DEMOCRITUS, 
poficfled the faculty of predi@ing future events ; and thus 
deluded they ee him by the appellation of « Wilf. 
dom,” rezarded him asa being more than mortal, and en- 
trufted | nim with the di nee of their public affairs. Pre. 
ferring, beac r, a contemplative and ftudious to a political 
Be bd 
abulous, it j is needlef{s to rec ite 
1e fe may, Sto nee deduce ue a from 
them, that Democritus was a man of fublime genius and 
penetrating judgment ; - by much eta and fludy, 
ong experience, me an eminent mafter of f{pecula- 
tive aud phyfical oa. ; and, like Roger Bacon at a later 
period, he aftonith ots nd impofed upon his ignorant and 
credu'ous countrym 
n character for that h and elevation of mind, 
w ie his ieee refearches required. 
probable, however, that a man, fo fuperio 
‘ . ellow- oe he 
obtained the appellation of yeAassvos, or the * Deri n 
i nd pera a his 
fobriety was recompenfed by continued health and vigour 
in very va age. He is faid to have lived to the year 
B.C. 361, ra to have died in his ggth year by mere de- 
His death was much lamented by his countrymen, 
and the iia “of ee cone was deirayed out of the pub- 
- treafury. He much, but none of pa es rks are 
xtant. Diogenes eee has given a long c 
werks on natural and moral eed. a “ae 
poles SS 
a derived from the fenfes, 
d by the exercife of thought 
ngs. "This ned mode of acquirmg 
one confefled to very ifficult ; and, 
o fay, that aes lay in eep well, 
from which it is the flee of icafon to draw ¥ on- 
cerning p!yfics, it was the doétrine of this pilofopher, os 
nothing can ever be produced from that which has 
iftence, and that any thing which exifts can neve -¥ € anni- 
hilated. Whatever exilis muft me quently owe its being 
to neceflary ave ae any el age of Siac = cone 
ceived there iz. ato » both 
being neither corporeal nor incorporeal. Atoms have the 
property of figure, magnitude, motion, an ight, being 
eavy in i hgu 
g in inf- 
nite vacuum or fpace, in a me rpetually apn 3 
from a right line; and cs collifians are produced, 
occafion innumerable combinations of particles, Gan whic 
arifes the various form of things that exift. Thefe primary 
-corpufcles are moved and united by that natural neceflity, 
which is the only fate that creates acd governs the world. 
T of nature is one, confifting of parts, differing in 
tien figure, order, and fituation. The production of an ore 
6 
as 
ganized = is occafioned oy the ieee arrangement of 
atoms. adap heir nature to form that body ; if it be 
rie : atoa Foon oe, 3 if it be aad deftroy ved, 
diffolut The qualities of bodies are not effential to their 
nature, “but the cafual effect of arrangement ; and this oce 
cafions the different impreflions shee they mzke upon the 
fenfes, 
and deftruction. The wor 
all things are moved by t 
un ce moon are apis light 
abou ommon centre. The heaven! are arranged 
iv the Following pees firft, the fixed Ble ee the planets, 
then the fun, then the moon: all move from eait to welt, 
and thofe which are neareft revolve ates the leaft velocity 5 
fo that the fun, the inferior planets, andthe moon, move 
more flowly than the rett. 
A comet is a combination of planets, via approaching 
near each other, appear as one body. The earth at firlt 
was fo {mail and light, as to wander boa: in the regions of 
{pace ; but at at length ee. an aenity it became im- 
je. The fea is continually decreafing, shined ft 
oF ome 
an con 
feioufnefs. The foul, or principle of see life and motion, 
is the refult oe a combination of round or fiery particles, 
wo parts, one leated i in ie. vidal which is 
but human bodies, t » willrevive. Differs 
ent animal bein gs afte vifferent’ ents Perception is pro 
duced by ’& Hs images, which flow from bodies according 
oe Aaa re{peCtive figures, and firike upon the organ of 
iy 
Bae fundamental difference between the dectrine of De- 
mocritus, and th 
t I 
pays no regard to an external efficient caufe, but ablurdly 
fuppofes, that the — neceffity, which gives motion to 
atoms, 13 a/one fufficient ccount for the phenomena of 
nature. Males he is falc to ie taught concerning nature, 
» he merely afferted, that the Gre. which 
refuited fro ce a n of certain fubtle atoms, an 
hich has been called the foul of the world, is a mechanical 
agen c by its rapid moti 
n the changes 
lace in the univerfe. Plutarch fays, that De- 
mecritus confidered the {un and moon as ignited plates of 
e; but this is not confiftent with his general fyftem, and 
vith his knowledge of nature. The belief of the materiality 
of the foul was the natural refult of the atomic fyfiem ; for 
if the foui be a mere sia ar ears of atoms, when thefe are 
difperfed, it muft p to the revivifcence of human 
bodies, 7 can ne be fopp ofed to mean, that the atoms 
compo human foul, would, after their di ifpertion, 
canes 6. in fome diftant period, and recover their 
mer life. The term sdwron, or image, feems to have a. in 
his ufe of it, two different fignification ns: it denoted thole 
thofe divine beings that exi atr, and which he 
called gods. Although Democritus rejected the sotion of 
mith and allowed him no n ; gavern 
, d to coa 
by admitting the popular belief of divinities inhabiting Be 
