· AU THOR’S P RE FACE Y book, Worlds in the Making, has been received with such general approval that I do not know how to express my thanks adequately. The work has called forth

E L I FE OF THE

UN IVERSE

S CON C E IV E D BY MAN

ROM THE EARL IE ST AGE S

O T H E P RE S E NT T I M E

SVANTE ARRHEN IUSD I RECTOR OF TH E PH Y S I CO- CHEM I CALN O B E L I N S T I T U T E , S T O C K H O LM

AUTHOR OF“W ORLDS I N T HE M AK ING , E TC.

TRAN SLAT E D B Y

D R . H . BOR N S ,LON D O N

ILLU STRATED

I N Two VOLUM E SVOL. I

LONDON THH ) NEW7 YORK

HARPER 55“ BROTHERS

4 5 ALB E MA RLE STRE E T ,w.

1 909

AU THOR’

S PRE FACE

Y book,Worlds in the Making , has been

received with such general approval that

I do not know how to express my thanks

adequately . The work has called forth the most

varied questions both from friends and strangers .

Many of these questions concern the correct

ness of the manifold cosmogonic conceptions

which were more general in the past than now .

These questions,as well as other circumstances ,

induced me to trace the historical development

of cosmogonic ideas from ancient days up to thetime of N ewton . I have become so profoundly

interested in this research that I venture to

think the public will be glad to read how the

grand speculations of our age have been evolved

from the primitive,childlike and incoherent

notions of our ancestors in bygone ages . Nur

durch Werden,

” Haeckel says,wird das Ge

V l l

AUTHOR ’

S PREFACE

wordene erkannt .

—A true understanding of phe

nomena can only be acquired by the study of the

history of their evolution .

”

Haeckel possibly went too far with this state

ment . The modern chemist need not know all the

phantasms of the alchemists . But nobody will

question that the study of the views and reasoning

of past ages sheds a remarkable light on the views

of our own age .

The most interesting feature in such a research

is perhaps that it enables us to trace the rudiments

of our modern theories from the shadowy notions

of antiquity . We watch the fate of theses,Ob

serve how they changed with their surroundings,

how they competed with other doctrines,how

they decayed,to gain strength again and to

eclipse their rivals,and how they alone retained

sufficient vigour finally . This comparative his

torical study impresses us also with the soundness

and reliability of modern opinions .

We further observe with deep satisfaction how

evolution progresses at an unprecedented rate in

our days . Human intellect was hibernating for

a hundred thousand years,and man did not learn

more in any domain than what the lowest races

v i i i

AUTHOR ’

S PREFACE

know at present . During the space of scarcely

ten thousand years which we assign to the history

of civilisation,much greater progress has no doubt

been made than during the whole of the pre

historic ages . There was a sad cultural retro

gression during the Middle Ages . Yet we may

assert that we have advanced more in the last

thousand years than in all the previous ages

together . And again,with all admiration for the

eminent work which Laplace and Herschel did a

hundred years ago,we may assert that the last hun

dred years have helped us on more than the nine

hundred previous years . The application of the

mechanical theory of heat to cosmogonic prob

lems alone has done more to elucidate those

problems than all the previous investigations ,and when we think of the vast fields which spec

trum analysis and the study of thermal radiation,

of the radiation pressure , and of radioactivity have

opened up to us,the balance will decidedly turn

in favour of the past century . I t is true that we

cannot anticipate the j udgment which the future

may pass on the real achievements of the present

age . Yet no scientist will dispute the fact that

science has never advanced so rapidly as in our time .

ix

AUTHOR ’

S PREFACE

When we ask ourselves,how such extraordinary

strides could have been made in natural philo

sophy , especially in its application to cosmogonic

problems,we may reason somewhat as follows

During the dawn of civilisation man lived in

small tribes which had grown out of famil ies .

The sum - total of the knowledge and experience

which the tribe had acquired,independently of

other tribes,could not but be limited . The

most intelligent man of the tribe,the medicine

man,made the best use of his knowledge with

the obj ect of ruling the others . Only his trusted

confidants were allowed to gain an insight into

the science to which he owed his superior position .

Successive generations could not add‘

much to

that treasure of knowledge . Matters improved

when the tribes united to nations . The wise

men formed a relatively large caste of priests,

who trained in schools those whom they wished

to initiate . People had meanwhile learned to‘

put

their knowledge and thoughts down in writing .

But the written document demanded laborious

preparation ; the few manuscripts were carefully

preserved in the temples . I t was not yet deemed

wise to impart knowledge to the people learning

AUTHOR ’

S PREFACE

was venerated as something supernatural . Yet

great progress was made . The E gyptian priests

seem to have been the intellectual leaders ; to

them the Greek philosophers were indebted for

a great deal of their learning . We have all the

more admiration for this period of scientific

eminence,as a profound reaction soon set in .

The manuscripts no longer remained the exclusive

property of the priesthood,but became accessible

to others,though only to the wealthy . The

slaves,who

,when Greece and Rome were at their

prime,constituted the maj ority of the people

,

were not allowed to participate in the spreading

of intelligence ; the few learned slaves who had

to copy manuscripts formed an exception . Manual

labour and consequently experimental research

were considered unworthy Of the free citizen and

were left to slaves that was a baneful prej udice .

The philosophical school at A thens,moreover

,

deprecated the study of nature ; philosophers of

that school later became eminent leaders in the

Christian Church,and the Middle Ages could not

shake off their detrimental influence . Decline

and stagnation followed . With the discovery of

the art of printing and the general intellectual

AUTHOR ’

S PREFACE

awakening the contempt of experimental work

vanished again . P rogress was slow,however

,in

the struggle against deeply rooted prej udices and

for want of co - operation between the different

investigators . When these obstacles had been

overcome,the number of workers and their

means of research multiplied . Hence the grand

advance of our time .

We are sometimes told that we live in the best

of worlds . ” We are not prepared to say whether

that be so or not . But we— the scientists in any

case— may assert that we live in the best of ages .

In the firm hope that the future will be better

still , we say with Goethe

E s ist ein gross E rgotzen ,

S ich in d en Gei st d er Zeiten zu verset zenZn s chauen ,

w ie vor uns ein wei ser Mann ged a cht ,Und wie wir ’ s d ann z u letz t so herr l i ch weit gebracht .

CONTE NTS OF VOL. I

PAGEAUTH OR ’ S PR EFACE

LI ST OF I LLU STRAT IONS

I . COSMOGON I ES OF PR IM IT IVE RACESThe lower races have no legends concerning the

origin of the wor ld —Primord ia l Matter i s general lyregarded as o lder than the Creator— I n most casesWater is the primord ia l mat ter- H indu Creat ionMy ths— Chaos— The Egg in creation my ths— The

F inn ishmy ths— StoriesoftheGreat F lood— Periodsof creat ion and destruct ion— Creation my ths of theAmerican - Indians— An Aust ra l ian my th My thsas precursors Of sc ience Foreign elements innat ional saga .

CRE AT ION MYTH S OF ANC I EN T CIV I L I SED RACESThe Creat ion my th s of the Chaldaeans— Thei r ca lendar and astro logy— The Bib l ical story of the

creat ion ; H ebrew ideas concerning H eaven and

Earth— Greek Cosmogony accord ing to H esiodRoman Cosmogony according to Ovid .

TH E MOST BEAUT IF UL AN D P ROFOU ND CREAT ION MYTH S

Amenhotep IV— ~V\7orship o f the Sun— ZoroasterPersian Sec ts in t heir d ifferent v iews— The H indulegend of period ical Evo lut ion of the UniverseCreation out Of “

No thing ”— The Scand inavianSaga.

x i i i

CONTENTS

PAGECOSMOGON IES OF TH E ANC I ENT PH I LOSOPH E R S

Prac t ica l va lue of a T ime Scale— The influence of

the Stars— Chrono logy o f the Chaldaeans— The

E gyp t ian calendar — Posit ion of Egypt ian As

tronomers— Egypt ian knowledge Of the Spheri ca lshape of the Earth— Dimensions of the GreatPyrami d The Greek natural phi losophersTha les

,Anax imenes , Anax imander, Pythagoras

and his pup i ls , H eraklitos,Empedokles , Anaxa

goras , DemokritOS— Opposi t ion of the Athenianschoo l against these ph i losophers : Plato

,Aris

toteles— The schoo l of Syracuse, H icetas, Archimedes— The Alexandrian schoo l : E ratosthenes ,Aristarchos, H ipparchos , Posidonios— The RO

manS — The Arabs and sc ience— The ChineseTao -Rel ig ion ; Liehtse— Indifferenceof theOrienta lraces to sc ience— Alhazen.

V . DAW N OF MODE R N AG ES :M U LT I PL IC ITY OF THE

I NHAB ITED W ORLD S

RhabanusMaurus— Roger Bacon— N icho las deCusaLeonardo da V inc i— Coperni cus— Giordano Bruno

-Tycho Brahe Kepler — Gal i lei— Theastronom ical Telescope— Into lerance of the Church— Des

cartes’ cosmogony Vortex theory , format ion_

of

planets— Leibni z and Steno on the development o fthe Un i verse— Swedenborg on his relat ions to Descartes and Newton— The M i lky Way problemSpecu lat ions as to the inhabi tabi l i ty o f otherwor lds— Pythagoras , Bruno— I deas OfSwedenborgand of Kant .

L IST OF ILLUSTRATION S

VOL. IPAGE

I . Marduk armed wi th l ightning k i l ls T iamat . Drawnby Faucher -Gudin after a bas - rel ief from N imrud

,

in the Brit ish Museum2 . Chaldaean pict ure of theWor ld . Drawn by Faucher

Gudin

3 . The god Shu, separat ing N urt ( the H eavens) and

Sibfi ( the Earth). Drawn by F aucher-Gudin aftera paint ing on one of the mummy sarcophag i in theTurin Museum

4 . The sun-

god ris ing during the creat ion from a b lossoming lotus flower. Drawn by Faucher -Gudin

5 . The R i ver Okeanos accord ing to Greek my th

6. The System of P to lemaeus

7 . The Zodiac of Denderah in E gypt , dat ing from the

beg inning of our era

8 to I I . Four constel lations Ophiuchus , the GreatBear , Orion , the Dragon, according to AI Sufi’

s

star catalogue

1 2 . The Copernican System,showing orbi t of a comet

1 3 . Diagram indicating the movements of the planets andof their moons as appearing from a remote po int tothe north of the centre of the Sun

14. Wal lenstein’ s H oroscope, drawn up by Kepler

1 5 and 1 6. Diagrammati c sect ion through half o f the

E arth , accord ing to Descartes 1 06,

1 7 to 20 . Format ion of a planetary system out of the so larvortex , according to Swedenborg 1 1 2

,

TH E

LI F E O F T H E U N IV E R S E

COSMOGON IES OF PR IM ITIVE RACES

HE human races on the lowest grade ofevolution live merely for the day . The to

morrow and the yesterday have no interest forthem

,except in so far as their Special daily cares

are directly touched . Considerations about theUniverse and its progressive development do notconcern them any more than thoughts about theappearance of the E arth in bygone ages . Tribesof this low state of evolution are found in differentparts of the globe at great distances from oneanother . Thus , Dr . Brinton tells us , i t never occurred to the E squimaux of the North AmericanArctic seas that the E arth had had a begi nning .

The Abipones , a once warlike , now peaceful,

$adian tribe of Santa F é, in the Argentine Reublic , and the Bushmen of South Africa , do not

TH E LIFE OF TH E UN IVERSE

appear to have troubled any more about theorigin of the world .

Where the struggle of existence is not too hard,

however,questions as to the origin of the E arth

and of the heavens— or,in other words

,of the

things outside the E arth— suggested themselvesat early stages Some anthropomorphic conception of the origin of the world is th e usualthing . The world must have been created bysome personal being . This being had somematerial at his disposal out of which to Shape theworld . The notion that the world must havebeen created out of nothing does not appear tobe compatible with primitive conceptions

,but to

indicate a higher degree of abstraction .

*

It seems to have originated with the Indianphilosophers

,and we meet with it in the legends

of Brahma , the Spirit , who created , by his thought ,the primeval water , as well as in the PersianIsmaelitic myth of the infinite nameless Beingfrom whom the world emanated in six periods .This belief

,that matter can arise from something

immaterial by an act of the will,a command , or

a thought,we have every reason to characteris e

as supernatural or unnatural . It contradicts thepresent standpoint of natural science

,according

to which the amount of matter is invariable , and

A very low Australian tribe, the Eu-nu-rong , tel l that theGod Bun -jel created the world in the Shape of an eagle ; out ofwhat , i s not said .

MYTHS OF PR IM ITIVE RACES

i t was already incompatible with the primitiveexperiences which the oldest races gathered fromtheir surroundings . Hence we find in mostcases the idea of the eternity of matter moredeeply rooted apparently , than the view that thepersonality

,the creator , who shaped the world

out of matter,must have an unlimited existence .

The creator of the Universe is as a rule assumedto have himself originated from primordial matter .We must not look for any higher degree of consistency in these first attempts of speculatingupon the origin of the Universe . But we mustnot overlook either that we meet in the mostancient conceptions rather the germ of the theoryof evolution (the theory of the natural development of the Universe under the influence of recognised natural forces which must always have beenat work) than any metaphysical theory of creationwhich

,in Opposition to the theory of evolution

,

presupposes the intervention of supernatural forcesand cannot therefore be submitted to scientificexamination .

