102 : The Atlantic 



day and night were accounted for by the fact that the sun circled 

 around a conical mountain. The difference between the length of the 

 day in summer and winter was due to the fact that sometimes the 

 sun circled around the base of the mountain and sometimes around 

 the top of it. 



Modern scholars have pointed out that if we examine the records 

 of scholarship and science carefully it is possible in almost every age 

 to point to the writing of one or more gifted men who believed that 

 the world was round and who did not share the traditional igno- 

 rance of their time. This is probably true but it is of doubtful value. 

 The important point is that these scholars had no influence on the 

 men of their time. The bulk of the people, including the leaders of 

 enterprise, believed that the world was flat and behaved accordingly, 

 and the seas and oceans were filled with nameless and unspeakable 

 terrors, the dangers of which increased in proportion to their distance 

 from the familiar land. 



