382 THE KIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



do, indeed, profess to give us as good an insight into 

 the origin of the earth as into that of the heavens ; 

 but the mythological raiment, in which all alike are 

 clothed, betrays their origin in poetic fancy. Among 

 the countless legends of creation which we find in the 

 history of religions and of thought there is one that 

 soon took precedence of all the rest — the Mosaic story 

 of creation as told in the first book of the Hexateuch. 

 It did not exist in its present form until long after the 

 death of Moses (probably not until 800 years after- 

 wards) ; but its sources are much older, and are to be 

 found for the most part in Assyrian, Babylonian, and 

 Hindoo legends. This Hebrew legend of creation 

 obtained its great influence through its adoption into 

 the Christian faith and its consecration as the " Word 

 of God." Greek philosophers had already, 500 years 

 before Christ, explained the natural origin of the 

 earth in the same way as that of other cosmic bodies. 

 Xenophanes of Colophon had even recognized the 

 true character of the fossils which were afterwards to 

 prove of such moment ; the great painter, Leonardo 

 da Vinci, of the fifteenth century, also explained the 

 fossils as the petrified remains of animals which had 

 lived in earlier periods of the earth's history. But 

 the authority of the Bible, especially the myth of the 

 deluge, prevented any further progress in this direc- 

 tion, and ensured the triumph of the Mosaic legend 

 until about the middle of the last century. It survives 

 even at the present day among orthodox theologians. 

 However, in the second half of the eighteenth century 

 scientific inquiry into the structure of the crust of the 

 earth set to work independently of the Mosaic story, 

 and it soon led to certain conclusions as to the origin 

 of the earth. The founder of geology, Werner of 



