ReMaking History, Volume 2, 1st Edition

Part II Physics and Chemistry Revolutionaries

The Greek philosophers of the Classical era, led by Empedocles, who was followed by Aristotle, believed that everything in the universe was made up of four elements: earth, air, water, and fire.

Everything in the world, from corn to cotton to clouds,was composed of these four elements; the differences between all the things we see or touch was only the relative abundance and mixing manner of the four constituent components. For instance, clouds, according to Aristotle, were a light composition of air and water. Cotton, on the other hand, was a mixture of rock, air, and water, and differed from ...