniform whole. 



