Anaxim'enes, a Greek philosopher of the Ionic school, was born at Miletus, and died about 500 B.C. He held air to be the first cause of all things, or the primary form of matter, whence all things were formed by compression.
Anaxim'enes
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 1: A to Beaufort, p. 256
Source scan(s): p. 0275