n8 THE OLD, OLD SYSTEM. 



were really and truly the condition of things. If we admit 

 this doctrine, which bears the name of the Ptolemean system, 

 though, in truth, it is probably as old as humanity itself, 

 how shall we explain the precession of the equinoxes? We 

 cannot do otherwise than suppose, that while the celestial 

 sphere executes its diurnal movement round the poles of the 

 world, it executes another and much slower movement round 

 the poles of the Ecliptic. 



But this assuredly is a most singular supposition. What ! 

 the same starry sphere revolves at one and the same time 

 parallel to the plane of the Equator, and parallel to another 

 plane (the Ecliptic) inclined upon the first ? After having 

 imagined eight spheres of crystal to explain the movements 

 of the moon, the sun, the planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, 

 Jupiter, Saturn), and the stars, do we require a ninth? 

 Where will you stop, if you begin to discover additional 

 movements ? You are condemned to wander from hypothe- 

 sis to hypothesis, until you fall into an abyss of contradic- 

 tions ! 



Such is the language employed by the tribunal of pos- 

 terity, in addressing itself to the error which would substitute 

 appearance for reality. 



According to the other theory, it is the sun which occupies 

 the centre of the system, and it is the earth which, accom- 

 panied by the remainder of the planets, revolves around it. 

 This theory is likewise of considerable antiquity, though 



