n
Bithynia, led. But those who with Anaximenes considered the earth to be
like a broad leaf floating in the air, and who accepted the doctrine
that hell was divided into a Tartarus, or region of night on the left,
and an Elysium, or region of dawn on the right, and that it was equally
distant from all parts of the upper surface, were nearer to the original
conception, which doubtless placed it on the under or shadowy side of
the earth. The portals of descent were thus in the west, where the sun
and stars set, though here and there were passages leading through the
ground to the other side, such as those by which Hercules and Ulysses
had gone. The place of ascent was in the east, and the morning twilight
a reflection from the Elysian Fields.

[Sidenote: The anthropocentric stage of thought.]

The picture of Nature thus interpreted has for its centre the earth; for
its most prominent object, man. Whatever there is has been made for his
pleasure, or to minister to his use. To this belief that every thing is
of a subordinate value compared with himself, he clings with tenacity
even in his most advanced mental state.

Not without surprise do we trace the progress of the human mind. The
barbarian, as a believer in sorcery, lives in incessant dread. All
Nature seems to be at enmity with him and conspiring for his hurt. Out
of the darkness he cannot tell what alarming spectre may emerge; he may,
with reason, fear that injury is concealed in every stone, and hidden
behind every leaf. How wide is the interval from this terror-stricken
condition to that state in which man persuades himself of the human
destiny of the universe! Yet, wonderful to be said, he passes that
interval at a single step.

In the infancy of the human race, geographical and astronomical ideas
are the same all over the world, for they are the interpretation of
things according to outward appearances, the accepting of phenomena as
they are presented, without any of the corrections that reason may
offer. This universality and homogeneity is nothing more than a
manifestation of the uniform mode of action of human organization.

[Sidenote: From homogeneous ideas the comparative sciences emerge.]

But such homogeneous conclusions, such similar pictures, are strictly
peculiar to the infancy of humanity. The reasoning faculty at length
inevitably makes itself felt, and diversities of interpretation ensue.
Comparative geography, comparative astronomy, comparativ