Superseded Science III

[bardiphouka]

Those of you who have taken science in school (or been to Highland) have had some experience with the periodic table of elements. But in the beginning things were much simpler. There were, depending on your culture, either 4 or 5 elements. Earth, Air, Water and Fire in the West..plus a 5th element in the East for things that were beyond description. And this simple system worked after a fashion

As a scientific process it was discredited by the Arabs in the 9th C.E. But unlike many superseded concepts, the idea of the classic elements has still not entirely gone away, esp in the mystic areas such as astrology and neopaganism.

Comments

[jamiethered.livejournal.com]

Roger Zelazny, in The Isle of the Dead, put a philosophical statement into the mouth of his main character. I don't have it handy at the moment, but it went something like:

"We are all of us emotional alchemists. We may know and understand the table of the elements, but we experience the world in terms of solids, liquids, gasses, and heat-transfer effects."

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

The Chinese five elements are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. :)