THE 



MONTHLY AMERICAN JOURNAL 



OF 



♦ GEOLOGY 



AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 



Vol. L Philadelphia, September 1831. No. 3. 



AN EPITOME OF THE PROGRESS OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 



♦ 



{Continued from page 58.) 



The philosophical period, when human opinions were first re- 

 leased from the bondage of theocratical power, began among the 

 Greeks ; a curious and active race, whose geographical situation 

 *,^ad contributed much to form their character, and deriving their 

 origin, in a great measure, from the nations connected with the 

 Euxincj or Black sea. The Pelasgi are supposed to have pene- 

 trated into Greece from India, at the earliest periods : the archi- 

 tectural remains, called Cyclopean walls, were of their day. 

 In the time of Pausanias,* it was known that those walls were 

 anterior to the arrival of the Egyptian colonies. The situation, 

 however, and maritime habits of the Greeks, had enabled them 

 to hold communication with the Phoenicians, Babylonians, and 

 other nations, long before the arrival of Cecrops.f The chiefs 

 who led these first colonies from Egypt, were not priests, but 

 rather bold adventurers, like the Normans ; and although they 

 brought over the external form of their religion, yet it appears 

 the meaning concealed under their emblems, was not spread 

 amongst the people where they colonized. 



Now the mythological forms in Egypt, and those generally ob- 

 taining in the east, were only the emblematic expression of a sys- 

 tem of general philosophy, confined to the priesthood : hence 

 science necessarily became stationary, since no one, without in- 

 curring the charge of irreligion, would venture to entertain any 

 opinions, which did not emanate from sources that were admitted 



*A. D. 175. 



Vol. I 13 



t B. C. 1550. 



97 