The great philosopher Herbert Spencer characterises evolution as a change from the homo

geneous to the heterogeneous , from the indefiniteto the definite , from the incoherent to the co

herent .This definition— which is not quite correct

, es

pecially not as regards the movement of the molecules— corresponds exactly to the first conceptions

THE LIFE OF THE UN IVERSE

of the developments of the Universe,conceptions

which prevailed into our age thanks largely to theuniversal recognition which the theory of Laplacehad gained . Water was generally accepted as theprimordial element , perfectly homogeneous , without shape , without order . That the fertilisingmud was deposited by floods , could not fail toattract the attention of ancient races . Theynaturally came to the assumption that all theearth had Slowly and gradually been depositedfrom the water . Thales says (about 550 yearsbefore the beginning of our era) that all thingsarise from the water . The observation that waterleaves

,in the vessel in which it is being boiled , an

earthy crust consisting of salts dissolved in thewater and of suspended matter , was probablymade in the early ages .One of the Hindu myths concernlng the origin

of the world may be quoted as exemplifying thesebeliefs . Egyptian

,Chaldman ,

Finnish creationlores will be mentioned lower down . The grand1 29th Hymn of the roth book of the Rig-Vedareads

,in J . Muir ’ s translation

There then was neither N aught nor Aught,no air

,no Sky beyond .

W hat covered al l Where rested al l ?In W atery G u l f profound ?

N or death was then, nor death les snes s ,nor change of nigh t and day .

That One breathed calmly, sel f- su s tained ,N aught else beyond I t lay.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join


tion myths (among others in the Chalda an and inthe Hebrew which is related to it

,as well as in the

Greek), that the darkness or the night , which isnothing but absence of light

,should be something

real,is very characteristic . The N aught is made

cognate with the Aught,although they are in

direct contradiction . The fundamental idea was ,no doubt , that in a perfectly uniform Chaos noobj ect could be distinguished from its surroundings

,and that there was no separate existence

therefore .

The orderless stage and condition is as a ruledesignated by the Greek word Chaos

,which

signifies everywhere uniformly distributed,shape

less matter . Kant in his cosmogony also startsfrom the idea that the world in the beginning wasa perfectly uniform chaos of material particles .

The original state is sometimes characterised bythe term primordial aether

,as in the J apanese

creative lore °“ In the early ages ,

” we read ,“ when Heaven and E arth were not separatedfrom one another , there was only the primordialaether , a mixture which resembled an egg . Theclear floated upward

,as it was lighter , and became

the Heavens the heavier turbidity sank into thewater and became the E arth .

”According to

another J apanese legend,which Tylor has related ,

“ the E arth was still soft like mud or like oilfloating on the surface of the water , when therearose out of the mass a flag or rush , called

6


A5 1 from which there springs the land- formingGod .

The simile of living nature,in which the or

ganism springs from an apparently lifeless seedor an egg

,has made the egg a common element in

creation myths . We find‘ it,as j ust mentioned ,

in the J apanese legends,as well as in narratives

which come from India,China

,Polynesia

,Finland ,

Egypt,and Phoenicia . Among the creation myths

according to which one or several eggs played animportant part in the origin of the world , theFinnish legend is the best known and thebest worked out . It has been written downfrom the tradition of the relatively uncivilisedtribes which inhabit the Russian government of

Archangelsk . According to this tradition ,

“ oneof the chaste maids of N ature , Ilmatar ,

” floatedin the blue space and descended upon the billowsof the sea . We have therefore from the beginningthe sea

,above it the wide space

,and Ilmatar ,

who came from N ature . This is in agreementwith the common conception of primitive races .

For seven centuries now Ilmatar,rocked by the

tempest,

floats on the waves . A teal comes flyingacross the water

,looking for a place where to

build its nest . Ilmatar raises her knee from thewater

,and the teal lays on it six golden eggs and

a seventh egg of iron . After the teal has beenbrooding for two days

,Ilmatar stirs

,and the eggs

fall down into the depth .


In the ooze they were not wastednor the fragmen ts in the water

But a wondrou s change came o’er them

,

and the fragments al l grew lovely.

F rom the c racked egg’ s lower fragmen tnow the so lid E arth was fashioned .

F rom the c ra cked egg’ s upper fragmentro se the lofty ar ch of H eaven.

F rom the yolk the upper portionnow became the Sun’

s bright l ust reF rom the whi te the upper portion

,

rose the Moon that shines so brightly .

What so in the egg was mo t t led ,now became the stars in heaven .

W hat so in the egg was bla ckish ,in the air as c loud lets floated .

(From W. E . K irby ’s Engl ish version of the Kalevala).

Then Ilmatar rises from the sea and creates thej utting headlands

,the islands , mountains and

hills,and brings forth Vainamomen ,

thei mmortal

bard,the son -

of the Wind . VainamOinen rej oicesover the splendour of the Moon and of the Sun,

but he complains that the E arth does not bearany plants . He calls upon the god of agriculturePellervoinen , who strews seeds over the fields .The fields become covered with lively green

,

and trees begin to grow . The oak finally growsso powerfully that it obscures the light of theSun and the Moon from man ,

so that it must befelled — W e see that in the course of the narrative there enter gods

,men

,animals

,and plants

without any further indication of the whence theycame . This feature is typical in creation myths ,

8


but'

it is rarely so pronounced as in the F innishlegend . Different portions of this Kalevala sagawere probably related by different people thereis no revision of the whole of the saga concerningthe creation of the world . The myth is

,in other

words,a poem of the child of N ature , and not the

world- embracing thought of the brooding philosopher .

“The original cosmogonies

,E . G . Hirsch

writes,are the spontaneous production of folk

fancy and are therefore unsystematic,forming as

a rule only chapters of the theogonies or genealogiesof gods .

”

The deluges , to which scientists have devotedmuch attention , are prominent features of thecreation myths of different races . The biblicaldeluge is best known : the E arth was altogetherflooded even the highest mountains were fifteencubits under the surface of the waters . In the’ Seventies

,a cuneiform inscription of similar cha

racter was found in which the hero Sit - napistim

(the Xisusthros of the Babylonians) is mentionedsince then it has been assumed that the Hebrewlegend was taken from an Assyrian source . TheHebrew text says : “ I will make a flood comefrom the water

,

” and the celebrated geologistSuess ( 1 883 ) suggested ,

therefore,that the deluge

had been caused by a flood accompanying somevolcanic eruption

,and had Spread from the Persian

Gulf over the valley of Mesopotamia .

9


I . Riem has collected no fewer than Sixty- eightdeluge myths of different races

,which all appear to

be independent of one another . Of these only fourconcern European nations

,viz . the Greek myth

of Deukalion and Pyrrha,the narrative of the

Edda , and the sagas of the Lithuanians and of theW ogules of North - east Russia . From Africa hailfive , from Asia thirteen , from Australia and Polynesia nine , from North and South America thirtyseven of these narratives . The N egroes , Kafirs ,

and Arabs do not know similar legends . Thecause of the great flood is very different with thedifferent nations . It is stated to have been themelting of the snow and ice in Scandinavia , rainin Assyria

,the fall of snow (Montagnais - Indians),

the collapse of the heavens by fracture of theirpillars (China), the revenge of the water - god

(natives of the Society Islands), etc . In somecases we are told that the deluges were repeatedseveral times . Thus P lato says in Timaeos thatan Egyptian priest had informed him ,

that thedeluges of the heavens would reoccur in definiteperiods .The common idea is , that the act of the creation

merely consisted in arranging the orderless matter ,in most cases by the separation of the earth fromthe primeval water or ocean . Some primitivetribes of the islands of the Pacific imagine theearth to have been fished up from the ocean . I twas to be expected that the previous orderless

IO

MYTHS OF PR I M ITIVE RACES

state would itself be ascribed to a flood or a delugewhich was afterwards repeated . The Santales,who are not Aryans

,are credited with such ideas

,

for instance .

This agrees with the views held by some modernscientists that the actually inhabited part of theworld will some day be devastated

,once more to

bear new life later on . With the primitive racesit is water or fire or wind

,sometimes al so the

wrath of the gods which causes the devastation,

after which the E arth will re- develop again tobecome the abode of living beings . The changeis supposed to have taken place several times .

This widely spread view has found its most com

plete expression in the Indian myth (in the booksof Purana) and in the Buddhistic philosophy ,

towhich we shall return .

The doctrine of a palingenesia or regenerationof the world is commonly associated with thevery general belief in metempsychosis (transmi

gration of the soul), which problem we need notdiscuss in this connection .

The ancient American myths of the Red Indianshave a certain interest . Although presumablyproduced without any intervention from the OldWorld

,they Show a striking similarity to the

legends of the latter but the animals play a farmore important part with the Indians . Like mostpeople devoted to the chase

,the American Indians

regard the animals as of their own kind . The

I I


shaper of the world generally appears to have hadsome earth or loam at hand . As a rule the earthwas precipitated from the water . The most simplenotion is that a small island in the ocean graduallygrew to the '

size of the world . Characteristic is theidea of the Takulians of British Columbia

,that

there was nothing but water and the musk rat inthe beginning . The musk rat was looking for foodon the bottom of the sea . From the mud whichcollected in its mouth and which it spit out anisland formed which grew to the continent . A

still more peculiar myth we find with the Iroquois,

who relate that a goddess was hurled from theheavens and fell’

“

upon a tortoise swimming in thewater

,which enlarged into the continent . The

tortoise evidently corresponds t6 the small islandof the sea of the first -mentioned myth

,and the

fall of the goddess from'

the heavens only gavethe impulse to the development . The TinnehIndians believe that the body of a dog ,

who couldalso assume the shape of a beautiful youth

,was

torn by giants and transformed into the obj ectswhich are now found in the world . This myth

,

that the world had been created out of the members of a human or animal body

,is met with

in the sagas of many primitive races . Sometimes ,as with the Winnebago Indians

,the creator Kitchi

Manitu (the Great Spirit) takes some limb of hisown body and a lump of earth to shape fromthem the first man . That legend

,which so

1 2



Primitive man endeavours to propitiate thepowerful spirit by sorcery

,knowledge of which

is only given to the medicine man or to the priestand is not granted to the other mortals . Themeans of utilising the forces of nature

,which we

hope to acquire by studying nature and naturalphenomena

,primitive man endeavours to gain by

magi c . In a certain sense magic is therefore theprecursor of natural science , and the myths andlore

,upon which the practice of magic is based

,

correspond to a certain extent to our sc1entific

theories . Myths are , according to Andrew Lang ,j ust as much based upon primitive science

,resting

on supposition , as upon primitive religious conceptions . We easily comprehend that these suppositions started from observations of everydaylife

,and it is not difficult to divine which observa

tions were particularly concerned . Chance mayhave been at work sometimes .

Tradition handed these myths down frombarbaric ages to periods of higher civilisation .

Reverence for the convictions inherited from theancestors prevented the superior understanding oflater ages from revising the ancient myths andfrom eliminating the elements which seemed tobe incompatible with the advanced knowledge .

This fact stands out distinctly in the cosmogoniesof Hesiod and of Ovid to which we shall returnin the next chapter .Frequently we further notice another influence .

14


The myths of primitive races were in most caseswritten down by persons of high intelligence .

Unconsciously the simple narrative of the childbecame tinged with the narrator ’ s own conception .

This is all the more so,because the myths lacked

a consistent sequence,which the compiler natu

rally felt tempted to introduce . That wouldhappen particularly when tribal relationship andother reasons favourably predisposed the compilertowards the people . In such cases the mythbecomes transformed into a beautiful epic

,based

upon motives adapted from the primitive race .

Matters will be different when written documents have been preserved . To produce suchrequires a higher state of culture , and we cannotwell assert that the documents originated withthe primitive races . The cosmogonies whichwritten tradition has handed down to us shalltherefore be dealt with in a special chapter .Among these two groups deserve particular attention . Firstly the group of nations from whomwe have inherited important elements of civilisation ; secondly the group of nations which wereendowed wi th a high degree of intelligence andphilosophical depth .

The first group is directly connected with theviews which the philosophers of ancient timesand the thinkers of more modern ages havemodified and developed . Remnants of cosmo

gonical traditions of the ancient civilised peoples

I S


constitute an essential portion of the conceptionsof the Universe held by the civilised peoples of

our own age .

The second group interests us particularly because the wonderful achievements of modernscience bring back to us many an ancient ideaconcerning the other worlds .

16

CREATION MYTHS OF ANC IE NTC IV ILISED RACES

ODERN civilisation has its root in ancientChaldma and Egypt . We find in these

countries art monuments which have been preserved for 7000 years . Traces of a still moreancient civilisation

,which may go back some

years,have indeed been discovered in the

limestone grottos of Southern France and Northerm Spain . The walls of these grottos arecovered with coloured sketches , chiefly of animalslike the mammoth

,the reindeer

,and horse . But

the fantasy of the artist of those primeval dayswas only interested in the spoil of the chase anda little in the woman with whom he was going todivide his spoil , when there was plenty of it .

That remote period has not exercised any influenceupon the civilisation of our age . All the greaterhas been the influence of the other periods whichpoint back to the classical soils of Chaldaea and ofEgyptIn the time when there was nothing up above

what we call heaven,and nothing below that had

1 7


the name of earth,that is to say ,

when neitherearth nor heaven existed

,says the Chaldman myth ,

there was only Apsu (the Ocean), the father ,and Tiamat (Chaos), the All-mother . The waterof the ocean and chaos intermixed . From theunion , which contained the primordial elementsof our Universe

,life germinated . Gods also arose ,

“who had not been created before

,

” and theybrought forth a numerous progeny . When Tiamatsaw that the hosts of gods took more and morepossession of her territory

,

“

she created an army of

monsters,bulls with

'

men’

s heads and dogs withfish - tails and others

,to defend her own dominion .

