NEW THEOiiY OF J HE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH. 



Bv J. \j. Stewart. 

 <r^V^ANY (k'finitioiis IiiivcIk'cii uivcii of man, hiitiiiost of theni 



apply alniist eiiually a^ well to .sniiic other aiiiinal. 



Perniit nie to add to the iiuiuher one more, and eall him 

 the animal that asks questions and is diseonteuted with liis lot in 

 life, for it is certain that he no sooner Ixnianie conscious of exist- 

 ence than he liegan to inquire into the oi-i^in and pur])ose of 

 things. Other animals are content with good living and comforl- 

 ahle quarters, hut man is always seeking for sumething more. 

 Man "never is, hut always to l)e, i)lest." His possessions, 

 whether of gold or knowledge, are only st(i>ping stones to gi'ealei' 

 things, (iive him wealth, [lOwer, j)ei'fect health, and a paiadise 

 to live in, and he will sigh lor a sight of the North Pole, join an 

 expedition to penetrate the ])olar regions, antl live contentedly on 

 dog meat, seals and whale hluhlx'i' tw(j or three years at a time. 

 Yes, man is the aninjal that at-ks (piestions, and he began to ask 

 theni' verv soon after he oi'iginated. The ])rimitive man looked 

 around and asked : \\ ho made this world, how and of what 

 materials? Every savage trii»e, every civilized people, has its own 

 explanation. .Most of them are very cruue, all are very simple, 

 and one of them at least is sublime in its simplicity and s[)iritual- 

 ity. Each race l<)oks upon its own account of the origin of ihings 

 us a revelation or an inspiratitMi, and on the accounts of others as 

 myths. But i may mention that all the aueients seeuj to have 

 believed the earth to be flat, a notion that all of us, except a 

 gentleman who was recently a member of our Town llouncil, have 

 outgrown. We know to the contrary, know it to be a sphere that 

 flies swiftly through si»ace, revolving as it goes; but tiie old notion 

 still influences our thought and speech, and we continue to speak 

 of u{) in the sky, abt)ve the earrli and below the earth, and of 

 ascending and descending, just as though we believed the world 

 to be a flat surface on a fixed foundation. vVe know that the 

 ancients invented such phrases in ignorance, but we cling to the 



