INDISTINCTNESS OF IDEAS. 279 



minds undisciplined in science. Perhaps it was 

 some misunderstood statement of the curved sur- 

 face of the ocean, which gave rise to the tradition 

 of there being a part of the sea directly over the 

 earth, from which at times an object has been 

 known to fall, or an anchor to be let down. Even 

 such whimsical fancies are not without instruction, 

 and may serve to show the reader what that vague- 

 ness and obscurity of ideas is, of which I have 

 been endeavouring to trace the prevalence in the 

 dark ages. 



We now proceed to another of the features 

 which appears to me to mark, in a very prominent 

 manner, the character of the stationary period. 



