Such  speculative  work  is  exclusively  the  busi-
ness of  professional  diviners,  who  pretend  to
belong  to  the  literary  or  learned  class.  Undoubt-
edly they  are  well  paid  by  their  customers,  seeing
that  many  hundred  thousands  devote  themselves
to  this  profession.  They  are  never  without
business,  and  accordingly  tyrannise  over  human
life  in  every  way.  And  yet  the  chionomantical
science  or  art,  which  bears  its  refutation  on  its
face,  is  only  a  part  of  the  great  all-dominating
science  which  teaches  and  compels  man  to  live  and
act  in  accord  with  the  Universe,  captivating  his
mind,  shackling  his  thoughts  and  movements,
and  destined  to  do  so  until  true  science,  the  germs
of  which  are  now  gradually  spreading  over  China,
shall  imdermine  and  destroy  its  sway.
CHAPTER  VII

DIVINATORY  OBSERVATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSE^

THE  cardinal  principle  of  human  life  in  Eastern
Asia,  which  dictates  that  man  shall  behave
in  conformity  with  the  Tao  or  Order  of  the  Uni-
verse, has  compelled  him  for  thousands  of  years
to  keep  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  Universe,  in  order
to  learn  whether  extraordinary  phenomena  of
any  kind  indicated  some  derangement  in  the  Tao
of  Man,  causing  the  Tao  of  the  Universe  to  be
shocked,  offended,  and  deranged,  so  that  calamities
might  be  the  consequence.
And,  as  it  has  always  been  the  highest  and  holi-
est duty  of  the  Sons  of  Heaven  to  keep  the  Tao
of  Man  in  a  perfect  state  by  their  system  of
government,  they  always  have  had  in  their  ser-
vice learned  men  charged  with  the  observation
and  interpretation  of  phenomena.  Thus,  proper
measures   might   be   taken   to   avert   threatened

calamities.     These  measures  looked  chiefly  to  the

248


Divinatory  Observation  of  the  Universe    249


improvement  of  the  Tao  of  Man  by  improvement
of  the  government.
