Schvarcz — Geology in Ancient Greece, 375 



earlier, i.e. Babylonian period' — was the Heliocentric idea, that 

 " those stars which do not err, and the sun, remain immovably at 

 rest ;" and that " in the circumference (orbit) of a circle the earth is 

 moving around the sun, the latter being placed in the centre of the 

 orbit." To this interesting question Dr. Schvarcz devotes seventeen 

 pages of his very copious Appendix citing all the authorities who 

 have investigated the subject. He condemns those authors of the 

 short-chronology school of Meincrs who assert that amongst all the 

 sciences of the earth that of the Greeks is the oldest, and he vigour- 

 ously supports long-chronology and the researches of Dr. Chwolson 

 in Babylonian literature. 



It appears that in deciphering a most ancient work on Nabathean 

 Agriculture the St. Petersburg Professor has not only found records 

 of several stages of Babylonian civilization, which agree with other 

 contemporary long-chronology data, but also evidence of a Baby- 

 lonian astronomer, Cardana, who had actually calculated lunar tables 

 as early as 2,500 e.g., Babylon itself being a mighty, luxurious, 

 well-organized monarchy, boasting of its own generals, astronomers, 

 statesmen, and sects of philosophers as early as coevally with 

 Dewanai, or 3,000 B.C. ! 



In resisting the short-chronology arguments, Dr. Schvarcz con- 

 cludes, ''We can no longer submit to such coercive reaction 

 (restriction ?) whilst we behold the fossils of Engis, Neanderthal, 

 Bruniquel, Abbeville, and the human remains of St. Prest coeval 

 with the fauna oi Elephas meridionalis itself" (p. 95). 



The Notes at the end of the Appendix render it easy for the 

 scholar to refer to the original authors for every extract given. 



Although the Geologist is ever and anon interested by finding a 

 theory only propounded in geological science yesterday,^ here re- 

 ferred back to the observations of Strato, the natural philosopher, 

 and Xanthus the Lydian, &c., yet we still think, as already stated, 

 that it is to the scholar and historian, far more than to the geologist, 

 this work commends itself. 



We cannot, however, conclude this notice without expressing our 

 admiration for the author's linguistical and scholarly powers ; some 

 passages, especially in Chapter VI., being admirably rendered, and 

 equalling in style the best English composition. 



1 It appears that Strabo asserted that Seleucus, the demonstrator of the heliocentric 

 idea, was a Babylonian, and that the name of Pitagura (Pythagoras) has been dis- 

 coTered by Dr. Oppert, in cuneiform characters, on an Assyrian inscription. 



2 It behoves our gallant countryman, Col. George Greenwood, to look to his 

 laurels, for, if we mistake not, the Geographer Strabo, 1800 years ago, (or even 

 Strato three centuries earlier) established most satisfactorily the doctrine of " Rain 

 and Rivers!" The shallowing of the Euxine was attributed by Strato to "the 

 numerous large rivers which pour into it from the east and north, and by degrees fill 

 it up with sediment" (p. 98); whilst Strabo observes (p. iOl) "it is clear that all 

 the sediment carried down by the rivers into the sea cannot remain in it" (in a state 

 of suspension), but must be thrown out, and join the base of the coast-line. It there- 

 fore accumulates, by degrees, in the depth of the shore and forms a low tract of 

 land." Other passages also prove that Strabo quite understood how the delta of the 

 Nile and other large rivers had been formed. 



