76 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE
greatandmotionlesscentermovedtheotherheavenly
bodies,—alittlesun,alittlemoon,andafewthousand
tiny stars, all placed near, for the sole purpose of
lightingandwarming ourmightyearth.
"Theoneentirelyacceptedfactbeingthatourearth
wasthe moveless centerofall things, other matters
hadtofitinwiththattheoryasbesttheymight. The
studyoftheskies waslonghopelesslyhamperedby
this one stupendous error. It is singular to glance
through records of early astronomical notions, and
seethevarietyof theoriesthatarose, one following
another,alldesignedtoexplainthethingswhichwere
seentohappen,allhopelesslywrongbecause ofthis
onefoundationmistake.
"TheearlyGreeksatone timesteadfastlybelieved
thesuntobeatorch,thestarstobecandles,byturns
litandputout. Oneoftheirphilosophersimproved,
later, uponthetheory,by maintainingthat thestars
were a kind of meteors, an emanation from the
earth,—asortof'terrestrialeffluvia.'
"Another explanation in vogue among them was
thatourearthfloatedin aboundlessocean; andthat
when the sun vanished at night, he was boated by
Vulcan around the north pole, behind certain lofty
mountains,whichservedtohidehis radiance,and so
he reachedtheothersideintime fornextmorning's
dueappearance.
"Afterawhile,itbecameevidenttotheirmindsthat
thisexplanation washardly satisfactory. Thenthey
conjecturedthattheearth,insteadoffloating onthe
watersofanocean,wasbuiltuponenormouspillars,