118 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 
THE EARTH AND ITS MOVEMENTS. 
Read before the Astronomical Section of the Hamilton Scentific 
Association, April 12th, 1904. 
BY REY. FATHER BRADY. 
The subject naturally involves the different changes and evolu- 
tions of the earth, said the lecturer, but beware of false theories of 
evolution, such as Darwinism, where man’s noblest ancestry would 
be the monkey, or which asked man to sit in dreamland until the 
oceans would merge forth into immense drinking fountains of 
lemonade. Beware of that more dangerous evolution which would 
exclude all creative and preservative power. ‘‘Science,” says Lord 
Kelvin, “ does not merely assert that there is.a creative power, but 
that it is a miracle in itself.” 
The earth, our planet, has gone through ages of evolution, and 
is still progressing ; but we all believe it to be an integral part of 
this vast universe created by God. 
The lecturer then described the earth and its component parts ; 
its position in the solar system, and its double movements around 
the sun in twelve months, and on its own axis every twenty-four 
hours. Attention was called to the fact that both those movements, 
as well as the movements of all planets, were from west to east. 
The rapidity and regularity with which we are carried through the 
heavens, riding on our favorite planet, is surprising. 
The earth is round, said the lecturer, notwithstanding the 
many articles appearing just now in our newspapers in favor of the 
flat earth theory. 
Then followed many proofs, elementary and scientific. The 
gradual disappearing of a ship at sea, as though it were sinking ; the 
declining of the north star towards the horizon as we travel towards 
the equator; a journey around the world, which becomes shorter 
when made a greater distance from the equator, were all proofs of 
the sphericity of the earth. Seeing is believing, and the eclipse of 
