ON MATTER AND FORCE. 9 



The earliest Greek ideas of matter and force 

 are given by Pherecides Syrius in the births 

 and marriages of the Gods. He says Zeus was 

 first of all. The second principle was a plastic 

 matter, or earth. Light was the third. Amongst 

 the deities were Uranus, Neptune, Vulcan, and 

 Venus sky, water, fire, and attraction. Em- 

 pedocles first taught the doctrine of the four 

 elements. To him, the force of heat was quite 

 distinct from the three forms of matter, earth, 

 water, and air. 



If, instead of turning to the records of ancient 

 nations, we take the mythology of the natives 

 of Africa, America, or Polynesia, we find every- 

 where that ideas of matter and force are 

 distinctly separated or entirely confused, ac- 

 cording to the action of the different pheno- 

 mena of nature on the senses. In New Zealand, 

 the Maoris held that night was the first god, 

 because they thought night produced the day. 

 Heaven was next; then earth; then their 

 children, the gods of light, the sea, etc. They 

 thought that everything was the organ of a 

 special god, or lather, or demon, who made it, 

 and kept it what it was. Thus they deified 

 meteors, rainbows, sharks, ants, rats, or any 



