The Earth and its Early History 



the Ordinances of Manu, the holy book of the Brahmans, 

 of which they form the basis. 



In these ancient writings we find the belief that the 

 alternate periods of waking and of sleep of the creator 

 Brahma, the compelling will or force, were connected 

 with great upheavals of Nature. 



" Thus this immutable power, by waking and sleeping 

 alternately, revivifies and destroys alternately, in eternal 

 succession, this whole assemblage of locomotive and 

 immovable creatures." 



It would appear from the Vedas that their composers 

 knew of the long polar night and connected it with the 

 southerly course of the Sun during the northern winter. 



They were Aryans, and probably came into India from 

 beyond the Himalayas, and had thus been in touch with 

 the far north. 



At a later stage there appears to have sprung up the 

 idea that Brahma, the creator, having completed his 

 labours, had lost further interest in the Universe and its 

 inhabitants, and the alternate destructions and revivi- 

 fications were attributed to Siva, the destroyer, and 

 Vishnu, the preserver. 



Belief in supernatural intervention has permeated in 

 the past, and indeed still enters into many writings and 

 theories concerning the Earth, and though modern Geo- 

 logy treats only of those founded, or supposed to be 

 founded, on a natural basis, its influence on the history 

 of the science has been so profound that it cannot be 

 neglected. 



Amongst the ancient Greeks were many men who 

 studied Nature from an observational standpoint, and 

 their views were often much discussed both by them- 



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