FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



In the bright sky they perceived an iUuminator; in the all-encircling firma- 

 ment an embracer ; in the roar of thunder and in the violence of the storm they 

 felt the presence of a shouter and of furious strikers ; and out of the rain they 

 created an ludra, or giver of rain. — Max Muller. 



REFLECTIONS ON PRAYER AND NATURAL LAW 



1861 



AMID the apparent confusion and caprice of natural 

 phenomena, which roused emotions hostile to calm 

 investigation, it must for ages have seemed hope- 

 less to seek for law or orderly relation; and before the 

 thought of law dawned upon the unfolding human mind 

 these otherwise inexplicable effects were referred to per- 

 sonal agency. In the fall of a cataract the savage saw 

 the leap of a spirit, and the echoed thunder-peal was to 

 him the hammer- clang of an exasperated god. Propitia- 

 tion of these terrible powers was the consequence, and 

 sacrifice was offered to the demons of earth and air. 



But observation tends to chasten the emotions and to 

 check those structural efforts of the intellect which have 

 emotion for their base. One by one natural phenomena 

 came to be associated with their proximate causes; the 

 idea of direct personal volition mixing itself with the 

 economy of nature retreating more and more. Many of 

 us fear this change. Our religious feelings are dear to 



(5) 



