A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



plex bodies, passing through the stages of lines, plain 

 figures, and solids to sensible bodies. (2) The doctrine 

 of the four elements fire, water, earth, and air as the 

 basis of all organisms is put forward. (3) The idea, 

 not merely of the sphericity of the earth, but an ex- 

 plicit conception of the antipodes, is expressed. (4) 

 A conception of the sanitary influence of the air is 

 clearly expressed. (5) An idea of the problems of 

 generation and heredity is shown, together with a dis- 

 tinct disavowal of the doctrine of spontaneous gen- 

 eration a doctrine which, it may be added, remained 

 in vogue, nevertheless, for some twenty-four hundred 

 years after the time of Pythagoras. (6) A remarkable 

 analysis of mind is made, and a distinction between 

 animal minds and the human mind is based on this 

 analysis. The physiological doctrine that the heart 

 is the organ of one department of mind is offset by the 

 clear statement that the remaining factors of mind 

 reside in the brain. This early recognition of brain 

 as the organ of mind must not be forgotten in our later 

 studies. It should be recalled, however, that a Cro- 

 tonian physician, Alemaean, a younger contemporary 

 of Pythagoras, is also credited with the same theory. 

 (7) A knowledge of anatomy is at least vaguely fore- 

 shadowed in the assertion that veins, arteries, and 

 nerves are the links of the soul. In this connection it 

 should be recalled that Pythagoras was a practical 

 physician. 



As against these scientific doctrines, however, some 

 of them being at least remarkable guesses at the truth, 

 attention must be called to the concluding paragraph 

 of our quotation, in which the old familiar daemonology 



126 



