FIGURE OF THE EARTH. 311 



traced, was now for the first time practically shown ; to the rude marinQr, as to 

 the astronomer, the limitation of our globe in all directions, and its isolation in 

 space, were from this date evident ; and to the abstract but little diffused 

 methods of geometry was now added a new means for forming an idea of the 

 dimensions of the eartli. Elcano, in effect, though encountered by many unex- 

 pected obstacles, had performed, in little more than three years and three 

 mouths, a complete voyage of circumnavigation. 



From the memorable epoch referred to, geographical discoveries have suc- 

 ceeded one another with greater rapidity than ever, the earth has been explored 

 in all directions, the width of the seas calculated, and the surface of the conti- 

 nents measured ; but all these labors, however vast their importance, liave been 

 those of detail, and have added no new idea to the results of the bold naviga- 

 tion performed in the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries', as re- 

 spects the general form and approximate dimensions of the planet we inhabit. 

 To these last dates must be referred, if not the first clear conception, the definitive 

 verification of the nearly. spherical figure of the earth. 



Looking back, however, it must be conceded that neither the voyages of 

 Columbus nor Magallanes were absolutely necessary for the demonstration of 

 the spherical figure of the earth, since this fact might have been deduced with 

 sufficient clearness from geographical principles already verified ; from the de- 

 lusion indulged by every nation that its own territory was central, as regarded 

 the rest of the earth ; from the general and changeable aspect of the heavens 

 upon every change of country ; from the apparent sphericity of the sun, and 

 especially that of the moon, still more conspicuous through the succession of its 

 phases, and from the circular outline of the earth's shadow during the eclipses 

 of the lunar planet. But all these indications of the limitation and roundness 

 of the earth, however conclusive for reflecting and studious minds, would have 

 carried no conviction to the generality of mankind, without the incontestable 

 support of those other proofs which might be called material or tangible. With 

 what obstacles did Columbus meet betbre finding himself intrusted with three 

 frail vessels — how much incredulity in all countries, even to the extent of being 

 charged with madness — and for what 1 Columbus said : " The Portuguese 

 seek the gold and spices of India by steering towards the east ; and 1, who 

 cherish the persuasion that the earth is round, propose to trace a more expe- 

 ditious route by reaching the same point in au opposite direction." Had there 

 bcen^many who at that time held the doctrine of the earth's sphericity, no one 

 would have treated so logical and obvious a thought as extravagant ; nor would 

 Columbus -have been indebted to the noble instinct of a woman for the success- 

 ful issue of his enterprise if modern society had inherited from the ancient that 

 vast store of science attributed to the latter, instead of having to rear from the 

 very foundation the edifice of its own knowledge. 



What has been just said in regard to the form of our globe may, with even 

 more propriety, be asserted of its movement of rotation. We shall admit, 

 without discussion, that among the Indians, the Chinese, the Chaldeans, there 

 might possibly be a few who recognized and maintained the reality of this 

 movement ; that the same might be true of ancient Egypt, and that certain 

 Greek philosophers, especially of the school of Pythagoras, also taught at a 

 later period the same truth. To explain the alternation of day and night two 

 hypotheses were feasible, and there was nothing to forbid men of special talent 

 adopting the more rational one; but was the merit of Copernicus, therefore, less 

 in having reproduced the right idea about the middle of the sixteenth century ? 

 How many years must still elapse, how many angry and deplorable discussions 

 ensue before the ideas of Copernicus became firmly established even among 

 men of science and systematic cultivation. On the other hand, did the Greek 

 philosophers, who admitted the rotation of the earth, build their doctrine on the 

 difficulty of reconciling in any other manner the phenomena of the heavens, or 



