G. F.
_August 1st, 1909._




BOOK I. THE GEOMETRICAL PERIOD



1. PRIMITIVE ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY.


The growth of intelligence in the human race has its counterpart in
that of the individual, especially in the earliest stages.
Intellectual activity and the development of reasoning powers are in
both cases based upon the accumulation of experiences, and on the
comparison, classification, arrangement, and nomenclature of these
experiences. During the infancy of each the succession of events can
be watched, but there can be no _a priori_ anticipations.
Experience alone, in both cases, leads to the idea of cause and effect
as a principle that seems to dominate our present universe, as a rule
for predicting the course of events, and as a guide to the choice of a
course of action. This idea of cause and effect is the most potent
factor in developing the history of the human race, as of the
individual.

In no realm of nature is the principle of cause and effect more
conspicuous than in astronomy; and we fall into the habit of thinking