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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ture with great earnestness and assiduity, held many views concern- 

 ing the earth that were very reasonable for his time. Yet, in the ab- 

 sence of facts, nothing was left for him but to rely upon logic. He 

 had certain ideas of what is natural and what is perfect, and from 



Fig. 3. The Earth of the Veda Priests. 



these he reasoned as to what must be and therefore what is. To the 

 question whether the earth turns or the heavens turn, he replies that 

 the earth is evidently in repose, not only because we see it to be so, 

 but because it is a necessity that it should be, that is, because repose 

 is natural to the earth. If it be ashed why the stars must move around 



Fig. 4. The Hindoo Earth. 



the earth, he replies, it is natural that they should, because a circle is 

 the most perfect line, because it has no ends, and it must therefore 

 be described by the perfect stars. That the eai-th is the centre of the 

 universe, and is at rest, is furthermore proved by Aristotle from theo- 



