TS 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



more than the writer put there, not without edi- 

 fication. We, then, on our part, may read into 

 them this — that it is not "permitted" to regard 

 the uniformity of Nature as a dogma known with 

 certainty, or exactness, or universality ; but only 

 within the range of human conduct, as a practi- 

 cal rule for the guidance of the same, and as the 

 only source of beliefs that will not lead astray. 

 For to affirm any general proposition of this kind 

 to be certainly, or exactly, or universally true, is 

 to make a mistake about the nature and limits 

 of human knowledge. But at present it is a 

 venial mistake, because the doctrine of the na- 

 ture of human knowledge, Erkenniniss-Theorie, 

 Ken-lore, is only now being thoroughly worked 

 out, so that our children will know a great deal 

 more about it than we do, and have what they 

 know much better and more simply expressed. 

 It is almost infinitely more important to keep in 

 view that the uniformity of Nature is practically 

 certain, practically exact, practically universal, 

 and to make this conception the guide of our 

 lives, tiian to remember that tins certainty, exact- 

 ness, and universality, are only known practically, 

 not in a theoretical or absolute way. 



How far away is the doctrine of uniformity 

 from fatalism ! It begins directly to remind us that 

 men suffer from preventable evils, that the people 

 perisheth for lack of knowledge. " Miserable are 

 they, because they see not and hear not the good 

 that is very nigh them ; and the way of escape 

 from evil, few there be that understand it." The 

 practical lesson is not that of the pessimist, that 

 we should give up the contest, recognize that life 

 is an evil, and get out of it as best we may ; but, 

 on the contrary, that, having found anything 

 wrong, we should set to work to mend it: for the 

 woes of men are the work of their own hands. 



"But be thou of trood cheer, for they are of 

 gods' kindred whom holy Nature leadeth onward, 

 and in due order showeth them all things." 



The expression (UpaTrpcHptpovrra .... St'iKwcnv 

 tKairra) belongs to the right of initiation into the 

 mysteries. Nature is represented as the hiero- 

 phant, the guiding priest by whom the faithful 

 were initiated into the divine secrets one by one. 

 The history of mankind is conceived as such a 

 mystic progress under the guidance of divine Na- 

 ture. It has been sometimes said that the ancient 

 world was entirely devoid of the conception of 

 progress. But like most sweeping antitheses be- 

 tween ancient and modern, East and West, and 

 the like, when we come to look a little closely 

 into this assertion it becomes difficult to believe 



that any definite meaning can ever have been as- 

 signed to it. Certainly in the matter of physical 

 science there is no case of firmer faith in progress 

 than that of Hipparchus, who having made the 

 great step of determining the solar and lunar mo- 

 tions, and having failed to extend the same meth- 

 ods to the planets, stored up observations in the 

 sure and certain hope that a more fortunate suc- 

 cessor would accomplish that work ; which in- 

 deed was done by Ptolemy. And it is very im- 

 portant to notice that the exact sciences were re- 

 garded as the standard to which the others should 

 endeavor to attain, as appears by the commentary 

 on a subsequent passage in these very verses. 

 On the phrase " using judgment both in cleansing 

 and in setting free thy soul," Hierokles explains 

 that the cleansing or lustration of the rational soul 

 means the mathematical sciences, and that the 

 upward-leading liberation (avaywybs Xvais), the 

 freedom that is progress, is scientific inquiry, 

 or a scientific view of things (SiaXeKTiKi) rwv uvtccv 

 iiroiTTeia), the clear and exact vision of one who 

 has attained the highest grade of initiation. Ac- 

 cordingly, the medical sciences never lost the tra- 

 dition of progress by continuous observation, im- 

 pressed on them by Hippocrates ; and in the 

 Alexandrian Museum were training that galaxy 

 of famous physicians and naturalists which kept 

 the school illustrious until the claims of culture 

 were restored by the Arab conquest. Nor is it 

 possible to deny the conception and practice of 

 political progress to the great jurists of Rome, 

 any more than that of ethical progress to the 

 Stoic moralists. To the best minds, with what- 

 ever subject occupied, there was present this con- 

 ception of divine Nature patiently educating the 

 human race, ready to bring out of her store-house 

 good things without number in the proper time. 



Nor was this hope of continued progress alto- 

 gether a vain one, if we will only look in the right 

 place for the fulfillment of it. Greek polity and 

 culture had been planted in the East by Alexan- 

 der's conquests from the Nile to the Indus, there 

 to suck up and gather together the wisdom of 

 centuries and of continents. When the light and 

 the right were driven out of Europe by the Church, 

 they found in the far East a home with the Ommi- 

 yade and Abbasside caliphs, whose reign gave 

 peace and breathing-time to the old and young civ- 

 ilization that was ready to grow. Across the north 

 of Africa came again the progressive culture of 

 Greece and Rome, enriched with precious jewels 

 of old-world lore; it took firm ground in Spain, 

 and the light and the right were flashed back into 

 Europe from the blades of Saracen swords. From 



