ARISTOTLE 



of its foods. The Swa/A€ij are referred to by Aristotle at 

 the beginning of P.A. II (see § 23, note), where he speaks 



Harth, Air, of " the ' elements ' as they are called, viz.. Earth, Air, 



^^resoivaWe ^^'ater, Fire, or perhaps it 'is better to say the Swa/tei?— 



into "ot all the Swdfieis, of course, but these four, vypov, 



dyiMineis. ^''jpov, 0€pfj,6v, i^upf/wv." The explanation of this is that 



although Aristotle held that in a sense Earth, Air, 

 Water, and Fire were " elements," i.e., that they were 

 the simplest states of matter actually found in the world 

 as we know it, yet theoretically each of them could be 

 resolved into a pair of bwdfieis : thus Fire is Oepixov and 

 ^■qpov. Air Oepfiov and vypov. Water tfwxpov and vypov. 

 Earth i^vxpov and $r]pov (G. 4- C. 330 a 30 if.), each of 

 them l)eing characterized by one constituent ])ar excel- 

 lence. Fire by depftov. Air by vypov, \A'ater by ijwxpov. 

 Earth by ir/pov. According to Aristotle, all other 

 physical " differences " are consequent upon these four 

 fundamental ones. 

 Origin of (25) The meaning implied in this use of Swafus seems to have 



this usage. been " substance of a specific character '" (perhaps the 



adjective " strong " should be prefixed : this would of 

 course be very appropriate to Swifieis such as -o Spi/xv, 

 TO iTiKpov, etc.). But originally, no doubt, the term 

 was an item in the Pythagorean political metaphor 

 terminology, as would appear for instance from the 

 theory held by Alcmeon " that bodily health was main- 

 tained by the laovofiia tu>v Swdfxecov, and that the 

 " monarchy " of any one of them produced disease. It 

 is important to notice that there is no notion here of the 

 substance having power in the sense of power to produce 

 a specific effect * upon a body, though this was a meaning 



" See Aetius v. 30. 1 (Dials, Doxographi Graeci 442). 



>> e.g., causing stomach-ache. In Plato's Timaeus we find this ex- 

 tended meaning of Jura/m? {i.e., power to produce a specific effect) side 

 by side with the old meaning of specific substance ; and it is frequent* 

 in ir. 6iaiVj)s. Clearly, this marlis a change over from the medical 

 theory originally associated with the political metaphor terminology ; 

 and we find that, as Svfofii? takes on the meaning of " power to produce 

 a specific effect," the term " humour " comes in to denote the specific 

 substances to which iivvatm was originally appUed. Thus Diodes 

 {apud Galen vi. 455) can argue against doctors who hold that aU things 

 which possess similar " humours " also possess the same iui-ofici? (powers 

 of producing specific effects on the body), e.g., are laxative, diuretic, etc. 

 There is no space to say more here on this development, wliich I dealt 

 with fully in my thesis Pseudo- Hippocrates PhUosophm (1928). Studies 



1 ' 



