Introductory. 1 5 



The extreme narrowness and want of flexibility of many 

 minds are nothing less than amazing, and the effects of 

 " bias " have been lately well illustrated by Mr. Herbert 

 Spencer. * 



It is then little to be wondered at that when, after 

 centuries of comparative neglect, the study of nature was 

 resumed with energy and passion, an accompanying 

 depreciation of the Christian supernatural should have 

 manifested itself, and the wonder becomes even less when 

 it is recollected how such revived naturalistic tendencies 

 harmonised with one of the deepest chords in the com- 

 position of the Aryan race the universal, ancient, and 

 persistent worship of the powers and forces of nature. 



The chaos resulting from the break-up of the Western 

 Empire being reduced to order mainly by the action of 

 the Christian Church, at a period when the early germs of 

 natural science had withered under the influence of the 

 barbarian invasions, considerations relating to the next 

 world occupied all mental activity not directly employed 

 in ministering to the immediate and most pressing wants 

 of this. 



The art of the Middle Ages exhibits, as it were, the 

 petrified embodiment of this spirit. Not only cathedral, 

 church, chapel,- religious-house, and parsonage were 

 adorned with religious symbols and imagery, but such 



* See " The Study of Sociology/' chapters viii. to xii. 



