planets conceived of as resplendent animals of benef 
106 The American Naturalist. [February, 
Then he made the beasts of the field and the living creatures 
of the desert; the Tigris and the Euphrates, and “ proclaimed 
their name well,” in fact said that creation was good, as in 
Genesis. Then Herodach created grass, the plants of the 
marshes and the forests; and with the plains and forests in 
which they were to dwell, he made oxen and other large cattle 
and sheep. This deeply interesting account has been neces- 
sarily much abbreviated. 
The Accadian idea of the structure of the world must be 
understood before the various legends as to the creation and 
the early history of mankind become “thinkable” to the mod- 
ern mind. In our mind’s eye we see the world as a compara- 
tively insignificant planet whirling at headlong speed round a 
central sun; we know the blue sky to be only the effect of 
distant air; it is not “thinkable” to us that the sun should 
stand still at the bidding of the leader of a small tribe of half 
savage Nomads, nor that a tower should be built to attain a 
solid sky, above which lived gods, alarmed and jealous at so 
daring a proceeding. Nor can we picture to ourselves a great 
reservoir or “Heavenly Ocean” above a solid sky, which 
could be “ opened ” to let the waters submerge a sinful world. 
But all these stories are in harmony with Accadian cosmogony- — 
The Chaldeans imagined the earth as an inverted boat or bowl, 
the thickness of which would represent what we call the crust 
of the earth; while in the hollow beneath this crust lay the 
_ “abyss,” the abode of many powers, and answering to | 
Elysium and Tartarus of classic mythology. Here dwelt 
Allat, the remorseless Queen of the Dead; from the Abyss 
issued the terrible Maskim, the seven evil spirits, who knew 
neither mercy nor pity. Here too was Eridhu, the “ glorio 
abode,” within which was the tower which reached the skies. — 
Above the convex surface of the earth spread the sky, (ana) 
divided into two regions, the highest heaven or firmament, 
which with the fixed stars immovably attached to it, revolved 
_ as upon an axis, round an immensely high mountain, which 
joined it to the earth as a pillar. In the lower heaven th 
` 3Chaldea, pp. 153-157. 