Then the gods took counsel and resolved to destroy the monsters ; but no one dared exceptMarduk

,the son of the god of wisdom Ea . He

,

however,wrung from his fellow deities the promise

of supremacy,as prize for his victory . W hen the

prize had been conceded,under the stress of cir

cumstances , Marduk , armed with bow , spear , andthunderbolt

,pursued Tiamat

,and threw a net over

her (Fig . When Tiamat Opened her wide mouthin order to devour Marduk ,

he threw the hurricaneinto her throat and her entrails , and Tiamatburst . Her adherents attempted to flee horrorstruck ; but they were fettered and brought before Ea’

s throne . Marduk then reshaped Tiamat ’ sbody

,the orderless Chaos . He divided it into

two halves as one does with fishes which are tobe dried . Then he suspended the one half up

12>


high , and that became the Heavens , and the otherhalf he spread underneath his feet

,and that be

came the E arth and thus he made the world as

man has known it since .

”

In Maspero ’ s Histoire Ancienne des P euplesde l ’Orient Classique we find a picture (see Fig . 2 ,

p . 21 )of how the Chaldaeans imagined the Universe .

Surrounded on all Sides by the ocean,the E arth

rises in the middle like a high mountain , whosesummit is covered with snow from which theEuphrates springs . The E arth is all round em

circled by a high wall , and in the depth betweenthe E arth and the wall lies the ocean which nomortal can traverse . Beyond it is the abode ofthe Immortals . Over the wall rests a vault

,the

firmament , which Marduk shaped out of hardmetal

,that shines in the daytime in the splendour

of the Sun ,but which resembles at night a dark

blue bell set with stars . In the northern part ofthe vault is a semicircular gall ery provided withtwo entrances

,one in the east

,the other in the

west . In the morning the Sun emerged from the

eastern opening,slowly to rise higher and higher

over the southern sky and then to sink down tothe western opening

,into which it entered at

night . During the night_ the Sun was gliding

through the gallery,to start on its j ourney again

the following morning . Marduk arranged theyear according to the course of the Sun anddivided it into twelve months

,each of which

20



counted three periods (decades) of ten days theyear therefore numbered 360 days . Every sixthyear a Special month was intercalated

, so that theyear had on average 365 days .As the life of the Chaldaeans was to a high

degree influenced by the changes in the seasons,

the Chaldaeans laid great stress upon the timedivision . In the beginning they probably hadbased their chronology upon the movements of

the Moon,like most other races . They soon recog

nised ,however , that the Sun exercised a stronger

influence,and they introduced a solar year , whose

division is ascribed to Marduk . The stars wereobserved because their positions determine theseasons . And since the seasons rule organic life ,upon which mankind is altogether dependent ,that pernicious exaggerated belief in the powerof the stars took root which prevailed for twentycenturies and which crippled the advance ofscience up to the beginning of the modern era .

Diodorus SiculuS , a contemporary of Julius Caesar ,expressed this belief in the following wordsThe Chaldaeans having for long ages watched

the stars and observed their motions and lawsmore carefully than other nations were empoweredto predict much of what was going to happen toman . The greatest influence upon the future andthe highest prophetical importance they attachedto the five stars which we call P lanets , Mercury ,

Venus , Mars , J upiter and Saturn , but which they

22

CREAT ION MYTHS

comprised under the name of interpreters .

’

But in the paths of these stars there are,they say

,

thirty others which they designate advisorydeities .

’ Their supreme deities are twelve,and to

each of these they assign one month and one of

the twelve constellations in the Zodiac . Throughthese constellations

,they maintain

, Sun ,Moon

and the Planets take their orbits .

”

The Chaldaean priesthood had elaborated a perfect astrology . They carefully mapped out thepositions of the stars for every day

,and they

could calculate the future positions of the starsfor some time in advance . The different starseither represented deities or were directly identified with them . I f

,therefore

,somebody wished

to know , which gods ruled over his own destiny ,

he consulted the star -wise priests as to the positions of the stars on his birthday

,and on payment

of an ample fee he was informed of the chief eventsof his fate . When a great undertaking was proj ectedfor a certain day

,the chances of its happy issue

could be ascertained in advance . Benevolentlyto j udge we may perhaps say

,that the basis of

'

the teachings of these priests was the conviction,

which is universal at the present time,that every

event is a necessary consequence of external cond itions .

But this view is intimately connected withanother which is entirely erroneous and whichwill not bear any close examination

,viz . that the

23

THE LI FE OF THE UN IVERSE

positions of the Moon and of the Planets can exer

cise a noteworthy influence upon N ature and uponman . The belief that the celestial bodies weregods , transformed astronomy into a part oftheogony , i .e. of religion . Religious cult was theexclusive domain of the ruling priest caste . Toutter doubts of the preconceived tenets of thiscaste was to expose oneself to merciless persecution by the powers who had common interestswith the priests . This terrible oriental trait passedto a certain extent over to the nations of classicalantiquity and to a high degree to the semibarbarians of the Middle Ages .

The Chaldaean conception of the Shaping of theUniverse is further of great importance for

,us ,

because it was , although modified, taken up bythe J ews and with them by the Christians . Howmodern research supposes this creation myth tohave spread is well set forth in the book

,Babel

und Bibel,to which we should like to direct

attention . Chaos was for the J ews the primeval ;the earth was without form and void

,and dark

ness was upon the face of the depths (upon theprimordial waters) The Babylonian priestBerosos states that everything was darkness andwater in the beginning . The Hebrew narrativeregards the depth

, Tehom,as a personality

,and

Tehom corresponds etymologi cally to Tiamat .From the existent matter E lohim created (orrather carved) the Heavens and the E arth .

24


E lohim divided the waters . The waters abovewere enclosed in the Heavens

,the E arth ,

flat orhemispherical , was placed in the lower waters onwhich it was floating . Above the waters was theimmovable firmament to which the stars were fixed .

But it was by no means a long way up to thefirmament of Heavens ; the birds could rise up toit , and fly along it . Enoch describes

,how several

stars were consumed by the fire of Gehenna because they did not begin to shine when E lohimhad ordered it . The stars are hence wicked angels

,

gods who had been deposed by the supreme God .

The chief difference between the Chaldaean andthe Hebrew myth lies in the fact that the latteris monotheistic

,the former polytheistic

,though

with a tendency towards monotheism,inasmuch

as the sun -

god Marduk ,who ruled all things

,is

also the ruler of the gods .

We find in the J ewish cosmogony also a traceof the Phoenician myth of the world- egg in theexpression the spirit of E lohim brooded $as arule translated : floated or hovered$ over thewaters Allusions to the combat between Mardukand Tiamat are also to be found in the legends ofthe victory of J ahve over the sea-monster Leviathan or Rahab . The Hebrew

,and therefore also

the Christian representation of the origin of theworld cannot be said to be distinguished by anygreat origi nality .

Slightly more recent than the first Chaldaean

26

F I G . 4 . The sun-

god r is ing during the creat ion from ablossom ing lo tus -flower . Drawn by Faucher -Gudin. On hishead the god wears the sun-d isk covered by the sacred Uraeussnake. The lo tus -flower as wel l as the two buds ri se from azocle, the usual symbo l for water basin, here represent ing theprimeva l water N u.


accounts of the beginning of the world,but yet of

a very high age,are the corresponding Egyptian

narratives . We reproduce the most importantmyths of this description according to Maspero .

The conception of“

Nothing had not yet beenabstracted . Matter was

,though without form

,

in the dark waters,

” and the respective deityalways a different person in different parts of theland— shaped the obj ects

,both lifeless and alive ,

now occurring on the earth,by different methods

according to his own wont,for example

,by

weaving or by modelling on a potter ’ s wheel . Themost highly developed type of the creative mythis reported from the eastern delta of the N ile . Inthe beginning Heaven (Nfiit) and E arth (Sibu)rested in close embrace in the primordial water

(Nu). On the day of the creation a new g od Sht‘

i

arose from the water , seized with both hands thegoddess Nuit and li fted her up she now formedthe star- strewn firmament supporting herself on

her hands and feet,the four pillars of the firma

ment (Fig . 3 ,p .

Sibu then covered herself wi th green , andanimals and men began to people the world . Thesun- god Ra had been lying hidden in the bud ofa lotus -flower in the primordial water . On theday of the creation the petals of the lotus opened ,

and Ra stepped forth ,to take his place in the

heavens (Fig . 4,p . Ra was often identified

with Sha. When the Sun was Shining upon Nuit and

28



Children of Jove, al l hai l b ut deign to giveth

’enchan ting song record the sa c red ra ce

of ever—living god s who sprang from earth ,from the s tarr

’d heaven

,and from the mu rky nigh t ,

and whom the sal t deep nourish ’d in to l ife.

D ec l are how fi rs t the god s and earth became,

the rivers and th ’ immeas u rable sea

raging in foamy Swel l the gli t tering stars,

and the wide heaven above and who from thesof dei ties arose, dispensing good ;say how their t reasu res , how their hono u rs ea challo t ted shared how fi rst they fix’d abodeam id s t O lympu s ’ many -winding vales .Tel l

, 0 ye mu ses 1 ye who al so dwel lin mansions of O lympu s

,tel l me al l

from the beginning say who fi rst aro se.

F irst Chaos was nex t ample-bosom’d E arth

the seat immovable for evermo reof tho se immortal s

,who the snow - topt heigh ts

inhabi t of O lympu s , or the gloomsTatarean in the broad - track

’d ground ’ s aby s s .

Love,then, aro se mo s t beau tifu l amongs t

the deathles s deities resis t les s heof every god and every mo rtal man

unnerves the limbs dis so lves the wiser breas tby reason steel ’d , and q uel ls the very soul .F rom Chao s E rebo s and ebon N igh tF rom N igh t the Day sprang for th and shining air,whom to the love of E rebos she gave.

E arth fi rs t produ ced the H eaven whose starry cope,like to her sel f immense, might compass heron every Side

,and be to bles sed gods

a mansion unremoved for aye.

Gaa then brought forth the swollen , chafingSea Pontos . With Uranos she engendered Sixmale and six female children ,

the _ _Titans ; thedeep - eddying Okeanos ; Koios (probably a god of

30

CREATION MYTHS

light,only mentioned by Hesiod) Kreios (a semi

god his Spouse was Eurybia , a daughter ofPontos) J apetus ( father of P rometheus , who stolethe fire from the gods to give it to man) Hyperion

(the name signifies the high wandering ”

) Theia

(the Magnificent) Rheia (God’ s -mother , as mother

of Zeus) Mnemosyne (goddess of Memory , motherof the goddesses of Song) Themis (goddess of Lawand Order) Thetis , Phoebe , and Chronos (SupremeDeity

,deposed by his son Zeus), as well as the

Cyclops (one - eyed giants whom Apollo slays), andothers . It would be of little interest i f we wereto reproduce the whole versified catalogue

,the

names of which seem partly to have been inventedby Hesiod . This simple kind of poetry , nameinvention

,was in great favour also with the bards

of the N orsemen . The following lines concerningthe origin of the stars and of the winds may bequoted in the metrical translation of J ohann Heinrich Voss ( 1 75 1 — 1 826)

Theia gebar vo l l G lanzes den H elios,und d ie Selene,

E os au ch , d ie al len d en E rdbewohnern leu chtet ,Und d en Uns terblichen rings im weitumwolbenden

H immelD iese gebar eins t Theia der liebenden M a cht H yperions .Aber d em Krio s gebar E urybia machtige So

'hne,Pal la s samt Astraeos,* d ie ho ch vorragende Got tin,Perses aucli , der vor al lem an kundigem Geis te Sichau snahm .

E os gebar dem Astreeos d ie W ind ’ unband igen M u tes ,

Fa ther of theWinds .

3 1

TH E LIFE OF THE UN IVERSE

Zephyros blassumschauert, und Boreas i$

,s turmisch im

Anla uf.N otosJ, da in Liebe zum Gott Si ch d ie Go t t in gelagert.Auch d en Phosphoros j etzo gebar d ie heilige F riihe,Samt d en leuchtenden Sternen

,womit Sich kranzet d er

H immel .

In Works and Days Hesiod depicts how thegods created human beings . They were good at

F I G . 5 . The R iver Okeanos according to Greek my th.

West . 1‘ N orth .

I South. Morning star,planet Venus.

32

CREATION MYTHS

first,perfect and happy

,and lived without toil

on the abundance of what the E arth yielded tothem . But degeneration befell them .

The Greek cosmogony was adopted by theRomans without und ergoing noteworthy development . In the beginning

,Ovid says in his

Metamorphoses,it was orderless

,Shapeless

Chaos,

“ rudis ind igestaq ue moles ,” a mixture

of earth,water

,and air . Nature separated the

elements,the earth from the heavens (the air)

and from the water,and the fine air (the aether)

from the coarser (ordinary) air . The fire whichhas no weight rose up to the highest zones

of the heavens . The heavy earth soon settledand became all surrounded by water . N aturethen formed the bottom of the sea and thebeds of rivers

,mountains

,plains

,and valleys .

The stars which Chaos had obscured began toshine and became the abode of the gods . P lants

,

animals , and lastly human beings were created .

Man lived in the ideal state of the golden age .

E ternal Spring was reigning,and the untilled

earth bore abundant crops fruges tellus inarataferebat The rivers flowed with nectar andmilk , and honey dripped from the oaks . WhenJupiter (Zeus) had deposed Saturn (Chronos) andimprisoned him in Tartarus

,a less blissful age

,

the Silver age , set in . Winter,spring

,summer

,

and autumn succeeded one another people wereobliged to seek shelter from the raw weather .

D . 33


Matters deteriorated still morein the bronze age ;and finally came the terrible iron age

,in which

modesty,faith

,and truth fled from the earth

,

giving place to fraud,violence

,treason

,the in

satiable thirst of gold,and horrible crimes .

Ovid’ s cosmogony differs little from that of

Hesiod . Much of the original unaffected sim

plicity has been lost the sober systematics reflectthe practical frame of the Roman mind .

