THE CHINESE THEORY OF EVOLUTION. 399 



carried it back and put it in the place from which it came. Chil- 

 dren were taught that if they found a piece of metal they must 

 not touch it. No silver, nor gold, nor jade was to be seen in any 

 dwelling. To the wise, dreams were given, in which the universal 

 parent spoke, saying : ' Child, the gold, the jade, the metals, and 

 the gems are all parts of my body. Touch them not, nor meddle 

 with them to my hurt and yours. To take stones from the earth 

 is to dislocate the bones of one's parent ; when the parent suffers, 

 the dependent child is harmed.' In those days the soil was red 

 and rich ; it was heavy as iron, and so ductile that it could be 

 drawn into filaments. There was no need of fertilizing the fields. 

 Whatever was planted grew quickly, and the kernels of grain 

 were as large as chestnuts, and the potato-tubers were as large as 

 squashes now are. The products of the earth were so nutritious 

 that one meal a day was sufficient, and so luscious were they that 

 condiments were needless. It is the disrespect shown to the di- 

 vine body that has made the life of man so hard. One should be 

 content with what may be had without deeply disturbing the soil. 

 The displeasure of Heaven is often manifestly visited upon the 

 agriculturists who give the land no rest, and the lightning fre- 

 quently strikes those who are at work in the fields. Those who 

 walk on mountains soon tire, because they tread upon the bones, 

 while those who keep to the artificial highways are not so soon 

 fatigued." 



This pantheistic theory being in its loftiest conceptions too 

 abstract for the masses, it is expressed by them in the assertion 

 that " there is a god to every eight feet of space." Every tree, 

 grotto, and hummock has its tutelary deity. Consequently, no 

 man begins to dig a cistern, to remove earth from a hill, to cut a 

 stone, or to till a garden, without offering propitiatory gifts to 

 the local divinity. If fever, headache, or dyspepsia follow the 

 effort, the displeasure of the god is believed to be its cause, and 

 the work is apt to be abandoned. 



It is at once apparent that this pantheistic theory of evolution 

 offers serious hindrance to the utilization of the metals contained 

 in the mountains, to the opening of mines, the building of rail- 

 roads, and the erection of structures requiring deep foundations. 

 It has prevented the Chinese from availing themselves of the 

 vast mineral resources of their country, from leveling thorough- 

 fares where they are pressingly required for traffic, and from full 

 use of the products of the earth in promoting the well-being of 

 man. It is the chief reason why the emigration of hundreds of 

 thousands of men in search of work has now become necessary. 

 If the Chinese were unhampered by fear of the invisible ones who 

 are considered by all to be the real proprietors of the land, they 

 would have an abundance of lucrative work within their own 



