We saw in Chapter II that this text had induced many of the earlier Church Fathers to devise strange theories about the waters above the firmament. The idea of Jerome, Josephus, Ambrose, Isidore, and Bede that these waters were in crystalline, or frozen, form met with opposition from those who were influenced by classical science and especially by the writings of Aristotle. Abelard in his _Expositio in hexaemeron_[818] discussed in considerable detail various opinions about the existence of solidified water above the firmament, though personally he was inclined to think that the air sustains the water in the form of very fine drops. That much heavier objects may sometimes be supported by air or water he proved by citing examples of cases where this is actually known to happen, as where a needle may be made to float on water. Theodoric of Chartres and William of Conches approached the problem from an even more rationalistic standpoint. Theodoric[819] held that water, when subjected to sufficient heat, turns into “pure air.” On the second day of the Creation the fire element heated the water element in such a way that large portions of the latter rose as high as the moon and were there suspended in vaporous form “above the top of the sky” (_super summam coeli_). As a result the atmosphere became intercalated between the liquid water of the earth’s surface and this water vapor above the firmament. The firmament itself, Theodoric contended, was merely the air and was so called either because it “firmly” supported that which was above it and enclosed that which was below it or else because it “firmly” gripped the earth on all sides. William of Conches also argued against the possibility of frozen water above the firmament.[820] This, he declared, is quite contrary to reason: frozen water is solid and heavy, and the place for solid and heavy substances in the constitution of the universe is either on or beneath the earth’s surface. Then again, water in or near the celestial sphere—which is the abode of fire—would either extinguish the fire or else itself be consumed. William objected to juggling with the Aristotelian laws of physics. He explained the Biblical text by asserting that the firmament is the atmosphere and that the waters “above” it are in reality nothing more than the clouds within it.[821] On the whole, he concluded that the text should be interpreted allegorically rather than literally. LITERAL BELIEFS