ANAKSAGHORAS [ANAXAGORAS].

He was also of the country of Malatiah. Forfurius [Por­phyrius] relates that according to him the root of all things was one mass containing the physical properties of all bodies. But he does not explain whether that mass was composed of the elements exclusively or partly, or not at all. Anaksaghoras was the first who maintained that the principles of things existed from all eternity in one pro­ductive force, from which the various genera and species, quantities and forms, were produced in the same manner as ears of corn grow from a single grain, and man himself is created from one drop of water. It is necessary to inform the reader that Anaksaghoras means by the first mass only additional, and not real priority, over all substances; it is, namely, the first addition to wind and water only, and not the first mass individually and absolutely. The asser­tion of Thâlis Malati that water was the first principle, is to be understood in the same manner.