PHASES OF LIFE IN INDIA. 27
A later branch of the Mongolian civilization was the Japanese. In the fourth and fifth centuries, A. D., the nation came into prominence. It has passed through a more rapid development than China and shown a readier disposition to join the great current of modern thought. Japan is yet destined to play a brilliant part in the drama of human history. Its greatest achievements are yet in the future. With active and ready intellects, as a nation, with social docility and high ambitions, its hopes of the future rest upon a good basis in the national character.
THE HINDOO CIVILIZATION was
favored in making an early growth
by the climate, the fertile soil and the rich mineral productions of India. Here nature had dealt out her treasures to man with a lavish hand. The line of mental or brain growth in this people was in the direction of contemplative memory, centering in familism. Hence arose
through many centuries vast systems of speculation uncertain in their outlines and impractical in their aims. Without scientific knowledge as a basis, their theories were like castles in the air. They accepted a philosophy without science and a history without dates.
Before the Hindoo mind, the world of external nature seemed like an ever revolving and recurring panorama, incessantly coming and going. It was little matter to them in what part of this shifting illusion they might stand. What mattered it about dates, when each person might be secure that sooner
or later he would be absorbed into the infinite Brahm, the bliss of vast unconsciousness ?
Like Plato and many of his followers, the Hindoos based much of their philosophy on the supposed " Illusions of the Senses. " But our modern science of physiology has clearly proved that sensations are not illusory. In a state of health the eye, the ear, the skin and other organs of sense always tell the truth. They send into the brain correct reports of the impressions which they have received. If a mistake is made in the matter, if deception occurs, then the fault lies with our reason, not with the sensation. For it is always the proper work of reason to take the impressions of the senses and combine these into a judgment of what is true in the case. The reason may form its judgment without comparing a sufficient number of reports from the senses. For example, the senses do not tell us that the sun rises and sets, or revolves around the earth. The sense of vision in this case simply reports that the sun, or that red disk, appears in different directions, or at successive positions, during the day. It disappears in the west and reappears in the east. The reasoning faculties connect these appearances and comparing them with other experiences in which successive impressions have been felt, the reasoning faculties conclude that the sun is in motion. But in this case the data was incomplete and reason has failed to take into account all the facts. By walking around another person who is sitting still, and then standing still while that person turns himself round, we may easily prove that the successive appearances would be just the same whether it were the sun that moved
