must, of course, depend to a great degree on the political forms under which they have passed their lives, modified by that approach to homogeneousness which arises from increased intercommunication. The canal system, so wonderfully developed in China, exerted no little influence in that respect-an influence, however, not to be compared with that which must be the result of the railway system of Europe. compared with In an all-important particular the prospect of Europe is bright. China is passing through the last stage of civil life in the cheerless- Its hopefulness ness of Buddhism; Europe approaches it through Christiani- that of China. ty. Universal benevolence can not fail to yield a better fruit than unsocial pride. There is a fairer hope for nations animated by a sincere religious sentiment, who, whatever their political history may have been, have always agreed in this, that they were devout, than for a people who dedicate themselves to a selfish pursuit of material advantages, who have lost all belief in a future, and are living without any God. I have now come to the end of a work which has occupied me for many years, and which I submit, with many misgivings as to its execution, to the indulgent consideration of the public. These pages will not have been written in vain if the facts they present impress the reader as they have impressed the author with a conviction that the civilization of Europe has not taken place fortuitously, but in a definite manner, and under the control of natural law; that the procession of nations does not move forward like a dream, without reason or order, but that there is a predetermined, a solemn march, in which all must join, ever moving, ever resistlessly advancing, encountering and enduring an inevitable succession of events; that individual life and its advancement. through successive stages is the model of social life and its secular variations. I have asserted the control of natural law in the shaping of human affairs—a control not inconsistent with free-will any more than the unavoidable passage of an individual as he advances to maturity and declines in old age is inconsistent with his voluntary actions; that higher law limits our movements to a certain direction, and guides them in a certain way. As the Stoics of old used to say, an acorn may lie torpid in the ground, unable to exert its living force, until it receives warmth, and moisture, and other things needful for its germination; when it grows, it may put forth one bud here and another bud there; the wind may bend one branch, the frost blight another; the innate vitality of the tree may struggle against adverse conditions or luxuriate in those that are congenial; but, whatever the circumstances may be, there is an overruling power forever constraining and modeling it. The acorn can only produce an oak. The application of this principle to human societies is completely established by a scientific study of their history; and the more extensive and profound that study, the better shall we be able to distinguish the invariable law in the midst of the varying events. But that once thoroughly appreciated, we have gained a philosophical guide for the interpretation of the past acts of nations, and a prophetic monitor of their future, so far as prophecy is possible in human affairs. Al-Sirat, bridge of, 256. Acacius, 261. Ambrose of Milan, 232. Academies, Italian, 482; foundation of, 537; Ambrose Paré, 535. fourth and fifth, 126. Academy, middle, 125; new, 154. Acherusian Cave, 26. Achilles' puzzle, 90; spear, 37. Acoustics, discoveries in, 598. Africa, circumnavigation of, 57. Age of the Earth, 542. "Faith, European, 228. 402. in the East, 241. in the West, 258, 326, 345, 382, Age of Faith, its literary condition, 419. its problems, 163. 66 result of, in England, 494. Inquiry, European, 177, 197. its solutions, 161. "Reason, European, 511, 542. approach of, 436, 465. Ages, Greek, their duration, 165. of man, 364. the five European, 15. Air the first principle, 72. Aix la Chapelle, 277. Alaric, capture of Rome by, 223. Albertus Magnus, 437. Albigensian revolt, 433. Alexandria, city of, 239; foundation of, 128; 153. of Tyana, 155, 409. Arabian astronomy, 355; commerce, 357; in- Arabs cultivate learning, 248; their develop- Aristarchus finds the sun's distance, 148. Aristotle, 95, 130, 294. influence of, 128. Aristotelism compared with Platonism, 131. 624 Arithmetic, Indian, 355. Arius, his heresy, 211; his death, 214. Art, black, 300. Artesian wells, 547. Articulata, anatomy of, 583. Asoka patronizes Buddhism, 49. Astronomical refraction, 359. (6 of Eratosthenes, 148. Athanasius, 214. Athens, her progress in art, 97, 98. Atomic theory, 92. Attalus, king of Pergamus, 183. Augustine, St., 233; his life, 225. 66 on spontaneous generation, 568. Auricular confession, 373. Australian savages, 20. Averrhoes, philosophy of, 468, 578, 589. Avignon, papacy removed to, 389. voluptuousness of, 395. Brutes, their nature, 75. C. Cabot, Sebastian, 453. Calico printing, 610. Callisthenes, 128, 129, 143. Cambyses, 58, 138. Canal of Egypt, 57, 58, 69, 241. Cannibalism of Europe, 23. Canonic of Epicurus, 124. Cape of Good Hope doubled, 449. Carneades, 125. Carthage, 95, 129, 181. Carthaginian commerce, 96. Caspian and Dead Seas, date of, 550. Casuistry, development of, 374. Catalogue of stars, 150. Catasterism of Eratosthenes, 146. Catastrophes, doctrine of, 558, 564, 565. Chadizah, wife of Mohammed, 245. Chakia Mouni, 49. Charlemagne, 273, 275. Charles Martel, 273, 314. antagonizes imperialism, 203. first organization of, 199. hellenized, 215. influence of, 179, 197, 621. its persecutions, 204, 205. paganization of, 228. Platonic, 202. spreads from Syria, 203. Chronology of Eratosthenes, 146. 66 union of, 279. services, their influence, 474. Cimbri, cause of their invasion, 22. of Africa, 57. 66 his doctrine, 514, 517. Cosmas Indicopleustes, 442. Cosmogony, 78. Pythagorean, 85. Cotton manufacture, 609. Councils, their nature, 175, 221. Criterion of truth, 81, 162, 170, 174. Criticism, effects of, 34, 490. 66 rise of, 465. Cross, the true, discovered, 229. Crusades, origin of, 340. 66 effects of, 342, 425. Cuvier's doctrine, 566. Cyclopean structures, 23. Cyrenaic school, 110. age of the, 531. E. density of the, 548. development in the life of the, 587. Easter, dispute respecting, 216. Ebn Junis, astronomy of, 361. 625 Egypt, antiquity of civilization in, 59; cause Egyptian civilization, 55. ports opened, 56. Elcano, the lieutenant of Magellan, 452. Electricity, discoveries in, 603. Electro-magnetism, 604. Elphinstone, quotation from, 47. Emanation, theory of, 168. Empedocles, 91. England, condition of, 497. Ꭱ Ꭱ conversion of, 271. |