COSMOGONY COSSACKS. 



4", 5 



of the universe ; of its motion and its form. He says 

 positively, in his Metaphysics, that God is an intel- 

 ligent Spirit ( eug), incorporeal, eternal, immovable, 

 indivisable, and the Mover of all things. According 

 to this great philosopher, the universe is less a crea- 

 tion than an emanation of the Deity. Plato says 

 the universe is an eternal image of the immutable 

 Idea, or Type, united, from eternity, with change- 

 able matter. The followers of this philosopher both 

 developed and distorted this idea. Ammonius, a 

 disciple of Proclus, taught, in the sixth century, at 

 Alexandria, the coeternity of God and the universe. 

 Modern philosophers, and also ancient ones (e. g., 

 Xenophanes, according to Diogenes Laertius), went 

 further, and taught that the universe is one with the 

 Deity. Parmenides, Melissus, Zeno of Elea, and the 

 Megaric sect, followed this doctrine. 



II. The theory which considers the matter of the 

 universe eternal, but not its form, was the prevailing 

 one among the ancients, who, starting from the prin- 

 ciple that nothing could be made out of nothing, 

 could not admit the creation of matter, yet did not 

 believe tliat the world had been always in its present 

 state. The prior state of the world, subject to a 

 constant succession of uncertain movements, which 

 chance afterwards made regular, they called chaos. 

 The Phoenicians, Babylonians, and also Egyptians, 

 seem to have adhered to this theory. The ancient 

 poets, who have handed down to us the old mytholo- 

 gical traditions, represent the universe as springing 

 from chaos, without the assistance of the Deity. He- 

 siod feigns that Chaos was the parent of Erebus and 

 Night, from whose union sprang the Air (AiVrij) and 

 the Day ('H^a). He further relates how the sky 

 and the sttrs were separated from the earth, &c. The 

 system of atoms is much more famous. Leucippus 

 and Democritus of Abdera were its inventors. The 

 atoms, or indivisible particles, say they, existed from 

 'eternity, moving at hazard, and producing, by their 

 constant meeting, a variety of substances. After 

 having given rise to an immense variety of combina- 

 tions, they produced the present organization of 

 bodies. This system of cosmogony was that of Epi- 

 curus, as described by Lucretius. Democritus attri- 

 buted to atoms form and size, Epicurus added weight. 

 Many other systems have existed, which must be 

 classed under this division. We only mention that 

 of the Stoics, who admitted two principles, God and 

 matter, in the abstract, both corporeal, for they did 

 not admit spiritual beings. The first was active, the 

 second passive. 



III. The third theory of cosmogony makes God the 

 Creator of the world out of nothing. This is the doc- 

 trine of the Etruscans, Druids, Magi, and Bramins. 

 Before idolatry was introduced into China, the peo- 

 ple worshipped a Supreme Being, Chang-Ti, the 

 Mover and Regulator of the universe. Anaxa- 

 goras was the first among the Greeks, who taught 

 that God created the universe from nothing. The 

 Romans generally adopted this theory, notwithstand- 

 ing the efforts of Lucretius to establish the doctrine 

 of Epicurus. The beginning of Ovid bears a strik- 

 ing resemblance to the beginning of Genesis. Cle- 

 ment of Alexandria therefore thinks that the Penta- 

 teuch was known in Greece and Rome before the 

 time of Christ. It is not necessary, however, to 

 adopt this conclusion, for the two systems of cosmo- 

 gony might have had a common origin. The Indian 

 cosmogony also bears much resemblance to that of 

 Moses. It is well known to every reader, that the 

 Mosaic cosmogony belongs to the class we are now 

 describing. It is distinguished by its great simplici- 

 ty. The rationalists, as they are calleu in Germany, 

 regard it as an Asiatic tradition, and not as a reve- 

 lation. Some of the most important sources ot in- 



formation respecting the different systems of cosmo- 

 gony, besides the book of Genesis, are the works ol' 

 Hesiod, Diogenes Laertius, Nonnus of Panopolis, 

 Eusebius, Phiio the Jew, Pliny, and Diodorus. A 

 very learned and ingenious treatise on the Mosaic 

 history of creation is contained in a work full of learn- 

 ing Mythologus oder gesummelte Abhandlungen ueber 

 die Sagen ties Alterthums von Phiiipp Buttmann, vol. 

 i., Berlin, 1828. 



COSMORAMA is the high sounding title affixed 

 to a species of picturesque exhibition, which has of 

 late been frequently shown in London. It consists 

 of eight or ten coloured drawings executed in body 

 colours laid horizontally round a semicircular table, 

 and reflected in mirrors, placed diagonally opposite to 

 them. The spectator is permitted to look at them 

 through convex lenses placed immediately in front of 

 each "mirror. The exhibiton takes place by lamp 

 light only, and the lamps are so placed, as not to be 

 reflected in the fields of the mirror. 'I here is nothing- 

 new in the invention, and the views exhibited, are gene- 

 rally copies made from engraved views, such as those 

 of Piranesi, De Nou, Le Bruyer, and other artists. 



COSSACKS(Ca*ac/t) ; the tribes who inhabit the 

 southern and eastern parts of Russia, Poland, the 

 Ukraine, &c., guarding the southern and eastern 

 front er of the Russian empire, and paying no taxes, 

 performing, instead, the duty of soldiers. Nearly all 

 of them belong to the Greco-Russian church. Their 

 internal administration, however, is independent of 

 the Russian government. They form a military de- 

 mocracy. They must be divided into two principal 

 classes, both on account of their descent and their 

 present condition the Cossacks of Little Russia 

 (Malo-Russia), and those of the Don. Both classes, 

 and especially those of the Don, have collateral 

 branches. From those of the Don, who are the most 

 civilized, are descended the Volgaic, the Terek, the 

 Grebeskoi, the Uralian and Siberian Cossacks. To the, 

 other race belong the /aporogians or Haydamaks, 

 who are the wildest and most unrestrained. Writers 

 are not agreed as to the origin of this people and of 

 their name. Some derive both races from the pro- 

 vince of Casachia, so called by Constantine Porphy- 

 rogenetes. In the Turkish, cazak signifies a robber ; 

 but, in the Tartar language, it signifies a soldier 

 lightly armed, for rapid motion. Since the Cossac' s 

 came from the plains beyond the Volga, they may be 

 the remains of the Tartar hordes who settled there at 

 different times. Some suppose them to be of Russian 

 origin. Their language is properly Russian, al- 

 though, in consequence of their early wars with the 

 Turks and Poles, they have adopted many words 

 from these people. It is probable that both races of 

 the Cossacks are descended from the United Russian 

 adventurers, who came from the provinces of Novo- 

 gorod. Their object was to collect booty in the wars 

 and feuds with the Tartars, on the frontiers of the 

 Russian empire. As they were useful in protecting 

 the frontiers, the government granted them great 

 privileges ; and their numbers rapidly increased, 

 more especially as grants of land were made 

 them. Thus their power was augmented, and they 

 became, by degrees, better organized and firmly es- 

 tablished. Their privileges, however, have peea 

 very much limited, since the year 1804. In the war 

 of 1538, 3000 Cossacks of the Don made their first 

 campaign with the Russians in Livonia. They then 

 conquered Siberia, repulsed the Tartars from many 

 Kussian provinces, and assisted in defeating the 

 Turks. During the frequent rebellions of the Cos- 

 sacks of the Don (the last of which was conducted 

 by tli* formidable Pujratsrhefl), quarrels arose among 

 them, and the great family became divided into seve- 

 ral parts. Thus a brunch of the great tribe of the 



