t ’ 
manifestations in organic and inorganic life. Amongst 
the Greeks the many and varied processes in the vine were 
‘accounted for by individual spirits till the grapes ripened 
and the wine was made. ‘‘Where we to-day are cognisant 
of chemical changes, they saw intervening spirits,’’ says 
Walter Pater. The story of Demeter and _ Perse- 
phone, as an explanation of the seasons, is 
universally known. How the legendary return of 
Persephone from  Pluto’s realm resulted in the 
unspringing of the flowers and the leafine of the trees, 
of the growth of grain and the succeeding harvest. How 
the departure of Persephone to the underworld for a few 
months plunged Demeter into deep grief, and the world 
became cold and desolate. All the world of Greek mytho- 
logy was full of beauty and suggestion, and they asso- 
ciated every phenomenon of nature with supernatural 
power. And while I am referring to this, it is singular 
that in a dim uncertain way, and yet after all a very real 
way, the ancient Greeks anticipated some of our most re- 
volutionary modern scientific theories. The Heraclitean 
doctrine of perpetual movement is, after all, but an anti-_ 
cipation of our modern idea of development. That which 
the research of modern Naturalists has proved to be true 
beyond question lay in embryo, as it were, in the Greek 
mind. The evolution of existing species referred to cease- 
We are aware that nothing rests, every-— 
less movement. 
thing is changing—our bodies, the speech upon our lips, 
the form of our ideas. Anaxagoras, who had for his pupils 
Pericles, Euripides, and perhaps Socrates. laid the foun- 
dation of the atomic theory, and believed in an infinite 
intelligence in the universe. This bold adventurer in 
Greek life lived two thousand three hundred years ago. 
But his attempts to explain physical phenomena by natural 
causes met with the same reception as equally 
original thinkers in recent days. 
act of impiety against the gods, and further, was arrested 
and tried for it. Through the able defence of Pericles, 
he was acquitted, but left Athens after the trial and- 
died on the Hellespont. This was in the golden age cf 
Greece. I lay stress on this fact as a striking instance 
of what I have already emphasised, viz., that the super- 
natural explanation of natural phenomena has been al- 
ways the great hindrance to scientific research. It was not 
‘ 
fearless 
THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. a. 63 
He was accused of an. 