The following verses from the brilliant openingof Ovid ’ s “ Metamorphoses are quoted afterJ ohn Dryden ’ s translation (published 1 7 1 7 )

Before the Seas, and this terrestrial bal land H eaven 5 h igh canopy that covers al lOne was the F ace of N ature ; if a F a cerather a rude and indigested mas sA lifeless l ump , unfashioned and unframedof j arring seeds, and j u s t ly Chaos named .

N o Sun was ligh ted up, the W orld to viewN o M oon did yet her bl unted horns renewN or yet was E arth s u spended in the SkyN or pois

’d did on her own foundations lie.

N or Seas about the Shores their Arms had th rown.

*

But E arth and Air and Water were in one.

Thu s Air was void of Light and E arth unstableand VVater

’

s dark Abys s unnavigable.

N o certain form on any was imprest,al l were confu sed, and ea ch dis turbed the rest.

This verse, according to which Amphi tr ite, the Spouse of

the god of the Sea Posidon , embraces the edge of the Earth ,shows that Ovid cons i dered the Earth to be a disc

,not a

Sphere. The learned men of Ovi d ’ s t ime, however, al l bel ievedin a spherica l E arth .

34

CREATION MYTHS

F or hot and co ld were in one Body fix tand soft with hard , and light with heavy mix t .But God or N at ure, whi le they th us contendto these intestine dis cords p u t an end .

*

Then E arth from Air, and Seas from E arth were d riv’nAnd gro s ser Air sank from fE therial H eav

’n .

T hu s d isembroil’d they took their p roper pla cethe nex t of kin, cont iguously embra ce,and F oes are s undered by a larger Space.

The force of F ire as cended first on h ighand took its dwel ling in the vau l ted skyThen Air s u c ceeds

,in Lightness next to F ire

Whose atoms from unac tive E arth retire.

E arth Sinks beneath,and draws a numerou s th rong

of pond rous, thick unwieldy seed s along .

Abou t her coast s sinuou sly W aters roarand

,rising on a ridge

,insul t the Shore.

Thu s when the God , whatever God was he,had formed the who le and made the part s agree

,

that no uneq ual portion might be found ,H e mou lded E arth into a spa ciou s Ro und i‘Then with a breath he gave the wind s to blowand bade the congregated W aters flow.

H e add s the running Springs,and s tanding Lakes

,

and boundary Banks for winding R ivers makes .Some parts in E arth a1 e swal lowed up

,the most

in Ample O cean, d isembogu’ d are lo s t.

H e shades the W oods, the Val leys he restrainsW ith ro cky M ountains and extends the P lains .And as F ive Zones th’ $E therial regions b ind

,

F ive correspondent are to E arth as signedThe Sun wi th rays

,direc t ly darting down

,

F ires al l beneath and fries the midd le Zone.

The two beneath the d is tant Poles complainof end less Winter and perpet u al Rain.

Hanc deus et mel ior l i tem natura d iremit.1‘ Orbis orig inal ly signified a c i rcu lar d isc

,later also a

sphere.

3S


Betwixt th ’E xtremes two happier C limates hold

the Temper that partakes of H ot and Co ld .

The F ield s of Liq uid Air, inc losing al l ,surround the compas s of this E arthy Ballthe lighter parts lie next the F ires above,the grosser near the watry s urfa ce moveThick c loud s are Spread and s torms engender thereand Thunder ’s Voi ce which W ret ched Mor tal s fear

,

and W inds that on their W ings co ld W inter bear .

Here follows a description of the winds . Thepoet proceeds

H igh o ’

er the C louds and Empty Realms ofW ind ,The God a c learer spa ce for H eav

’n design

’d

W here F ield s of Light and liq uid $E ther flow ;

Purg’d from the pondrons D rags of E arth below .

S ca1 ce had the Pow’r d istinguish’d these when s t raight

The Stars , no longer overlaid wi th weigh t ,E xert their H eads

,from underneath the M ass

,

and upward shoot and kind le as they pass,

and wi th diffusive Light adorn their heav’

nly place.

Then every void of N ature to supply,

with F orms of God he fi l ls the va cant skyN ew herd s of beas t s he send s the P lains to Share

,

N ew Colonies of Bird s , to people Airand to their Oozy Bed s the F ish retire.

A c reature of a more exalted kind

was wanting yet, and then was Man design’d .

*

Cons ciou s of Tho ught , of more Capa ciou s B reas t ,for Empire form’

d,and fit to r u le the res t .

W hether with parti c les of heavenly F ire,the God of N ature did h is so u l inspire,or E arth , but new divided from the Sky,and pliant sti l l retain’d th ’

$Ethereal E nergy

Sanctius his animal mentisq ue capacius altae—~deerat adhuc

et q uod dominari in cetera posset— natus homo est.

36



what the earth yields voluntarily,man learns to

till the ground .

To this came next in co urse, the Brazen AgeA Warlike O ffspring , prompt to B loody Rage,N ot Impious yet. H ard S teel s u c ceeded thenand s t ubborn as the M etal were the Men .

T ru th,Modes ty

,and Shame, the W o rld forsook

F raud , Avarice, and Fo rce their pla ces tookThen Sail s were spread , and the Depth s were newT rees r udely hollow’

d did the Waves s u s tain,E

’

er Sh ips 1n T riumph plough’

d the wat ry P l ain.

T hen Land -marks limited to each h is RightFor al l before was common, as the Light .N or was the G round alone req uir

’

d to bearH er annual In come to the Crook

’

d Share,B u t greedy Mortal s , r ummaging her S tore,D igg

’

d from her E nt rai ls fi rst the precio u s Orewhich nex t to Hel l the prudent God s had laidAnd that al luring I ll to Sigh t d isplaid .

Thus c ur sed Steel and more ac c ur sed Go ldGave mis ch ief Bir th and made that mischief boldand double D eath did wretched Man invadeBy Steel a s saulted , and by Gold betray

’d .

N ow (brand ish’

d W eapons glittering in their H and s)Mankind is broken loo se from moral B andsN o rights of Hospitality remainThe G uest by h im who harbour

’d h im is S lain.

The Son in Law pu rs ues the F ather’s Life.

The W ife her H u sband mu rders,he the W ife,

The S tep - Dame poison for the Son prepares ;The Son inq uires into h is F ather s years .F aith flies , and Piety in E xi le mou rns ,

And Justi ce, here opprest, to Heav’n retu rns .

J upiter destroys this race by a deluge whichDeukalion and Pyrrha survive . On the advice ofDeukalion

’

s father , Prometheus , they had built a

38

CREAT ION MYTHS

boat in which they drifted for nine days until theyran aground on Mount Parnassus . Then theythrew stones behind them

,from which men arose

The other beings owed their existence to spontaneous generation and to the action of the sunrays upon the prolific mud . The legend recalls thedeluge lore of cuneiform inscriptions

,the biblical

story of N oah,and the Egyptian myth of the

origi n of the living beings .

Themany gods become more and more shadowyN ature , melior natura

,which is called God

,is the

only ruler .

39

T HE MOST BEAUTI FUL AND PROF OUNDCREATION MYTHS

ANY civilised nations remained practicallyat the standpoint which we have j ust in

dicated .

Although Rome had attained a high degree of

culture before the beginning of the Christian era ,Ovid wrote on the origin of the Universe muchas Hesiod had done seven hundred years previously . One might almost believe that the studyof nature had not advanced in those centuries .Yet

,we shall see

,conceptions of the problem had

matured in many thinkers and explorers,such as

still excite the admiration of our age . But thefruit of those researches appears to have beenreserved for the few initiated . Whoever addressedthe public felt constrained

,in the interests of the

commonwealth,to pronounce opinions which had

been sanctified by centuries and been incorporatedin the tenets of the official religion . Most of theinitiated probably had too poor an Opinion of theresults of the study of natural science Lucretiusmakes an exception . That the fruits of scientific

40

CREATION MYTHS

inquiries were not allowed to become the property of the masses

,has probably contributed

more than any other circumstance to the rapidoverthrow of ancient culture by the invadingbarbarians .

It is,further

,more than probable that there

were thinkers among the Egyptian priests whohad long ago risen from the primitive standpointof E gyptian creation lore . The priests

,however

,

kept this knowledge strictly for their own class,

in order to rule the enslaved people by theirsuperior knowledge .

But it happened about 1 400 B .C. that an em

l ightened monarch,Amenhotep IV

,introduced a

reformation with the obj ect of adapting theEgyptian religion to the advanced state of culture . He proceeded on decidedly radical lines .

He proclaimed that the uncounted multitude ofancient gods was abolished , and that he acknowledged one god only , Aten ,

the Sun . He pulleddown the ancient temples and removed from theold capital of Thebes

,as it teemed with idols .

But he had the imperious priesthood against himself

,and the blind crowds followed their spiritual

leaders . Thus it could come to pass that thisviolent eruption of truth disappeared

,without

leaving any trace,with the king ’ s death

,and

that his successor and son - in- law,Ai

,had to

say I must bend my knees before gods,whom

I despise .

”

4 1


The grand feature of the religion of Amenhotep— or Chut - en-Aten

,the glory of the Sun disc

was that he proclaimed the Sun N ature ’ s supremehead . It is the Sun which provides the energyfor every movement on E arth— apart from thenot very important tides . According to Laplace ,all terrestrial matter has indeed been emitted bythe Sun , i f we disregard the relatively smallmasses which fell upon the E arth as meteorites .

The Sun may be termed the Origin ofAll Things ,”

whether we think like the primitive races merelyof terrestrial obj ects

,or have the solar system in

mind . In the following beautiful hymn to theSun Deity , the god is addressed by two names ,Re and Atum

Adoration to Thee, Re, in the east,Atum in the west

Thou risest, Tho u risest, Thou Shinest,Thou shinest

W ith a c rown of splendour . Thou art the King of the

Gods,Of the Heavens, the Lord of the E arth .

I t is Thou who c reated the Stars above, Men below,

Thou art the only God , who was always , from the be

ginning.

Thou made the Land s and Thou c rea ted the N ations .Thou hast given us the W ater

, the firm Land , the N i le,All the W aters, and thou hast granted Life to what is in

the W aters .

Thou hast j oined the chains of the Mountains and hastcalled forth Man and E arth .

In Laplace ’ s system the Sun may be said to be,

in the Egyptian sense , the creator of the mostimportant stars

,the planets . And as the planets

42

CREATION MYTHS

were themselves personified , we might call the Sunthe only god from the beginning .

Zarathustra ’ s (Zoroaster’ s) conception of the

Universe reminds us of that of Amenhotep,which

preceded it by one or two centuries . Accordingto Zarathustra

,infinite space

,the Chaos of

others,had been in existence for infinite ages

,and

with it the powers of light and of darkness . Thegod of light

,Ormuzd

,shaped out of pre - existing

matter things in the following order , which it isinstruct ive to compare with the order in whichthe Babylonians and Hebrews made thingsoriginate

Ormuzd created1 . TheAmShaspands2 . The H eavens .3 . Sun , Moon, and

S tars . 3 . P lants .4 . F ire. 4 . Heavenl y Bod ies .5 . Water. 5 . Anima ls.6. Earth and L iving 6. Man.

Beings .

To the adherents of Zarathustra,the Sun ,

asthe all- important light

,was also the chief obj ect

of adoration , as Marduk ,the Sun- god

,was to the

Babylonians . Many other nations,the J apanese ,

for instance,have instinctively passed from poly

theism to the worship of the Sun .

The Amshaspand s or Amesha Spendas are the Six highestdei t ies nex t to Ormuzd , represent ing each an ethica l concept ion .

43

Marduk crea ted E lohim (Gen. i.)created1 . The H eavens . 1 . The H eavens .2 . Th e H ea v en l y 2 . The Earth .

Bodies .3 . The Earth .

4 . P lants .5 . Animals .6. Man .


Zarathustra ’ s religion changed with time , andhis Persian adherents split into many sects . TheZervanites

, one of the most powerful of thesesects , taught that eternal time , zervane akerene,

”

was the supreme principle,from which both the

principle of Good (Ormuzd) and the principle of

Evil (Ahriman) had sprung .

By amalgamation with islamitic and withgnostic elements the teaching of Zarathustra became modified into I smailism ,

which is tinged ina philosophic-mystic Shade . Behind the Worldthere stands an inconceivable , nameless Being ,the personification of Infinity . It has no attri

butes,nor can it be worshipped . From this Being

spring , as a necessary natural consequence , aseries of emanations : ( 1 ) the All-Reason ; (2)the All- Soul ; (3 ) Shapeless Primary Matter ; (4)Space ; (5) Time ; and (6) the Material World ,in which Man occupies the foremost position .

This religion appears to assign to matter , space ,and time a higher grade than to the shaped andtherefore perceptible world . It is like the modernthesis

,that matter

,Space , and time are infinite .

The All- Soul also stands on the higher level ; i tmay signi fy the eternity of life .

According to Zarathustra ’ s doctrine , Astvadereta will awaken the dead

,and the state of beati

tude will be restored . The Ismaelites saw in theZoroastrian doctrines of resurrection and judgmentmerely simili a indicating the periodic changes of

44



solution (the Universe is imagined as a perfectlyuniform solution) was approaching its completion , the Lord (Brahma), who is his own progenitor and incomprehensible to our senses

,made

perceptible the World by means Of the five elements and of other primal substances . He illuminated it with the purest light

,dispersed dark

ness,and created the development of N ature . He

felt desire to let the things spring forth fromhimself . And thus he created first the waters andthrew into them a seed . That seed grew into agolden egg , resplendent with the lustre of thethousand- rayed star , and out of it was born theSupreme Being , in the shape of the male Brahma ,the origin of all things . After having reposed inthis egg for one divine year (a little more thanthree billions of human years), the glorious Lord ,by his own contemplation

,split the egg in twain

,

and shaped out of it Heaven and E arth . Betweenthem he placed the sea of air , the eight spheresof the Heavens (compare Fig . 6,

page and theinfinite space for the water . After that the perishable world was created which emanates from theeternal world . In addition he created a multitude of gods and Spirits and ages . The GloriousBeing and with him all living beings pass throughalternating periods of waking and reposing . A

human year is equivalent to one Spiritual day .

