ARISTOTLE AND THE EARLIER PERIPATETICS vol.I by Eduard Zeller, B.F.C.Costelloe 1897

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PHYSICS 481
four properties in pairs, we obtain, after eliminating
two impossible combinations, four that are possible, in
which one active and one passive property are always
united, and thus four simple bodies or elements are
exhibited 1—warm and dry, or fire; warm and moist,
or
air
earth. 3
2
cold and moist, or water ; cold and dry, or
These are the four sorts of matter of which all
composite bodies consist, which are excreted from all,
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Of. c. 4 init. c. 5, 382, a, 27 sqq.
c. 10, 388, a, 21, c. 11, 389, a, 29.
1
In his description of, these
four primary substances and their
fundamental attributes Aristotle
is not quite consistent. Thus
Gen. et Corr. ii. 2, 329, b, 7, 13,
31, 329, a, 26. Meteor, i. 3, 339,
b, 5. Gen. An. ii. 3, 736, b, 29.
Metaph. i. 4, 985, a, 34 : ra i>s iv
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Part. An. ii. 1, 646, a, 13 even
to Ka\o6fieya vir6 Tivtav