200 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [pt. ii. 



little euliglitenment in the fact that Spain is peculiarly 

 subject to earthquakes, but much enlightenment in the 

 fact that for eiglit centuries Spain was the arena of a life- 

 and-death struggle between orthodox Christians and Moorish 

 unbelievers. 



The mention of Spain and earthquakes brings me to Mr. 

 Buckle, a writer of marked ability, who, though he did not 

 explicitly countenance the error I am here criticizing, was 

 nevertheless sometimes betrayed into committing it, as may 

 be seen from the following passage : — " The Arabs in tlieir 

 own country have, owing to the extreme aridity of their soil, 

 always been a rude and uncultivated people ; for in tbeir case, 

 as in all others, great ignorance is the fruit of great poverty. 

 But in the seventh century they conquered Persia ; in the 

 eighth century they conquered the best part of Spain ; in the 

 ninth century they conquered the Punjab, and eventually 

 nearly the whole of India. Scarcely were they establis-hed 

 in their fresh settlements, when their character seemed to 

 undergo a great change. They who in their original land 

 were little else than roving savages, were now for the first 

 time able to accumulate wealth, and, therefore, for the first 

 time did they make some progress in the arts of civilization. 

 In Arabia they had been a mere race of n\ .mdering shepherds ; 

 in their new abodes -they became the founders of mighty 

 empires, — they built cities, endowed schools, collected 

 libraries ; and the traces of their power are still to be seen 

 at Cordova, at Bagdad, and at Delhi." ^ To exhibit the utter 

 superficiality of this explanation, we have only to ask two 

 questions. First, if the Arabs became civilized only because 

 they exchanged their native deserts for Spain, Persia and 

 India, why did not the same hold true of the Turks, when 

 they exchanged their barren steppes for the rich empire 

 of Constantinople ? Though they have held for four cen- 

 turies what is perhaps the finest geographical position on the 

 * Eidory of Civilization, voL L p. 42. 