Twelve thousand spiritual years , each comprising

360 terrestrial years , make up one divine period

46

CREATION MYTHS

two thousand divine periods constitute one day of

Brahma . During the second half of this dayof 8640 million years— Brahma and all life areasleep ; when Brahma awakes , he satisfies hisdesire for creating . The periods of creation andof annihilation are infinite in number , and theE ternal Being repeats them as i f at play .

The grandeur of this Hindu philosophy lies inits correct expression of the conception of eternity ,

which demands periodical changes in evolution .

But the conception is pessimistic ; the development of each period is a continuous recession ,

especially in moral respects .

This pessimistic principle,with which we meet

also in Egyptian myths and in classical antiquityand its teaching of a first golden age

,as well as

in the Chaldaean legends of paradise and the fallof man by sin

,is in direct contrast to the modern

theory of evolution which has been built up on

the study of N ature . Precursors of this modernview of evolution are also found in Egyptianmyths and in Homer . We believe that mangradually rises to something higher . Only thestrongest and fittest survive in the struggle forexistence

,and successive generations improve in

vitality .

In the above quoted narrative we discern forthe first time the distinctly expressed opinion thata mere thought or act of will may be the causeof work and of matter

,without consumption of

47

THE LIFE OF TH E UN IVERSE

any pre- existent energy or matter . In otherwords , a creation out of nothing is consideredpossible . This belief found many adherents theidea was preferred to the thought , which originallywill have been common to all races

,that the

creation was merely a reshaping . From thescientific

,as well as from the philosophic

,point of

view this idea that something may spring fromnothing

,is of course untenable (cp . page I t

will be sufficient to refer in this connection to theunequivocal sentences of Spinoza and of HerbertSpencer . Spinoza says in the preface to the thirdpart of his “

E thics The laws and rulesaccording to which everything takes place andeverything is transformed

,are always and every

where the same .

” In his Principles of Biology

( I , pages 3 36 and following) Spencer states Isit supposed that a new organism

,when specially

created,is created out of nothing ? I f so

,there

is a supposed creation of matter and the creationof matter is inconceivable , implies the establishment of a relation in thought between somethingand nothing— a relation

,of which one term is

absent— an impossible relation . I S it supposedthat the matter out of which the new organismconsists is not created for the occasion , but ist aken out of its pre- existent form and arrangedinto a new form ?

” The creation of energy isquite as inconceivable as the creation of matter .The belief in special creations of organism is a

48

CREATION MYTHS

belief that arose among men during the era ofprofoundest darkness .

” This last sentence mayperhaps be slightly modified the possibility of acreation out of nothing is only found in a relatively advanced stage of development .

It may appear striking that the old Scand inavians should have left the best elaborated creationsaga . But we must bear in mind that the ances

tors of the N orsemen had occupied their abodes inScandinavia since the stone age , that is , for thousands of years probably

,and that the finds from

the Scandinavian bronze age indicate a high stateof culture . Some of their ideas they took no

doubt from classical antiquity,clothing them after

their own fashion .

With the ancient Chaldaeans and Egyptians,as

well as with most primitive races,water was the

essential primary element,contrasted with the

solid earth .

-With the Scandinavians the warmthwas the essential element

,and its opposite the

cold . Considering that heat is doubtless the mostimportant physical agent

,the Scandinavians de

serve credit for the scientific truth of their conception , and it is indeed wonderful to observe ,how beautifully this cosmogony adapts itself toour own ideas . Some features doubtlessly betrayoriental sources or infiltration of classical Opinions .

But the intelligent interpretation of N ature ’ s ownways is characteristic for the Scandinavian cos

mogony .

49


In my story I follow Victor Rydberg ’ s Fademas

Gud asaga .

” The world , in which we live , is notof infinite existence . It has had a beginning andwill have an end . When time dawned

,

Sand was not, nor sea,nor cool waves .the E arth was not

nor Heaven above.

There was the bottomless abyss Ginnungagap,

and in its northern portion the spring of cold,

shrouding all in icy mists ; for that reason theregion was called N iflheim . In the south wasthe spring of warmth

,Urd between the two the

spring of wisdom,Mimr

’

s well . From Niflheim

mist - grey waves of cold streamed out into space,

meeting the warm currents f rom Urd . By theirmixture arose the elements

,from which the world

,

and later giants and gods took their origin . Fromthe void space

,there where Mimr

’

s spring wassituated

,grew out of a seed the world- tree Ygg

d rasil,invisible to human eye

,sending its roots

to the three Springs .

The grand characteristic of this saga is that itbases the inhabited world on sources of heat andcold

,analogous to the suns and cosmic nebulae ;

The inhabited world lies between the two sources,

and its existence is dependent,as the m odern

conception would express it,upon the supply of

heat from the suns,and its discharge towards the

cold nebulae .

50

CREATION MYTHS

The N orse legend takes up the common beliefof the creation of the world out of the limbsof a dead body . A god ,

Odin (the ChaldaeanMarduk), kills the giant Ymer (Tiamat) andshapes from his body Heaven and E arth , and fromhis blood the ocean . But here the Norse sagaintroduces an original modification . Ymer

’

s limbshad first to be ground to dust , before they couldbear living beings . The giant -mill was built forthis purpose ; it was driven by the water fromthe cold spring which a trough carried off into theocean . That is a poetical description of theweathering process which disintegrates the solidrock by the action of frost and water . The giantmill also turned the firmament with its fixed stars .

In the Babylonian legend a monster of the sea ,Oannes

,a fish body with human head , arms , and

feet,rises from the waves to teach man arts and

craft,and disappears again in the depth . His

place is taken by the god of fire,Heimdal

,whom

the sparks engendered from the stones of the giantmill . In the shape of a beautiful

,delicate , fair

haired youth he comes in a boat to bring man theblessings of civilisation . He carries in his boat agrain - sheaf

,implements

,and weapons . He grows

up,becomes the chief of the men

,gives them his

fire- drill and the fire,teaches them the runes and

arts,tilling the ground

,cattle breeding

,forging

,

bread- baking,building

,and other craft

,as well as

hunting and the art of defending themselves . He

SI


establishes matrimony,the State

,and religious

rites . When ,after a long and wise reign

,Heimdal

lies down to eternal rest,they find on the beach

the same boat that had once brought him . Thegrateful people placed his body in the boat whichthe flowers of the hoar- frost had made beautiful

,

and they charged the boat with precious forgedobj ects and gems . Impelled by invisible oars

,as

on its arrival , the boat shot out into the sea,and

disappeared on the horizon . Heimdal landed inthe realm of the gods

,and was revived a radiant

youth . His son SkOld -Borgar succeeded him asthe chie f of the people .

During Skold-Borgar’

s time the world deteriorated

,and when his rule was drawing to a close ,

Balder,

- the god of light,died . Then came the

terrible F imbul-winter,when glaciers and fields of

i ce covered the inhabited earth,and the crops of

the still ice- free land impoverished . Famine brokeout and drove men to dire crimes . It was the ageof storm

,of the axe and knife

,and

,sword in hand ,

the N orsemen attacked affiliated tribes,searching

for lands further south . After a time the Fimbulwinter and ice passed away .

The saga depicts a deterioration of the climateand an ice age

,forcing men to emigrate . No

wonder that the Norsemen believed,that another

F imbul-winter would initiate the end of theworld

,the RagnarOk . On its approach the terrible

state o f lawlessness would return . The giants

52



once more descend from the immortal tree inspace , Yggdrasil , down to the E arth .

In beauty and truth the E dda saga surpasses byfar everything that other uncultured races ima

gined . No doubt , the first civilisation and,with

it,the original elements of the creation myth came

from abroad,probably from the Orient

,across the

sea ; the beautiful Heimdal saga suggests that .But no other creation lore approaches the Scandinavian saga in the faithfulness of its conceptionsof N ature .

In the above lines I have attempted to sketchout the cosmical beliefs dating from ages in whichdirect physical observations were hardly known .

N atural science then appears in the garb of mythwhen risen to a higher level it assumes the manyfolded cloak of philosophy . Matters change whenobservations and experiences are collected . Thenman begins to look for general rules , under whichthe cumbrous mass of data can be classed insimple , lucid form . Before experiences can become fruitful

,they have to be systematised by the

theorist . Wh en the first,possibly inaccurate rules

have been laid down,we may venture to predict

events . The confirmation of those predictionswill strengthen our rules and improve our knowledge .

I t was first the knowledge of time that engagedthe earnest attention of observing races . Thatknowledge suggested ideas concerning the nature

54

CREATION MYTHS

of the celestial bodies,which had to be studied in

their analogies to terrestrial obj ects . Thus theelementary astronomical

,physical

,and chemical

conceptions were gradually evolved . The eminentadvocates

,formerly unmentioned

,of certain views

were now quoted,and we thus arrive at a real

historical review of the evolution of ideas .In the following chapters we deal with the

cosmogonies of historical times,as distinguished

from the saga- ages . A sharp boundary line cannot,

of course,be drawn .

SS

COSMOGON IES OF T HE ANC IENTPH ILOSOPHERS

ARBAROUS tribes did not feel the need of

a time scale and had no reason to look fora measure of time . Hunting and fishing were theirmeans of livelihood . Wh en the chase failed andhunger pinched , they learnt to appreciate berriesand edible roots . That food was only make - shiftfor the men

,however . The women probably had

often to be contented with such nourishment forthe men will hardly have given them more thanthe abundance of game and fish . The tribes hadto follow the game in its migrations

,and the day ’ s

cares were enough for them . Matters did notchange much

,when man tried to tame and to keep

beasts,with the obj ect of securing a food supply .

The cattle needed fresh grazing grounds whichchanged with the seasons

,and the position of the

camp of nomadic tribes depended upon the cattle,

not upon the masters .Conditions did change when the increasing

population had to till the ground . Fixed quartershad to be chosen , and the fields had to be culti

56

AN C IE N T PH ILOSOPHE RS

vated in certain seasons , i f crops were to be reapedin due course . The changes of the seasons depended upon the positions of the Sun

,and it was

desirable towatch the Sun . It was soon noticed ,however

,that the rising and setting of certain

stars in the various seasons was more easilyobserved . The regular changes of the Moon , re

occurring in short periods (of days), will nothave failed to attract attention ; they furnisheda measure for periods of moderate duration ,

andthe Moon alone will have been the clock of thenomadic tribes in the earliest ages . The nomadswandered with their herds in the mild light of theMoon and avoided the burning rays of the Sun .

Later on the Sun was worshipped as the ruler ofthe world

,and the year was made dependent on

the movements of both Sun and Moon . Sincenow the year comprises more than twelve synodicmonths

,and less than thirteen

,some years were

given twelve lunar months,others thirteen months ,

and the resulting average length of the year wasthus correct . The day was divi ded into six equalparts

,each of sixty minutes ; the Babylonian

minute hence corresponded to four of our minutes ,and the Sun traversed one degree on the sky inthe course of one Babylonian minute .

The Chaldaeans perceived that some of the stars ,and some of the brightest , were less suitable thanthe others for the determination of the seasons .These irregular stars were called planets or wander

57


ing stars ; like Sun and Moon ,they appear to

wander from one constellation to another , whilstthe other stars keep to their respective positions .Like Sun and Moon ,

the planets became obj ects o fworship . The oldest regular stellar observationsof the Chaldaeans may go back four or five thousand years further than our Christian era . According to the Romans and Greeks those observationshad indeed been conducted for several hundredthousand years . The astronomer H ipparchos

speaks of observations for years , Ciceroeven of years— very arbitrary estimates ,of course .

Kallisthenes collected such observations extending back to 2300 B .C. for Aristoteles . On theirs labs of clay the Chaldaean priests noted ,

night bynight

,the position and brightness of the stars and

the moments of their rising,setting and culmina

tion . The movements of the fixed stars are so

regular that their positions may be predicted witha ' very high degree of accuracy . The movementsof the planets are‘ not regular

,but it was observed

that the irregularities were periodical,the period

of Venus being 8 years , and that of J upit er83 years . The positions of the planets havingcarefully been noted during those p eriods , consultation of the tables enabled the astronomers topredict in which constella ti ons the planets wouldbe found in future yea rs . Real planetary ephem

erides were compil ed in advance , and some of these

58

AN C IE NT PH ILOSOPHERS

have been preserved ; one for the year 523 B .C.

is,for instance

,still in existence . The traj ectory

of the Sun through the zodiac is likewise veryregular . It progresses every day by nearly one de

gree , and that was the reason why the Chaldaeansdivided the circle into When it was recognised that the Sun moved at a much faster ratein winter than in summer

,this irregularity was

allowed for by assuming that the Sun described anarc of I -

0 1 59°

in a winter day,and an arc of 0 -

9524°

in a summer day . The most famous of the Babylonian astronomers

,Kid innu ,

effected a notableimprovement in these calculations by introducinga different rate of solar movement for each month .

