INFLUENCES OF I^NVIRONMENT 161 



lioated plains, ravages of liurrieanes, tempests, earth- 

 quakes, and devastation by animals hostile to man, con- 

 stantly jn-cssini^' upon the people, "affected llic tone of 

 tlirir national character." Associations were engen- 

 dci'cd in llic mind which made the imagination predom- 

 inate over the reason and infused into tlie people a spirit 

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

 rounding natural conditions encouraged a disposition 

 to neglect the investigation of natural causes and to 

 ascribe events to tho intervention on the part of super- 

 natural agencies.'*'^ Man, contrasting himself witli the 

 force and mjijesty of nature, feels a sense of inferiority, 

 and hardly cares to scrutinize the details of which such 

 inii)()sing grandeur consists. 



The hypothesis of isolation which Aliss Semple ad- 

 vances in contradistinction to Buckle's theory, seems on 

 the whole the more reasonable of the two explanations, 

 especially when there seems to l^e little doubt in the minds 

 of many historians as to the great significance of com- 

 merce and the exchange of ideas in the development of 

 Greek civilization. But there is much truth in what 

 Buckle suggests. His contention is that the intellectual 

 achievements of the Greek have been in large measure 

 duo to the absence of aspects of nature which terrified and 

 the presence of geographic surroundings which inspired 

 confidence in human skill. The ^-Kgean, with its numer- 

 ous islands and sheltered harbors, furnished refuge and 

 safe hiding-places from hostile neighbors. The moun- 

 tains of the mainland were not loft)" enough to be 

 awe-inspiring, but were sufficiently high to give beauty 

 and suggestion to the scenery."*^ Tender these conditions 



■«; "nucklc. o/). rit.. 1873, p. 120. 

 ••" Sci- liijiiK's .")(( and .IT. 



