NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE, 5 8 5 



against him by his arch-enemy John Calvin with fearful power. 

 In vain did Servetus state the fact that he had simply drawn the 

 words from a previous edition of Ptolemy ; in vain did he declare 

 that this statement was a simple geographical truth of which 

 there were ample proofs ; it was answered that such language 

 " necessarily inculpated Moses, and so grievously outraged the 

 Holy Ghost." * 



In summing up the action of the Church upon Geography, we 

 must say, then, that the dogmas developed in the strict adher- 

 ence to Scripture and the conceptions held in the Church during 

 many centuries " always, everywhere, and by all," were, on the 

 whole, steadily hostile to truth ; but it is only just to make a 

 distinction here between the religious and the theological spirit. 

 To the religious spirit are largely due several of the noblest among 

 the great voyages of discovery. A deep longing to extend the 

 realms of Christianity influenced the minds of Prince John, of 

 Portugal, in his great series of efforts along the African coast ; of 

 Vasco da Gama, in his circumnavigation of the Cape of Good 

 Hope ; of Magellan, in his voyage around the world, and doubtless 

 found a place among the more worldly motives of Columbus. 



Thus, in this field also, from the supremacy accorded to theol- 

 ogy, we find resulting that tendency to dogmatism which has 

 shown itself in all ages the deadly foe not only of scientific inquiry 

 but of the higher religious spirit itself, while from the love of 

 truth for truth's sake, which has been the inspiration of all fruit- 

 ful work in science, nothing but advantage has ever resulted to 

 true religion. 



The Japanese dragon is supposed by Mr. Charles De Kay to be possibly a rem- 

 nant of the original native religion which was superseded by Buddhism in China 

 and Japan. Compared with the monster as depicted in stone and colors by artists 

 of our middle ages, it is a graceful creature. Dragons a foot or two long, made of 

 an incredible number of pieces held together, are among the marvels of Japanese 

 workers in iron and bronze, and great prices are paid when the foundry-man or 

 ironsmith is a famous artist. The figures sometimes have a character of their own 

 which justifies one in placing them among serious works of art. When taken in 

 the hand their flexibility and coldness make them seem alive ; while their singular 

 motions and threatening look express capitally the fierceness and wayward nature 

 attributed to a symbol of the least stable of elements. To us and to skeptical 

 natives the image is a curious, ingenious plaything, but to the Japanese of the old 

 religions or to the Buddhist it means a good deal more : it is a talisman to exor- 

 cise the dangers that lie on land and sea. 



* For Servetus's geographical offense, see Willis, Servetus and Calvin, London, 1877, p. 

 325. The passage condemned is in the Ptolemy of 1535, folio 41. It was discreetly re- 

 trenched in a reprint of the same edition. As to the mixture in the motives of Columbus, 

 it may be well to compare with the earlier biographies the recent ones by Dr. Winsor and 

 President Adams. 



vol. xli. 43 



