Even those who asserted four Elements , supposed that the Earth was the Matter that constituted those Bodies; and that Water and the rest , serv'd only for the Conveyance and Distribution of that Matter , in order to the forming and composition of them. 'Tis true, Thales , a Philosopher of the first Rank in those early Ages, has been thought to have Sentiments very different from these; but that without just Grounds, as I think I have sufficiently prov'd in another Paper, which I am ready to produce.
But though Antiquity thus gave its Vote for Terrestrial Matter , several of the Moderns , and some of very great Name too, both here and abroad , have gone quite counter, and given theirs in behalf of Water . The Dignity of the Persons that have espoused it, as well as their Numbers , renders this Doctrine very considerable, and well worth our enquiring into. The great Restorer of Philosophy in this last Age, my Lord Bacon , is