THE FABRIC OF MATTER 7 



Thales, said that the material cause and first element 

 of things was the Infinite, he being the first to 

 introduce this name for the material cause. He 

 says it is neither water nor any other of what are 

 now called the elements, but a substance different 

 from them, which is infinite, from which arise all 

 the heavens and the world within them." This is 

 an interesting anticipation of the modern theory 

 of an " Urstoff " or primordial element. 



Diogenes of Apollonia (not the Cynic) and 

 Anaximenes of Miletus considered air the origin 

 of all things — a doctrine that influenced physiology 

 down even till the time of Harvey. Theophrastus 

 gives Diogenes' theory as follows : " He, too, says 

 that the primordial substance of the Universe is 

 Air, infinite and eternal, from which, by rarefaction, 

 condensation, and change of state, everything else 

 arises." 



Heraclitus, again, found mfire^ and Pythagoras 

 in number^ the source of all things ; while 

 Empedocles propounded the view that all things 

 were made of fire^ air^ earthy and water — a view 

 that persisted till comparatively recent times. 



These views may seem very foolish now, but 

 they are not so foolish as they seem, and they were 

 often based on very subtle, sound, and suggestive 

 philosophical reasoning. That number could, be the 

 source of the world may seem absurd ; but in this 



