Anaximander of Miletus

a Greek philosopher. Born 611 B. C. Anaximander is celebrated for a work On Nature. His theory is interesting. He holds that the elementary contraries, warmth and cold, moisture and dryness, are derived from elementary principles unknown in quality and limitless in quantity. Through motions and condensations innumerable worlds have sprung into existence, in the center of which the earth, a cylinder in form, remains motionless, while all the other heavenly bodies revolve about it. According to this philosopher the earth was originally entirely fluid. As the water dried up, fishes made their appearance, and as part of the earth dried up, some of the fishes became land animals. See Ptolemy; Darwin