The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-19

cess of qualification. The shape of
the earth follows the regular laws. AS
far as is known there is no abrupt
change from one section of the earth
to the other as would be necessary if
the earth's form were a tetrahedroid
or any pyramidal figure Such an alb
rupt change from one plane to another
would be absurd as far as oblateness
goes. In such a pyramidal figure alb
rupt changes in latitude would be in
proximity, which have never been no
ticed to exist anywhere"
Out in the lovely Gothic settlement
of the University of Chicago little at
tertion was paid to the Gregory or Col
bert theories. Prof. Chamberlin. the
geology scientist who Dresides over
Walker museum, was i'll. and Prof.
Hams bay, accupied with the man.
moth lenses of the Yerkes telescope.
Prof. Nicholson, of the physical lab
oratory, knew nothing of either of the
advertised scientists and was therefore
very sceptical about the new theories.
Bygone days were full of theories
concerning the earthS crust, a subject
of profound interest to early scien-
lists and philosophers. AS early as AZ
B. C. Aristotle, with no facts, but only
Logic to rely upon, believed that the
earth was evidently in TeDose, not only
because man saw 1t 50, but because
repose is natural to the earth He
taught that the earth was at rest in
the center of q moving sphere of stars
He also thought it spherical in form,
but was puzzled by the uncertainty of
how it could remain in one place with
out foundation. Each of the early, pat
riotic races thought it's land and peo-
pie the best in the world and conse-
quently located themselves in the center
of the universe. The Hindoos and
Scandinavians both call themselves
the central habitation," while with
the Greeks Olympus was the center,
the Egyptians acknowledging Thebes
only, the Assyrians Babylon, the He
brews Jerusalem and the Chinese, not
behindhand, called themselves ''the
central empire
SOME EARLY IDEAS.
One of the early theories taught was
that the earth was a vast plain or ISL
and. surrounded on all sides by an in
accessible and interminable ocean,
While at the eXtremities and around
the borders were placed the fortunate
isles the abode of giants, fairies and
pygmies. When navigators first began
to venture out beyond the ocean the
idea of a circular horizon made them
believe that the ocean was bounded in
place and the whole world contained
in a circle beneath which roots reached
down without ever finding an end.
The Veda priests preached that the
! earth was supported on twelve col
umns, sustained by the peoples sacri-
fees to the gods, which if suspended
would cause the pillars to collapse.
| The Hindoos believed the world hemis-
| pherical and that it was balanced like
a capsized boat on the heads of four
elephants, supported in turn on the
| back of tortoise. Some believed that
the tortoise rested on nothing, but the
/ Hindoos say that it f1oated on the sur
| face of the universal ocean. They also
! believed that the animals were SYM
! bolical, the four elephants meaning the
four directions of the compass and the
/ tortoise representing eternity. Anapi-
mander, in the sixth century before
| Christ, taught that the earth was a
cylinder, with the upper part alone in
habited. He believed it f1oated freely
In the celestial vault, and his belief
was concurred in by Leucippus, Demo-
critus, Heraclitus and Anaxagoras.
Plato taught that matter In the be-
| ginning was devoid of form but God
| invested 1t with kind of triangular
constitution. The question of the
earth's support was always of great
interest to scientists. The early Green.
| s' etoUSAt II WAS upnelQ by
| row of pillars so devastated by time as
to be cracked In many places and only
kept from crumbling finally by the in.
carnations Of magicians. FIammarior
says: An ancient Egyptian papyru:
In the library of Paris gives very
curious hieroglyphical representation
OF the universe. The earth is here i'm.
aslneo under the form of a reclining
figure and is covered with leaves
Heaven is personif1ed by goddess
who forms the vault by her star-be
spangled body, which is elongated in 8
| very peculiar manner. Two boats. car.
rying each the rising and setting suns
are moving along the heavens over tn.
BODY of the goddess. In the center o,
the picture is the god Maon, a divin,
inteIlsence, VINO prestdes over the
equilibrium Of the universe"
4 In the fifth. sixth and seventh cen.