The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-12-12
BEFORE THE ENGLISH CAME :
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he had them brought before him i'm his n.Iaa-
Clement and Alhinus were their names.
There is. extant an ancient Irish Astronomical
tract, OF which copies preserved in the RoraI
Irish Academy and In Marshs library. This worr
dealt with from the standpoint of astronomical
science by the eminent Irish astronomer. Sir. Rob
er Ball, in a lecture before the Irish Literary So
ciety of London. This Irish Astronomical Trar
is earnest and important treatise. illustrated h.,
diagrams. 1t is divided into thirtv-niuc chaprcr.
which treat of the creation. the sun moon stars
planets and elements: the earth volcanoes Sca-
tides. rivers rains, animals and plants. The fr,-
and last chapters here mentioned are partcularr-
interesting As regards the first. the doctrine. Of
the rotundity OF the earth might almost be- .c.rd
q diStinctlycIv Irish doctrine. Tie ancient Irish
writers appear to have uniformly 4dgoc3icd It's
globular shape. 1t Is 50 described in glossary in
the Senchus NOR
Answering the objection that if rhc World b,
round the inhabitants of one-haIf Of its surfar.
must walk with their heads down. the Irish writer
argues: Whatever is towards the mass Of tbr
earth is down. and. contrariwioe what Is surface
wards is upward So that 'on what side soevcf p.o-
pie may be standing their heads up and their
feet down. In the extra chapter OH the flowing
and ebbing Of the sea- the Irish author. giving first
the old view of the influence OF the moons light i'm
producing tides, go on to assert that the moon has
power over moist substances and over the water
of the sea- like the power which adamant exercises
over iron, and the result of this attraction Is called
the flowing of the sea When the attraction ceases
the sea GIBBS.
The last chapter states that there are two places
the earth in which the entire year Is one day
and one night One Of these places Is directly
under the Arctic and the other under the Antarctic
pole Attention was first drawn to this by Irish
clerics. who had resided from February to August
in Iceland. They stated that at midsummer the
sun scarcely SETS and there Is light enought to
enable people to pursue their usual avocations
Dicuil, the Irish geographer, in S25 records this
and observes that he had heard it from these Irish
cerics thirty years before. That the reputation of
Irish scholars for knowledge in astronomical sci
ence did not for long decline may be inferred from
the fact that in 81 Charlemagne consulted DungaI
the Recluse as to whether two eclipses had taken
place in the previous wear. could occur in any
year, and received a reply III a Latin letter which
is still extant No Is more conscious than
that only fringe of the great veil of the Temple
of Science in ancient Ireland had been lifted There
is Astounding room and work for willing minds. I
claim to have shown that amidst their most adj
vanced contemporaries the ancient Irish stood fore
most. because their passion for learning and their
passion for difustiug knowledge, with the service
of alert, free and energetic minds, elevated them
above racial restrictions, endowed them with the
spirit Of research and made them in the realm of
intellect the most progressive people in Europe