26 SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN MIND 



profoundly the course of the development of the 

 human mind, and, in other cases, might accentuate 

 and intensify racial differences. In the one case, any 

 attempt to understand or to control the elemental 

 forces becomes an impious and useless action. Deceit 

 and trickery by magic and sorcery, or at the best 

 propitiation of the hostile powers by sacrificial bribes, 

 represent the logical outcome of this view of nature. 

 It is a good example of racial memory that compelled 

 the Greeks to leave Prometheus, outspread on the 

 Caucasus, punished for helping mankind with the gift 

 of fire, and decreed that the serpent which tempted 

 Eve should have been bred in the gardens of Asia 

 Minor. As we see in the story of Adam, the acquire- 

 ment of knowledge is a form of sacrilege ; it trenches 

 on the divine prerogative and must be expiated by 

 death, degradation or other punishment. But, in 

 the second case, when the deities are friendly, any 

 increase of man's mastery over his surroundings is 

 approved by the tutelary powers, and is probably 

 directed by them, since it is their good pleasure to 

 help him on his way. 



One or other of these alternative attitudes of mind 

 predominates in every religious system, according to 

 the race and circumstances of those who hold to it, 

 according to the mode of its origin and the reaction 

 of philosophic thought on its history. And, in its 

 turn, the prevalent type of religious thought influences 

 philosophic tendencies and scientific progress. 



In Egypt, as we have said, the gods on the whole 

 were friendly to mankind, and willing to help his 

 efforts in the acquirement of knowledge. From the 

 earliest times of which we have definite records, 