Kid innu lived at the beginning of the secondcentury B .C. , and conducted many remarkableobservations ; his tables on the movements ofthe Moon are particularly accurate Strikingregularities were also found in the relative movements of the Moon and Sun ; their recognitionwas probably the results of observations extending over thousands of years . After 23 5 synodicMoon revolutions or 6939 -69 days (or 1 9 solaryears), the Moon will once more occupy almostexactly the same position with regard to Sunand E arth . An eclipse of the Moon

,observed

on a certain day,may therefore be predicted

to recur after the elapse of 1 9 years , the so

called Metonic cycle . Evidence of the knowledge of this cycle was discovered by Kugler in

59


astronomical calculations of Babylonian origin ,

dating from the commencement of the fourthcentury B .C. That would be about fi fty yearsafter the Greek Meton had introduced the cyclein 432 B .C. The two discoveries were probablyindependent of one another

,though there was

intercourse between Babylon and Greece at thattime

,via Phoenicia apparently . Thales seems to

have been of Phoenician origin . The astronomicalknowledge of the Babylonians afterwards becamefamiliar to the Alexandrian Greeks .Prediction is also applicable to solar eclipses

though not with quite the same reliability .

E clipses,especially of the Sun , do not fail to

impress man and , in fact , all living creatures .The authority of the star - watching priestswas hence greatly strengthened

,when they

learnt correctly to prophesy these phenomena .

The astronomers must soon have recognisedthat eclipses depended upon the position of

the Moon with respect to the Sun and E arth .

They will also have understood,that it was the

shadow of the E arth which darkened the Moonduring a lunar eclipse As this shadow wascircular , they will have concluded that the E arthwas round . And as this was always so ,

no matterwhich portion of the E arth was turned towardsthe Moon

,i t followed further

,that the E arth

must be round like a ball,not a round disc . These

observations will thus have supplied a correct

60


TH E LIFE 0 F THE UN IVE RSE

astrologers,and thus their power over the princes

and the people became more and more firmlyestablished . The belief in astrology kept thesuperstitious people in bondage throughout theMiddle Ages and impeded scientific investigation ,as it prevented the search for a natural explanation of natural phenomena .

In measuring time the Chaldaeans made use ofthe water - clock

,clepsydm , and of the sundial ,

polos, the latter a vertical rod fixed over a hemispherical concave base

,divided into circles

,whose

radius was the length of the rod . In the waterclock water or some other liquid flows through asmall aperture from a large receptacle

,and the

time is determined by weighing the escaped water .The polos served for fixing the north - south line

(meridian), the position of the Sun in winter andsummer

,and the direction of the axis of the Uni

verse,as well as the equinoxes . The finds of crystal

lenses,made in the ruins of Mesopotamia , show

that the Chaldaeans were well up in optics ; inother branches of science they do not appear tohave excelled .

According to the Egyptian legends , the godThot taught man astronomy

,magic and prophecy ,

medicine,writing and drawing . The traj ectory of

the Sun through the thirty- six constellations of

the Zodiac,each of which corresponded to one

decade,was marked on tables which had , since

remote days,been kept by the priests of the temple

62

ANCIENT PH I LOSOPHE RS

of the Sun- god Ra . Later astronomers were alsoappointed for the temples of other gods ; theseastronomers

,the watchmen of the night

,

” had toobserve the heavens and to record their observations . They even drew star maps

,some of which

have been preserved together with their tables .The Egyptian year was divided into 1 2 monthsof 3 0 days . The year commenced in the beginning of August

,and its length was corrected by

the addition of 5 extra days to the end of theyear . The still missing 5g hours were adj usted invarious ways

,partly with the aid of astronomical

observations,especially of the Dog Star .

In a certain respect this chronology was superiorto our own . All the months had the same lengthof 3 0 days , while our calendar is an arbitraryconfusion of months ranging from 28 to 3 1 days .

February,i t may be remembered

,had originally

3 0 days . One of these was cut off and added toJ uly , in honour of Julius Caesar . Augustus hadequally to be honoured

,and February was de

prived of another day , which was added to August .

Posterity would have regarded these honours ina different light .

The solar revolution does not exactly comprise

365 days , and the j ust -mentioned difficulties ,caused by this non - agreement

,became more

noticeable as time advanced . Occasional re

adj ustments were made in the calendar to makethe N ile floods always fall in the beginning of the

63

THE L IFE OF TH E UN IVE RSE

year . This arbitrary procedure continued up tothe age of the Ptolemies

,when the leap year of

366 days was introduced . This modification of thecalendar was later on adopted by Julius Caesar ,who acted in his reform of the calendar on theadvice of the Graeco -Egyptian astronomer Sosigenesof Alexandria .

The defects of the thus improved Roman orJ ulian calendar began to show in - the course of

centuries,and Pope Gregory XI I I had the calendar

once more reformed in I 582 . The Gregorian calendar is correct within one day in 3000 years .The star-watching priests of Egypt enj oyed an

extraordinarily high authority . Their studies concerned not only astronomy

,in which they hardly

surpassed the Chaldaeans , but also medicine andchemistry

,sciences in which they excelled .

Egyptian physicians were consulted by Asiaticrulers like the King of Bakhtan ; later on theKings of Persia sent to Egypt for medical advice .

Homer praises the Egyptian medical men as thegreatest experts of their time . Some of their prescriptions are still preserved ; li teral translationsin Latin verses of their prescriptions and of theirhygienic rules were taught in the Middle Ages atthe famous school of medicine at Salerno , andsome of these rules and medicines are still popular .On the whole their medicines seem to have re

sembled the nauseating mixtures which Chinesedruggists still offer for sale .

64

The Egyptians had a great reputation as magicians and soothsayers . It was believed that thelearned men of Egypt could , by pronouncingcertain sacred formulae , make the water ofrivers return to their springs

,arrest or accelerate

the Sun on its course , and enliven waxen im

ages of men and animals . They had accessto the courts

,where they held the office of

master of the secrets of heavens . Theyranked with the chiefs of the body guards andwith the privy councillors

,the “ masters of the

secrets of the Royal House .

” Like them andas a sign of superiority over the ordinary courtofficials they kept their sandals on in the royalpalaces

,and they were privileged to kiss Pharaoh ’ s

knee,instead of his feet . Leopard skins

,corre

spond ing to the ermine of later periods , were thedistinctive garment of these magnates .The following story ,

taken from Maspero,may

illustrate the wonderful feats which the peoplethought these learned men capable of performing .

Cheops asked one of them Is it true,that you

can fix a cut - off head on its trunk The question was answered in the affirmative

,and Pharaoh

ordered that a prisoner should be fetched to trythe experiment . The astrologer gave the humanereply that it would be a pity to risk the experi

men t with a human being ; an animal would do .

They caught a goose,cut off its head ,

and placedthe head on the one side of the room

,the body

65

THE L IFE OF THE UN IVE RSE

on the other . The priest pronounced his magi cformula

,and head and body of the goose began

to move towards one another and united oncemore ; then the goose cackled . The experimenthad

,of course , to be repeated twice it succeeded

completely wi th a pelican and then with a bull .The princes and Pharaoh himself often desired theRoyal astrologer to instruct them in his scienceand magic .

In navigating upon the Mediterranean and theRed Sea the old Egyptians steered their coursewith the aid of the stars ; Homer tells us thatUlysses found his way from the island of Kalypsoto Corfu by these means . On the whole , navigatorswill have kept close to the shores . But stormswill have carried many a vessel out upon the Opensea ,

and both the sailors and the people on shoremust have noticed, that the surface of the sea

seemed to be curved as i f it formed part of asphere .

Many scientists have shared the Opinion of theScottish astronomer P iazzi Smyth that the designof the great pyramid of Cheops , which was builtabout 3 000 B .C.

, embodied knowledge that wasthe exclusive property of the most learned Egyptians of the time . The base of this pyramid— asalso of othersfi forms an exact square

,whose sides

run almost perfectly east -west and north - south ,

with a deviation of I in 750 only . The pyramidlies almos t under the 3 oth degree of northern

66

AN C IE N T P H I LOSOPHE RS

latitude,not more than 2 km . south of it . In the

middle of the northern face is the entrance to along

,narrow passage which is inclined to the

horizon at and therefore parallel to therotational axis of the E arth . The passage thuspoints to the celestial pole,

and the circumstancethat the atmospheric refraction tends to raisethe apparent position of the pole slightly ratherperfects this coincidence . We cannot doubt therefore that the builders of the pyramid were guidedby noteworthy astronomical and mathematicalknowledge .

But P iazzi Smyth overrated their information.

The height of the pyramid was originally 1 45 m .

and the perimeter of the base was 93 1 m . Theratio of these two figures is 1 6 42 . This isnearly the ratio 1 6 28 of the radius of a circleto its circumference , but too small by a little morethan 2 per cent . Smyth was hardly j ustified insuggesting that the builders meant to reproduce

,

in the measures of the height and of the baselength of their pyramid , the ratio of the radiusto the circumference of a circle .

Egyptian science unfortunately was not allowedto become the property of the people . Otherwisethe culture of this race upon which we gaze withadmiration would have attained a still higherdegree , and our own civilisation would indirectlyhave profited . When the early Greek cultureflourished most , between 400 and 600 B .C.

,Egypt

67


was really the home of the highest art and intelligence

,and men like Thales

,Pythagoras

,Demo

kritos,and Herodotos visited the land of the N ile

to quench their thirst of knowledge . Later on,

under the Ptolemies , Egyptian and Greek art andscience amalgamated on the classical Egyptian soil

,

and Alexandria became the centre of learning .

It is related that Thales of Miletus,who lived

from 640 to 550 B .C., predicted an eclipse of the

Sun and made his reputation thereby . The art ofperforming astronomical calculations he had presumably acquired in Phoenicia , and thus indirectlyfrom Babylon , or in Egypt . To that countrypoints also his teaching that water is the primordialelement of all things . Anax imandros (61 1 to

547 perhaps a pupil of Thales,taught that

an infinite number of cosmic bodies had beenformed out of a chaotic mixture of the elements ,of infinite expanse . Another philosopher

,Anax i

menes (about who,like Thales

,belonged to

the so- called Ionian school , regarded the air as

the primary element . The E arth was produced

by condensation of the air,in the shape of a disc

floating upon compressed air . The Sun,Moon

,

and stars were all discs and moved about theE arth . There is not a trace of Egyptian philosophyin these theses of Anaximenes .

In Pythagoras , who lived in the second half ofthe sixth century (about 560— 490 and hisschool we again find decided influences of Egyptian

68



have had a fairly correct notion of the solarsystem . The heavens of the fixed stars the Pytha

goreans thought a vast hollow sphere,also

rotating about the central fire . Since they madethe E arth perform one revolution in one day ,

thisformer view appears not only superfluous

,but

quite inconsistent .

Gradually the ideas of the Pythagoreans gainedin clearness . The physical causes of the phenomena were being investigated . Heraklitos of

Ephesus (about 500 B .C. ) taught that nothing wasabsolutely unchangeable . Empedokles (a Sicilian ,

about 450 B .C.) came to the conclusion ,which

modern science has re- acquired,that an origin

from nothing (a creation)was as impossible as thedestruction of anything material . All things werecomposed of the four elements — earth

,air

,fire ,

water . The apparent destruction of a body onlysignified that its composition

,the proportion of

i ts component constituents,had changed . The

teacher of Perikles,Anaxagoras

,who was born

about 500 B .C. in Asia Minor and who settled inAthens after the wars with the Persians

,extended

this teaching to the Universe,for which he postu

lated eternity . The primary Chaos had meanwhile assumed a more definite shape ; the Sunwas a colossal

,incandescent ball of iron ; the stars

were likewise incandescent,owing to their friction

against the aether . Since the Athenians accordeddivine honours to the stars

,as we can read in

70

AN C IE N T P H I LOSOP HE RS

P lato and Aristoteles , Anaxagoras was accusedof blasphemy on

\

information laid by one of hispupils

,Kleanthes , and he was thrown into prison .

The intervention of his powerful protector Periklessaved him from the fate of Sokrates . Exercisingwise caution

,Anaxagoras went into voluntary

exile and died,generally revered

,at Lampsakos at

the age of 7 2 years .

We obtain a peculiar impression of the highlyeulogised intelligence and civilisation of theAthenians

,when we read how one of their

eminent sons after the other chose voluntary exileto escape cruel punishment

,frequently death

penalty,for his philosophical belief . Sokrates

had to drink the poison cup,because he dis

dained to flee P lato lived for twelve yearsabroad not to share the fate of his dead master

,

and was initiated into Pythagorean tenets inItaly . Aristoteles

,a pupil o f P lato

,was charged

with blasphemy by a priest of Demeter and condemned to death by the Areopagos he succeededin escaping to Chalkis on the Island of Euboea ,where he died in exile , in his sixty - third year (322

Diagoras , who had denied the existence ofthe Greek gods , was also condemned to death anddied in exile ; the philosopher Protagoras wasbanished and his books were publicly burned ; andProd ikos , who asserted that the gods Were personifications of natural forces , was executed— all

this in Athens,the stronghold of liberty . Slavery

7 I

THE LIFE OF THE UN IVE RSE

was very common , and it is a great pity thatmost of the parchments of those days were prepared by slaves who little understood what theywere recording . I t is not improbable that thephilosophers intentionally clothed their ideas inobscure phrases , not to expose themselves to thepersecution by the fanatical people .

After Empedokles and Anaxagoras followedDemokritos , the founder of the atomistic thesisof modern science . He was born at Abderain Thrace

,some forty years after the birth of

Anaxagoras,about 460 or 470 ,

and h e died inhis native town at a very high age . The largefortune that he had inherited he spent in travelling

,and he says of himself that none of his

contemporaries had seen so much of the world,

lived in so different climates,and listened to so

many philosophers . Not even the mathematiciansof Egypt

,among whom he had lived for five years

,

surpassed him in geometrical analysis and deduction . He was probably the greatest thinker of theclassical age ; we possess nothing but unimportantfragments of his numerous writings , however .He believed the atoms to be in continuous movement

,eternal and indestructible . All substances

were formed by the combination of atoms,and

everything happened conforming to the invariablelaws of N ature . The Sun of Demokritos was ofimmense size

,and the Milky Way consisted of

stars similar to the Sun . The number of universes

72

ANCIE NT P H I LOSOPHE RS

was infinite . They passed through slow changesof destruction and restoration .

