as do the primordial elements of Anaxagoras.

The monistic conception towards which twentieth- century
chemistry seems to be carrying us may perhaps show that all the
so-called atoms are compounded of a single element. All the true
atoms making up that element may then properly be said to have
the same quality, but none the less will it remain true that the
combinations of that element that go to make up the different
Daltonian atoms differ from one another in quality in precisely
the same sense in which such tangible substances as gold, and
oxygen, and mercury, and diamonds differ from one another. In the
last analysis of the monistic philosophy, there is but one
substance and one quality in the universe. In the widest view of
that philosophy, gold and oxygen and mercury and diamonds are one
substance, and, if you please, one quality. But such refinements
of analysis as this are for the transcendental philosopher, and
not for the scientist. Whatever the allurement of such reasoning,
we must for the purpose of science let words have a specific
meaning, nor must we let a mere word-jugglery blind us to the
evidence of facts. That was the rock on which Greek science
foundered; it is the rock which the modern helmsman sometimes
finds it difficult to avoid. And if we mistake not, this case of
the atom of Democritus is precisely a case in point. Because
Democritus said that his atoms did not differ in quality, the
modern philosopher has seen in his theory the essentials of
monism; has discovered in it not merely a forecast of the
chemistry of the nineteenth century, but a forecast of the
hypothetical chemistry of the future. And, on the other hand,
because Anaxagoras predicted a different quality for his
primordial elements, the philosopher of our day has discredited
the primordial element of Anaxagoras.

Yet if our analysis does not lead us astray, the theory of
Democritus was not truly monistic; his indestructible atoms,
differing from one another in size and shape, utterly incapable
of being changed from the form which they had maintained from the
beginning, were in reality as truly and primordially different as
are the primordial elements of Anaxagoras. In other words, the
atom of Democritus is nothing less than the primordial seed of
Anaxagoras, a little more tangibly visualized and given a
distinctive name. Anaxagoras explicitly conceived his elements as
invisibly small, as infinite in number, and as made up of an
indefinite number of kinds--one for each distinctive substance in
the world. But precisely the same postulates are made of the atom
of Democritus. These also are invisibly small; these also are
infinite in number; these also are made up of an indefinite
number of kinds, corresponding with the observed difference of
substances in the world. "Primitive seeds," or "atoms," were
alike conceived to be primordial, un- changeable, and
indestructible. Wherein then lies the difference? We answer,
chiefly in a name; almost solely in the fact that Anaxagoras did
not attempt to postulate the physical properties of the elements
beyond stating that each has a distinctive personality, while
Democritus did attempt to postulate these properties. He, too,
admitted that each kind of element has its distinctive
personality, and he attempted to visualize and describe the
characteristics of the personality.

Thus while Anaxagoras tells us nothing of his elements except
that they differ from one another, Democritus postulates a
difference in size, imagines some elements as heavier and some as
lighter, and conceives even that the elements may be provided
with projecting hooks, with the aid of which they link themselves
one with another. No one to-day takes these crude visualizings
seriously as to their details. The sole element of truth which
these dreamings contain, as distinguishing them from the
dreamings of Anaxagoras, is in the conception that the various
atoms differ in size and weight. Here, indeed, is a vague
fore-shadowing of that chemistry of form which began to come into
prominence towards the close of the nineteenth century. To have
forecast even dimly this newest phase of chemical knowledge,
across the abyss of centuries, is indeed a feat to put Democritus
in the front rank of thinkers. But this estimate should not blind
us to the fact that the pre-vision of Democritus was but a slight
elaboration of a theory which had its origin with another
thinker. The association between Anaxagoras and Democritus cannot
be directly traced, but it is an association which the historian
of ideas should never for a moment forget. If we are not to be
misled by mere word-jugglery, we shall recognize the founder of
the atomic theory of matter in Anaxagoras; its expositors along
slightly different lines in Leucippus and Democritus; its
re-discoverer of the nineteenth century in Dalton. All in all,
then, just as Anaxagoras preceded Democritus in time, so must he
take precedence over him also as an inductive thinker, who
carried the use of the scientific imagination to its farthest
reach.

An analysis of the theories of the two men leads to somewhat the
same conclusion that might be reached from a comparison of their
lives. Anaxagoras was a sceptical, experimental scientist, gifted
also with the prophetic imagination. He reasoned always from the
particular to the general, after the manner of true induction,
and he scarcely took a step beyond the confines of secure
induction. True scientist that he was, he could content himself
with postulating different qualities for his elements, without
pretending to know how these qualities could be defined. His
elements were by hypothesis invisible, hence he would not attempt
to visualize them. Democritus, on the other hand, refused to
recognize this barrier. Where he could not know, he still did not
hesitate to guess. Just as he conceived his atom of a definite


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