INI'lJ ir.l 



heated plains, ravage., of lnirri.-ain-. taOpMtS, MUTtt 

 s, and devastation by animals hostile to roan, con- 



stantly prelim? upon tin- p.-opl,-, aiT.-cted the tone of 

 tii. -11 ual elm \ 



i in tin- mind which ma. I.- the imagination i i .dom- 

 inate over tin- reason an. I im'n-.-.l into the people a spirit 

 of reverence rather than one of inquiry. All the sur- 

 roiin .'in. i! condition- aged a disposition 



to negb .in of natural causes ami to 



ts to the intervention on the part of MIJ..-I- 



ral agencies. 44 Man, con - himself with tin- 



forte and majesty of n > a sense of inferiority, 



and hardly cares to BCTUtini/- tin* details of whifh 

 imposing g] 



The hypothesis of isolation which Miss Semple ad- 



!itiali>tin. tion to Buckle's theory, seems on 



the whole the more reasonable of the two explanations, 



especially \\li.-n th.-iv -.-.ins to b<* little doubt in th minds 



of many historians as to the great significance of com* 



B and tli.- / of ideas in the d.-\ . lopment of 



K civil. lint th.-re i- much truth in what 



Buckle suggests. His contention i> that the intellectual 



vrim-nts of the (Jn-.-k have b.-ni in large measure 

 due to the absence of aspects of nature which terrified and 

 the i of geographic surroumlings which HIM 



eonti- i human skill. The .Kirean. with its nuiner 



ous islands and sheltered harbors, furni- and 



safe hitlini: places from hostile n. iirhbors. The moun- 

 tains of the n 1 were not lofty enough to be 



.nspiriniT. but \N'-re sufficiently biirb beauty 



and suggestion to the scenery. 47 Under these conditions 



'rklr. o,> t. p. 



s,.,. ,j k . in ,., ;; .,. < ,- 



