PHYSICAL CONTEMPLATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 135 



operative even at the present day, in as far as through Eome 

 it has for centuries promoted, or at least has given a pecu- 

 liar character to the civilisation of a large portion of the 

 human race. ( 185 ) 



A peculiar characteristic of the Tuscans, which is espe- 

 cially deserving of notice in the present work, was the dis- 

 position to cultivate intimate relations with certain natural 

 phsenomena. Divination, which was the occupation of the 

 caste of equestrian and warrior priests, occasioned the daily 

 observation of the meteorological processes of the atmo- 

 sphere. The " Fulguratores" occupied themselves with the 

 examination of the direction of lightnings, with " drawing 

 them down/' and " turning them aside." ( 186 ) They dis- 

 tinguished carefully between lightnings from the elevated 

 region of clouds, and lightnings sent from below by Saturn 

 (an earth god), ( 187 ) and called Saturnian lightnings: a distinc- 

 tion which modern physical science has considered deserving 

 of particular attention. Thus there arose official records of 

 the occurrence of thunderstorms. ( 188 ) The " Aqua3licium" 

 practised by the Etruscans, the supposed art of finding water 

 and drawing forth hidden springs, implied in the Aquileges 

 an attentive examination of the natural indications of 

 the stratification of rocks, and of the inequalities of the 

 ground. Diodorus praises their habits of investigating 

 nature ; it may be remarked in addition, that the high-born 

 and powerful sacerdotal caste of the Tarquinii offered the 

 rare example of favouring physical knowledge. 



Before proceeding to the Greeks, to that highly gifted 

 race in whose intellectual culture our own is most deeply 

 rooted, and through whom has been transmitted to us an 

 important part of all the earlier views of nature, and know- 



