136 FEAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



difference that the particular experiences which fur- 

 nished the warp and woof of their theories were drawn, 

 not from the study of nature, but from what lay much 

 closer to them the observation of men. Their theo- 

 ries accordingly took an anthropomorphic form. To 

 supersensual beings, which, ' however potent and in- 

 visible, were nothing but a species of human creatures, 

 perhaps raised from among mankind, and retaining all 

 human passions and appetites/* were handed over the 

 rule and governance of natural phenomena. 



Tested by observation and reflection, these early 

 notions failed in the long run to satisfy the more pene- 

 trating intellects of our race. Far in the depths of his- 

 tory we find men of exceptional power differentiating 

 themselves from the crowd, rejecting these anthropo- 

 morphic notions, and seeking to connect natural pheno- 

 mena with their physical principles. But, long prior 

 to these purer efforts of the understanding, the merchant 

 had been abroad, and rendered the philosopher pos- 

 sible; commerce had been developed, wealth amassed, 

 leisure for travel and speculation secured, while races 

 educated under different conditions, and therefore dif- 

 ferently informed and endowed, had been stimulated 

 and sharpened by mutual contact. In those regions 

 where the commercial aristocracy of ancient Greece 

 mingled with their eastern neighbours, the sciences 

 were born, being nurtured and developed by free- 

 thinking and courageous men. The state of things to 

 be displaced may be gathered from a passage of Eurip- 

 ides quoted by Hume. * There is nothing in the 

 world; no glory, no prosperity. The gods toss all into 

 confusion; mix everything with its reverse, that all of 

 us, from our ignorance and uncertainty, may pay them 

 the more worship and reverence.' Now as science de- 

 * Hume, 'Natural History of Religion.' 



