tion of history, Montesquieu 43 and Buckle,44 attributed the immutability of religion, usages, manners and laws in India and other Oriental countries to their warm climate, vast plains and great mountains, the grandeur of whose scenery excites the fancy and paralyzes the reason. The modern scientific geographer "finds that geographic conditions have condemned India to isolation. On the land side, a great sweep of high mountains has restricted intercourse with the interior; on the sea side, the deltaic swamps of the Indus and the Ganges rivers and an unbroken shoreline, backed by mountains on the west of the peninsula and by coastal marshes and lagoons on the east, have combined to reduce its accessibility from the ocean. The effect of such isolation is ignorance, superstition, and the early crystallization of thought and custom. Ignorance involves the lack of material for comparison; hence a restriction of the higher reasoning processes, and an unscientific attitude of mind which gives imagination free play. In contrast, the accessibility of Greece and its focal location in the ancient world made it an intellectual clearing-house for the eastern Mediterranean. The general information gathered there afforded material for wide comparison. It fed the brilliant reason of the Athenian philosopher and the trained imagination which produced the masterpieces of Greek art and literature.'' 45

Buckle's theory was that the awe-inspiring aspects of nature in India, enormous mountain masses, vast heated plains, ravages of hurricanes, tempests, earthquakes, and devastation by animals hostile to man, con43 Spirit of the Laws, bk. xiv, ch. iv.

44 History of Civilization in England, ch. ii.

45 Semple, Influences of Geographic Environment, pp. 18-19.

stantly pressing upon the people, "affected the tone of their national character." Associations were engendered in the mind which made the imagination predominate over the reason and infused into the people a spirit of reverence rather than one of inquiry. All the sur

FIGURE 56. Confidence-inspiring Environment of Greece, the beautiful Vale of Tempe.

rounding natural conditions encouraged a disposition to neglect the investigation of natural causes and to ascribe events to the intervention on the part of supernatural agencies.46 Man, contrasting himself with the force and majesty of nature, feels a sense of inferiority, and hardly cares to scrutinize the details of which such imposing grandeur consists.

The hypothesis of isolation which Miss Semple advances in contradistinction to Buckle's theory, seems on 46 Buckle, op. cit., 1873, p. 126.

the whole the more reasonable of the two explanations, especially when there seems to be little doubt in the minds of many historians as to the great significance of commerce and the exchange of ideas in the development of

FIGURE 57. Confidence-inspiring Environment of Greece, Mount Ossa.

Greek civilization. But there is much truth in what Buckle suggests. His contention is that the intellectual achievements of the Greek have been in large measure due to the absence of aspects of nature which terrified and the presence of geographic surroundings which inspired confidence in human skill. The Egean, with its numerous islands and sheltered harbors, furnished refuge and safe hiding-places from hostile neighbors. The mountains of the mainland were not lofty enough to be awe-inspiring, but were sufficiently high to give beauty and suggestion to the scenery. Under these conditions 47 See figures 56 and 57.

47

there was adequate protection from enemies, and yet communication was still possible with other peoples and civilizations. There was comparative safety without the degree of isolation that precludes transmission of intelligence and development of commerce. Communication and commerce were undoubtedly more important factors in the development of Greece than the general aspects of nature which inspired confidence. Yet Buckle has recognized a factor of environment which deserves consideration.

Heinrich von Treitschke, in his "Politik," ascribes the absence of artistic and poetic development in Switzerland and the Alpine region to the overwhelming aspect of nature whose majestic sublimity there paralyzes the mind. He cites the fact that, by contrast, the lower mountains and hills of Swabia, Franconia and Thuringia, where the scenery is milder, stimulating, but not overpowering, have produced many poets and artists. Moreover, the geographical distribution of awards made by the Paris Salon of 1896, shows that art flourishes in the river lowlands of France where nature is more appealing, rather than in the rough highlands of Savoy, and the massive eastern Pyrenees. But this difference might be explained on racial grounds because the population of the lowlands is Teutonic and the peoples of the highlands are Alpine and Celtic.

Buckle believes that the sublime and terrible aspects of nature in India exerting their depressing influence upon the minds of the inhabitants for many centuries have been a considerable factor in the development of all that is inconsistent and superstitious in the Hindoo culture. The threatening aspects of the external world 48 See figure 58.