COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



stars according to their times of rising and set* 

 ting we have an example of a rudely scientific 

 method of proceeding. Finally by the modern 

 astronomer the heavenly bodies are minutely 

 classified according to their mutual relations as 

 suns, planets, or satellites ; according to their 

 visible magnitudes, or the angles which they 

 subtend on the field of vision ; according to 

 their orbital courses, their angular velocities, 

 their axial inclinations, their specific gravities, 

 etc., wherever these have been ascertained ; and 

 lately in some few instances according to their 

 physical constitutions, in so far as light has been 

 thrown upon this point by spectrum analysis. 

 In like manner the lowest savage has noted the 

 wide contrast between plants and animals ; and 

 in each of these great groups has furthermore 

 made sub-classes comprising respectively those 

 which are useful as food or as medicine for 

 wounds, and those which are to be shunned as 

 poisonous or otherwise dangerous. While, on 

 the other hand, the scientific naturalist divides 

 and subdivides until he acquires distinct concep- 

 tions of thousands of species of insects, and 

 ranks trees in separate classes according to the 

 myriad-fold shapes of their leaves, the spiral 

 arrangement of their branches, the number of 

 their cotyledons, or the mode of disposition of 

 their woody fibre. 



All this will appear in a still clearer light 

 44 



