TRANSMIGRATION OF THE SOUL 5860 



TRANSPORTATION 



of the instrument, but their description is not 

 essential to an understanding of its workings. 

 The entire apparatus is attached by a toggle 



TRANSIT INSTRUMENT 

 The figure is explained in the text. 



joint to a brass plate, h, which is fastened to 

 the tripod. 

 TRANSMIGRATION OF THE SOUL, the 



belief that the soul, after the death of the 

 body, passes into the bodies of lower animals 

 or the bodies of human beings, for purification. 

 Among the Brahmanic Hindus it has its foun- 

 dation in the belief that the soul must do pen- 

 ance and be cleansed before its return tp God, 

 the source of all things. The Buddhists, an- 

 other Hindu sect, believe that the soul must be 

 free from all passions and desires or else pass 

 through all the gradations of vegetable and ani- 

 mal life for thousands of years before it reaches 

 Nirvana, or absolute loss of existence (see 

 BRAHMANISM; BUDDHISM). 



In ancient Egypt, where the belief took the 

 form of reincarnation, it was closely connected 

 with the system of animal worship. The Egyp- 

 tians believed that the soul after the death 

 of the body must have a tangible habitation, 

 and that the souls of the gods dwelt in certain 

 animals set apart as sacred. The soul of Osiris, 

 for example, was believed to live in the body 

 of a sacred hull. Transmigration of the soul 

 was also advanced by the Greek philosophers 



Pythagoras and Plato, and Caesar tells us that 

 the belief was current among the Gauls. A 

 few minor Christian sects have at various times 

 accepted the idea, but Christianity as a whole 

 rejects the belief. 



TRANSPORTA'TION. One-half of the in- 

 habitants of the earth live on less than one- 

 seventh of its surface. That the vast popula- 

 tion of the earth may have food, clothing and 

 shelter, the less populous regions must con- 

 tribute a part of their products to those more 

 densely populated. The necessity for this dis- 

 tribution of material has led to the develop- 

 ment of the great transportation systems of 

 modern times. Before he domesticated the 

 horse, the ox and the ass, man carried his own 

 burdens, and in some regions, like the interior 

 of Africa, all goods are still transported on the 

 backs of men. It was an easy matter to train 

 domestic animals to carry loads, and after they 

 had become accustomed to this, to hitch them 

 to sledges. 



The next step consisted in affixing wheels or 

 trucks to the sledge and converting it into a 

 cart. Carts could not be used without roads, 

 and men began to improve the paths over 

 which they traveled. Each new vehicle re- 

 quired better roads than its predecessors, and 

 the improvement of roads followed closely upon 

 the improvement of vehicles. The carriage 

 road led to the railway, which, from small be- 

 ginnings, has been developed into the great sys- 

 tems of the present time. Of still later devel- 

 opment is the automobile, now manufactured 

 in a wide variety of forms and used both for 

 business and for pleasure. 



Men probably rode upon logs in the water 

 before they made the dugout, which, hollowed 

 out of a log, was the forerunner of the rowboat 

 (see illustration, page 1159). The sailboat fol- 

 lowed the rowboat, and sailing vessels had de- 

 veloped into large ships before the steam engine 

 was applied to navigation. The motor boat has 

 followed the steamboat, and there is scarcely a 

 lake or river within the bounds of civilization 

 that does not have its motor boat. Among the 

 modern water vehicles should be mentioned the 

 submarine, which travels beneath the sea and 

 on the surface. 



Man's final conquest in transportation is the 

 navigation of the air, in which extraordinary 

 progress has been made since the beginning of 

 the present century. 



Closely allied with transportation are the 

 various means of communication the postal 

 service, the telegraph, and the telephone. All 



