ARCHELAUS, a celebrated Greek philosopher, the
Archelaus the disciple of Anaxagoras, flourished about 440 years before Christ. He read lectures at Athens, and did not depart much from the opinions of his master. He taught that there was a double principle of all things, namely, the expansion and condensation of the air, which he regarded as infinite. Heat, according to him, was in continual motion. Cold was ever at rest. The earth, which was placed in the midst of the universe, had no motion. It originally resembled a wet marsh, but was afterwards dried up; and its figure, he said, resembled that of an egg. Animals were produced from the heat of the earth, and even men were formed in the same manner. All animals have a soul, which was born with them: but the capacities of which vary according to the structure of the organs of the body in which it resides.—Socrates, the most illustrious of his disciples, was his successor.