Most of what we know of this philosopher hascome down to us through

'

the intermediation ofAthenian and other philosophers who

,like Aristo

teles (385— 323 opposed these doctrines .Sokrates declared astronomy to be incomprehensible it was unwise to study it . P lato (428—347B .C. ) uttered the wish that the 72 books of Demokritos should be burned . P lato dealt with naturalscience from a teleological standpoint , which wecan only regard as wrong

'

in principle .

Philosophy was then being degraded to incomprehensible metaphysics . According to Aristoteles

,

to whom we owe most of our knowledge of antiquescience

,the vault of the heavens is round

,and the

orbits of stars are circles , because the heavensare a divine conformation and must have divineproperties ” The planets cannot move by themselves , since they have no organs of motion . Hebelieved in the spherical shape of the E arth

(chiefly on account of the round shadow seenduring eclipses) and made the E arth the centre ofthe Universe ; but he denied its motion . TheE arth was the oldest divine being within theheavens . Aristoteles was a man of the mostvaried and profound learning

,and we can still

study his voluminous writings . It is much to beregretted that he did not approach the naturalphilosophy of Demokritos with an open mind .

7 3


At this time the school of the Sophists exer

cised great influence at Athens . The Sophistsproved all and everything without previousstudy . The writings of this type of philoso

phers were almost worshipped during the MiddleAges . Aristoteles was held infallible . His methodsof deduction in natural philosophy impressedtheir fatal stamp upon the reasoning of theMiddle Ages — the reader will remember thestrange speculations of the scholastics— and hisinfluence was still powerful a few centuries agoN atural science took a sounder development in

Syracuse and Alexandria . H icetas of Syracuse ,Cicero tells us

,maintained that the Heaven was

standing still,while the E arth turned about its

axis . We do not know anything further abouthim . All the more

,however

,of his great country

man Archimedes (287— 21 2 the great inventorand engineer

,who established the theory of equi

librium in mechanics . He taught that a liquid inequilibrium would assume a spherical shape , andthat it had a centre of gravity like the E arth ;for that reason the surface of the sea was curved ,not plane .

The natural philosophers of Alexandria arrivedat a clear conception of the shape of the E arthand its position in the Universe . Eudoxus of

Knidos (409— 3 56 who founded a school inAthens

,had taught in Egypt . He succeeded ad

mirably in representing the movements of the

74

AN C IE NT P H I LOSOPHE RS

celestial bodies by means of revolving spheres .With Plato he supposed the E arth to be in thecentre of the p lanetary system

,and his views

were taken up by Aristoteles . E ratosthenes (2751 94 B .C.) observed in Alexandria the altitude ofthe Sun at the summer and winter solstices anddeduced from these observations

,that the dis

tance between the two tropics made up ofthe circumference of the E arth (this value is toogreat by a little more than 1 per cent). Bytaking solar altitudes both at Alexandria and atSyene ( in Upper Egypt) he determined the difference in the latitudes of the two spots at 3

1

6 of

the circumference of the globe (this figure is 1 5per cent too small). The distance between thesame two places he estimated from the time whicha camel caravan required for this j ourney

,and

be calculated that the circumference of the E arthwould be stadia

,km .

,which is a

good estimate . Aristoteles had spoken of

stadia , Archimedes of we do not knowfor which reasons . Posidonios (born in Syria in1 35 , died in Rome 5 1 B .C. )measured the maximumaltitude that the star Canopus attained in Alexandria ; it was 7 while the star j ust grazedthe horizon on the Island of Rhodes . The distance between Rhodes and Alexandria was variously estimated at 5000 or 3 750 stadia the combination of these astronomical and terrestrialobservations yielded the figures or

7 5


stadia or km .) for the circumferenceof the globe .

Aristarchos (born about 270 B .C.) attempted todetermine the size of the Sun and of the Moonfrom observations of eclipses and of the positionof the Moon when j ust half illuminated his valuefor the Moon diameter was 0 3 3 of that of theE arth (the correct figure is 02 7 , so that he wasnot far out), and his Sun diameter 1 9 1 (the correctvalue is 1 08 terrestrial diameters ; here Aristarchos ’ estimate was far too low).Archimedes , who was in close touch with the

Alexandrian school,tells of Aristarchos : He

believes that the Sun and the fixed stars arestationary

,while the E arth moves in a circle

about the Sun which is in the centre of its orbit .”

In a book which has erroneously been ascribed toPlutarch (46— 1 20 A.D .)we read that Greece shouldhave accused Aristarchos of blasphemy ; for hetaught that the Heaven was immovable

,and that

the E arth rotated about its axis,while at the same

time moving about the Sun along the Zodiac .

The fixed stars were said to be at an immensedistance from the Sun .

— This book estimates thedistance of the Moon at stadia km .

or 20 E arth radii), which is quite wrong ; butstrangely enough the distance of the Sun almostcorrect at stadia or km .

instead of km . H ipparchos of Alexandria ( 1 90— 1 25 the most eminent antique

76


THE L IFE OF - TH E UN IVE RSE

life was cramped by superstitious rules . The inherited customs were upheld with obstinaterigidity ; art and science little interested them ,

F I G . 6. The System of P to lemaeus.

contemplation of N ature still less . The praetical aims of life were paramount . They weredifferent to the Greeks , and the antipathy whichtheir first contact with the Greeks called forth

78

AN C IE NT PH I LOSOPHE RS

lasted for centuries . Yet the art and literarytreasures of conquered Greece were transported toRome , and with them came members of the subjugated

,but more highly cultured race . The better

F I G . 7 . The Zodiac of Denderah in E gypt , dat ing from the

beg inning of our era .

elements among the Romans fell under the spellof the superior intellect and strove to imitate theGreek masters . Thus arose the wonderful epic ofLucretius (99 to 55 De N atura Rerum

,

79


the eulogy of epi curean wisdom and of the philosophical teachings of Empedokles and Demokritos .

It is noteworthy'

that this poem also discusses theproperties of the magnet Lucretius probably tookhis information from Demokritos . Among theadmirers of Greek philosophy

,and of the great

master Demokritos in particular,to whom we owe

the preservation of many fragments of Greeklearning

,were Cicero ( 1 06—43 a pupil of

Posidonios , P liny the E lder (A.D . 23 andSeneca (A.D . 1 2

But the Romans stopped at imitation of theirmasters they did not produce anything original .Their philosophic training was merely a thinvarnish . Their leaders committed the greatestbarbarities . Caesar , e.g . , burned the library of

Alexandria after the conquest of the city . Hissuccessors

,the Cmsars , sank deeper and deeper

into insane voluptuousness . The race of philoso

phers was soon extinct . The Christians had stillless respect for science . Three hundred years afterCaesar they plundered , under Bishop Theophilos ,the newly established library of Alexandria

,and

some 300 years later again the Caliph Omar burntthe books that were left . It is true that the Arabsafterwards rose to high culture . Science attractedthem , and they collected the writings of the Alexandrian school

,so far as still possible . But the

sentiment of the people,misguided by intolerant

priests , was not favourable to science the Koran

80

”av

W i l l i ”

F I GS. 8 to I I . Four Constel lat ions :Ophiuchus, the Great

Bear, Orion, the Dragon, accord ing to Al Sufi’

s star catalogue.

8 1


was considered infallible . Yet , on the whole thereligion of the Moslim cannot be characterised ashostile to science . It is related that the Prophetonce told his pupils ' The Last Day will come

,

when science will altogether have been extirpated .

”

Harun al Rashid asked the Greek Emperors forgifts of philosophical literature . The request waswillingly complied with

,and the wise Caliph

had the books translated , appointed learned mento study them

,and sent others— no fewer than

three hundred— out on j ourneys to acquire knowledge . His son Abdallah al Mamum collected classical manuscripts , and established libraries andschools for the education of his people . He hadan arc measurement conducted in the desert ofSingar near the Arabian Gulf in 827 ; the resultwas

,one degree equal to 56 7 Arabian m iles . Un

fortunately we do not know the length of theArabian mile ; it was divided into 4000 ells of

unknown length . Yet this determination of anarc appear s to have surpassed those previouslyundertaken . He also had the inclination of theecliptic to the equator determined ; the valuefound was 28

°

The most eminent astronomer of that periodwas Albatani (about 850 Governor of Syria .

He determined the length of the year at 365 days

5 hours 46 minutes and 22 seconds (2 min . 24 sec .

too short), and compiled excellent tables on theorbits of the planets . The Persian Abd al Rahman

82

AN C IE NT PH I LOSOPHE RS

al Sufi (903—

986) lived,half

.

a century later . Hecatalogued 1 022 stars

,and this catalogue is valued

far higher than that of P tolemaeus it ranks withthe best that has been handed down to us fromthe old ages . His figure for the precession of theequinoxes is 1 degree in 66 years ( the actual valueis years).Before this time already Dchafar al Sofi (702

756) of Mesopotamia had made the high school ofSeville

,at which he taught

,famous as a centre of

chemical science .

The power of the Caliphs of Bagdad declinedabout a hundred years after Al Mamum , andCordova in Spain became the great seat ofArabianculture . Hakem I I is said to have collected alibrary of volumes at Cordova (aboutprobably an exaggerated figure . The great Arabian astronomer Ibn J unis belongs to the sameperiod . He measured time with the aid of thependulum

,600 years before Galilei

,and he also

compiled famous astronomical tables . A contem

porary of his , Alhazen ,is the author of a grand

book on optics,in which he is said to have far

surpassed all his precursors in this science . AfterCordova was conquered back by the Spaniards in1 236,

the library and the high school declined,and

a centre of civilisation decayed,at which many

Christians had sought inspiration'

and instruc

tion .

When we inquire into the sources of ancient

8 3


civilisation and learning,we feel inclined to turn to

China . The great Chinese thinkers have,however ,

not occupied themselves much with cosmogony .

Confucius,who lived from 55 1 to 478 before

Christ , states that he merely collected the ancientwisdom . He confined himself to morals

,and he

intentionally refrained from dwelling upon un

practical problems such as the origi n of the world .

We find a little more in the teachings of Laotse,

born 604 B .C.,the founder of the Tao- religion .

It is difficult to explain what Tao really is . Ac

cording to Suzuki , who has recently published acompendium of ancient Chinese philosophy , Taois not only the form- giving principle of the Universe ; it seems also to stand for the primarymatter

,a thing of chaotic composition which existed

before Heaven and Earth .

” These last “ words area quotation from the 25th chapter of the bookTao Te King

,

” by Laotse. Tao signifies theway

,yet not only the way

,but also “ the wan

derer . It is the infinite path on which everything alive and lifeless wanders . It did not arisefrom any other being ; i t is itself the eternalBeing

,the All and yet Nothing , the cause and

origin of all things,of Heaven and E arth . Laotse

says : How deep and mysterious is Tao , theorigin of All

,how still and clear is Tao , a concep

tion that appears eternal . I do not know,whose

son Tao is it seems,that he existed before God

(Ti). Heaven and E arth are indestructible ,84



The Chinese are not speculative like the Greeksand the Hindus . They never lose sight of thepractical and ethical aspect of matters . Theywould laugh at those star- gazers whose feet aresignificantly resting on E arth .

’

On the wholethis view of existence resembles that o f th eRomans , and in Confucius these characteristicfeatures appear crystallised .

We may pass over these philosophical hazes .

They only demonstrate the incapacity of agnosticabstract meditation to solve the cosmic problems .

Astronomers held appointments also at theChinese temples .

“

They had to watch the starsand to predict eclipses . It does not appear thatthey pursued the study of astronomy as a science ,and they probably did not advance further thanthe old Chaldaeans .The Chinese of our age and the raceswho have

adopted the religion of Mahomet regard matterswhich are not of direct public or private utilitywith a certain indifference which does not favourthe progress of science . The reply

,which the

Turkish Kadi Imaum Ali Zadegave to an astronomer from the Occident , may be quoted as characteristic . According to Proctor

,Ali Zadeanswered

somewhat as follows : Do not look for thingswhich do not concern you . You came to us

,we

welcomed you now depart in peace . You haveindeed spoken many words

,and no harm has

been done ; for there is one who speaks , and

86

AN C IE N T PH I LOSOPHE RS

another who listens . After the manner of yourpeople

,you have wandered from place to place

,

until you no longer feel happy and contentedanywhere . Listen

,my son $ There is no wisdom

other than the belief in God . He created theworld . Is it for us to compete with Him and todare to penetrate into the secrets of His creationShall we say : Look at this star , how it turnsabout another star

,and look at that other star

with a tail which will return to us in so manyyears ? Be done with it He

,from whose hand

the star came,will guide and direct it . I praise

God that I do not strive after what I do not need .

You are wise in things,about which I do not

trouble my head .

That is the specifically Oriental maxim . WeOccidentals have different views

,fortunately .

And the scientific spiri t of the Arabs of theMiddle Ages

,whom we have to thank that the

scientific treasures of antiquity did not perish,is

well expressed in the following words of thegreatest of Arabian physicists Ibn al Haitam or

Alhazen (about AD . From my earliestyouth I have studied the opinions of men on

matters of truth . Every sect clings to its Opinionwhich the others condemn . I could not butdoubt them all ; for there is only one truth . Ibegan to search for the sources of that which istrue

,and all my longing and aspiring had that

one obj ect,to find the essence of things . And

87


so I experienced what Galenus described in theseventh book of his medical art . I looked downupon the simple people and did not trouble aboutthem (about their beliefs), but strove incessantlyafter truth and knowledge

,and the conviction

grew in me,that nothing better than this can be

granted in this world .

