ARCHELAUS, a celebrated Greek philosopher,
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.