” I f we disregard the umfortunate contempt of the masses

,so character

istic for those ages , we feel that the Arabian scholarand the modern scientist are in perfect accord .

From the tenor of the utterances of Ali Zade andof Alhazen , however , we understand why islamiticculture

,which throve so wonderfully in the time

of Alhazen ,is no longer able to develop strong ,

healthy shoots .

88



floods of the ocean . About its centre as axis turnsthe Heaven .

Of the few learned men of the Middle Agesthe Franciscan monk Roger Bacon ( 1 21 4— 94)may be singled out as standing far above hisown time . He possessed extraordinary knowledge

,especially of optics , and he foresaw the

construction of the telescope . Unusually free ofprej udices and far in advance of his own timewas the German ecclesiast N icholas de Cusa or

Cusanus (born at Cues , near Trier , in 1 40 1 ,died

as cardinal at Todi in He declared theE arth to be an almost spherical star rotating aboutits own axis

,shining with borrowed light

,larger

than the Moon,smaller than the Sun ,

and notstanding still in space . Other stars were inhabited as well . Bodies were not destroyed theyonly changed their form .

The giant genius Leonardo da Vinci ( 1 452— 1 5 1 9)held similar Opinions . The E arth

,as seen from

the Moon , would in his Opiniori look as the Moon

appeared to us . The E arth was neither in thecentre of the Sun ’ s orbit

,nor in the centre Of the

Universe . It rotated about its own axis . WithN icholas de Cusa he shared the belief that theE arth consisted of the same kind of matter as theother planets

,and not of some coarser stuff

,as Aris

toteles had taught and Tycho Brahe taught later .Leonardo had a clear conception of gravitation .

I f the earth were to burst into several pieces,he

90

DAWN OF MODE RN AGE S

said,those pieces would fall back to their common

centre and would oscillate about it,to and fro

,

until,after several collisions

,a new state of equi

librium would have been reached . One of themost remarkable of his ingenious expositions ishi s theory of combustion ,

according to which airis consumed during combustion

,and animals can

not live in an air which is no longer capable of

sustaining combustion . Leonardo was an engineerof extraordinary eminence

,eminent in particular

in hydraulic engineering . His canals are still inexistence and admired by the present age . Weowe to him wonderful theoretical researches concerning hydrostatics

,statics

,aerostatics

, perspec

tive,and the theories of waves and of colours .

Everybody knows him as one of the greatestpainters and sculptors of all ages

,and he was in

addition an expert on fortification and a bellettrist .

This powerful personality was of quite a differenttype to the mediaeval monks . A new time hadcome . Before Leonardo was born the art of printing had been invented . Columbus had discoveredAmerica . The Renaissance had established itselfwith exuberant force . No reaction against thereformation of the Church had yet barred thegeneral freedom of thought . Cusanus and DaVinci were permitted to express , free and uh

impeded,opinions which agreed with the teachings

Of Aristarchos Copernicus except in so far that

9 1

THE L I FE OF THE UN IVE RSE

they did not make the E arth turn about the Sun .

The one man became a cardinal,the other enj oyed

the favour of the most powerful princes . Leonardodied in Amboise in France

,whither he had been

called by the a rt- loving Francis the First . Themagnificent popes rivalled the dukes of Milan ,

Ferrara,Mantua

,N aples

,and

,above all

,of

F IG . 1 2. The Coperni can System ,showing orbi t of a comet.

Compare Fig ; I 3 , which represent s our present v iews.

Florence,in promoting and protecting the arts

and science . Sixtus V had the splendid library of

the Vatican built and stocked . The age was ripefor further progress which the incipient reactionheaded by the terrible Inquisition— in vain at

tempted to check .

It was the study of the Alexandrian Ptole

maeus’ Great Syntax

,a report on the astronomy

92



of his age (the second century after Christ), aswell as his own observations , which inducedCopernicus ( 1 47 3 a canon of German descent ofFrauenburg , born in Thorn on the Vistula ,to offer his system as a hypothesis . The treatise*

in which he exposed his hypothesis,only appeared

in the year of his death . He thereby escaped thefate which later on befell his zealous adherentGiordano Bruno , a Dominican monk from Nolain Italy .

E xpelled from his country on account of his

convictions , Bruno defended the Copernican doctrines when travelling through the chief countries of Europe and also uttered the opinion

,

that the fixed stars were surrounded by planetsinhabited like our E arth . Bruno violently at

tacked the astrological superstition ; which wasimpeding the progress oi science

,that the stars

,

and not the Sun alone,should exercise a

powerful influence upon N ature and upon man .

According to Bruno ’ s views the celestial bodiesfloat in an infinite , fluid

,transparent sea of aether .

On account of these doctrines,as well as on ac

count of his assertion,that Moses had performed

his miracles by natural means,he was arrested

in Venice and condemned to die at the stake .

“De Revolutionibus Orbium Celestium L ibr i V I .

Copernicus had st ud ied in I ta ly ; his views were known to highdigni taries . But the pub l i cation of his book took place without his know ledge, when he was Iy ing on his deathbed .

— H .B .

94


The sentence was carried out on the 1 7 th February ,1 600

,when Bruno was 52 years of age . The same

Spirit prevailed in those days that had once demanded victims in Athens only people were stillmore cruel and barbarous . Bruno ’ s main effortshad been directed towards breaking the detrimental influence which the philosophy of Aristoteles had been exercising upon scientific ideas .We may say that with this last great terrible

triumph of the Inquisition the Olden days cameto an end . F or the discoveries of Kepler

,and

especially of Galilei,advanced our knowledge far

beyond the scope of the old age .

The system of Copernicus is frequently explained

,as i f it had been entirely independent of

antique influences . How little j ustified this is,we

learn from the following words of his own : Afterhaving meditated on the uncertainty of the mathematical theses respecting the calculations of thecircular movements of the spheres

,I began to feel

disgusted, that the philosophers , who had so

assiduously studied the most insignificant featuresof these movements

,had had no sure base for the

movements of the universal machine which hasbeen built

,for our sake

,by the best and the most

lawful of all masters . I therefore took pains tore- read all the books of the philosophers uponwhich I could lay my hands in order to search

,

whether or not somebody had given expression tothe idea

,that the celestial bodies might have other

95


movements than those taught in the schools of

mathematical science . Then I found first inCicero that N icetus (Hicetas) had firmly believedthat the E arth must be moving . Later on I discovered also in Plutarchus that some others hadbeen of the same opinion . I quote his words hereto make them known Others

,however

,believe

that the E arth is moving . Thus Philolaos, thePythagoraean ,

says that the E arth moved aboutthe fire in an oblique circle

,similarly to Sun and

Moon . Heraklid of Pontus and Ekphantus , thePythagoraean ,

do not stipulate a progressive movement yet they think that the E arth moves afterthe fashion of a wheel , between Occident andOrient

,about its own centre .

’ Having learnt thisI began to cogitate on the mobility of the Earth

,

and although this seemed to be contradictory toour experience

,I yet persevered

,because I knew

that liberty had been granted to others beforeme to assume arbitrary circular movements forthe purpose of deducing the stellar phenomena .

”

Like Aristarchos, Copernicus considered the orbitof the E arth as very small by comparison withthe distance of the fixed stars .

A few years after the death of Copernicus,Tyge

(Tycho) Brahe was born in Schonen Thesight of a total solar eclipse made a deep impression upon him and instilled the youth with aburning zeal for the study of astronomy . Heconducted a very large series of extremely care

96



It was reserved to Kepler ( 1 57 1 — 1 63 0) to drawthe conclusions from the observations of Tycho .

He demonstrated that the planets moved inellipses about the Sun ,

and he deduced the lawsconnecting their velocities with their distances from

F ig. I 4 . Wal lenstein’ s H oroscope, drawn up by Kepler.

the Sun . A characteristic feature should be mentioned . Kepler refused finally to perform anyastrological calculations for the all-powerful Wallenstein ,

whose horoscope he had himself drawn up

(F ig . Yet he attempted to read his own fate andthe fates of his children in the constellations of their

98


birthdays . Kepler hailed from a Protestantfamily and he had to suffer for his religion .

For the first time since Aristarchos, really important progress in our knowledge of the heavenshad been made by Kepler . It was further strengthened by the discoveries of the great Galilei ( 1 564

Galilei,who corresponded with Kepler ,

says in a letter of the year 1 597 , that he hadlong been an adherent of the Copernican system .

In 1 604 he heard about the discovery of the telescope in Holland . He constructed one himself,and he enj oyed the full approval of the mightymen of his time . He began to explore the heavensand he observed a great many stars which hadnot been visible to the naked eye . The planetsappeared like luminous discs . In 1 61 0 he studiedJ upiter and discovered the four large moons ofthe planet

,of which those nearest the planet

moved about it with greater velocities than thosefurther remote

,j ust as the planets did with re

gard to the Sun . He saw in these motions of themoons— which in honour of the princely familythen reigning in Tuscany he called the MediceanStars — a direct support of the views of Copernicus . He further noticed that Saturn changed i

’

t

its appearance— owing to the di fferent positionsof its rings— and that Venus —Mercury behavesin the same way— appeared as a crescent like theMoon . He even discovered the sun- spots in 1 61 1 ,

and he rightly concluded from their motions,that

99


the Sun must be turning about its own axis . All

these discoveries were in sharp Opposition to theviews of Aristoteles as then taught in all theecclesiastical schools . Galilei therefore thought itadvisable to repair to Rome in order personallyto convince his opponents . But as they couldnot refute him by the strength of their science

,

they asserted,that his doctrines contradicted the

infallible Holy Scripture .

Only now,in 1 61 3 ,

Galilei proclaimed himselfpublicly an adherent of Copernicus in a book on

the sun~spots . The ecclesiastical authorities didnot at once proceed against him . In 1 61 4,

theSacred Congregation decreed that the thesis of

Copernicus of the double movement of the Earthwas in contradiction to the Bible . Yet it waspermitted to mention the Copernican doctrine asa hypothesis which might be applied in scientificarguments ; but it was forbidden to proclaim it astruth .

Such a thing would be inconceivable in our days .

In those days it was quite normal . One simplyasserted that one did not believe

,what one main

tained . Everybody knew all the same , that onedid believe it . The following public declarationwhich Descartes ( 1 596— 1 650) made thirty yearslater ( 1 644) is very characteristic : There canbe no doubt that the world was created in thebegi nning in all its totality ,

and that Sun ,E arth ,

Moon , and stars originated at that time , that

100



old opinion that they were terrestrial TheJ esuits finally succeeded in accusing Galilei . Hehad to travel to Rome

,in 1 63 3 ,

in order to defendhimself before the tribunal of the Inquisition ,

although he was worn down with age and illness .

He attempted by every means possible to avoiddisputable tenets

,but he was finally condemned to

ignominious imprisonment and further forced toabj ure the doctrine of the movement o f the E arth .

The writings of Copernicus,Kepler

,and Galilei

concerning the relation of the E arth to the solarsystem were subsequently interdicted by the HolyCongregation

,and remained so until the year 1 835 .

Galilei explained in his writings that Pythagorasand Aristarchos had taught that the E arth wasmoving about the Sun . Galilei developed thetheory of motion and he demonstrated that a bodyin motion upon which some force was acting wouldundergo an alteration in its movement when noforce was acting

,the movement would continue

unchanged . Instead of supposing with Aristotelesthat the air

,which rushed in from behind a

falling body,would accelerate the motion of the

body,Galilei demonstrated that this air could only

be an impediment to the movement of fallingbodies .

The opposition of the Church against the systemof Copernicus was , however , in - vain . Descartesdid not hesitate one moment to accept the opinionsof Copernicus . Of course , he made enemies by

1 02


doing so ,but he found safety in the Protestant

countries Holland and Sweden . Unfortunately hesuccumbed to illness soon after having come toSweden . According to Copernicus

,all the planets ,

i f regarded from the north pole of the Sun ,move

from right to left . In the same direction circu

late our Moon about the E arth ,Galilei ’ s Moons

of J upiter about their planet,and the sun- spots

about the Sun . Further , they all travel approx imately in the same plane of the ecliptic . In explanation of this regularity Descartes assumedwith Giordano Bruno a kind of sea of aether inwhich the planets were floating . Descartes supposed this mther to be in vortex motion about theSun as a centre , and that the planets were seizedby this movement and driven around in almostcircular orbits

,like the dry leaves in a whirlwind .

This view is certainly far superior to Kepler ’ sopinion

,according to which the planets were

guided in their orbits by angles . As regards thecomets

,which do not behave like the planets

,

Descartes states that they are real cosmic bodieswhich move outside Saturn . As , however, TychoBrahe had said , that his observations proved thecomets to move indeed outside the orbit of theMoon

,but frequently not in greater distances than

those of Venus and Mercury,Descartes declared

that those Observations were not sufficiently re

liable to j usti fy Tycho’

s conclusion .

In a letter addressed to Morus,Descartes says

10 3


Our mind cannot conceive the idea that theUniverse should have a limit . Hence we say ,

thatits extension is infinite . But from this infinity of

space does not result the infinity of time . Thoughthe Universe must be without end

,yet theologists

do not maintain that it must have existed foreternal ages .” According to Descartes

,the world

is filled with matter ; therefore everything musttravel in circular closed paths . God has createdmatter and its movement . There are three elements in the Universe '

out of the first,the

luminous element, Sun and fixed stars have been

made ; out of the second , the transparent , con

sists the Heaven and out of the third,the

'

d ark ,

opaque and reflecting,consist the planets and the

comets . The first element is composed of thesmallest particles , the third of the coarsest particles . In the beginning matter W as distributed asuniformly as possible . Movement induced closedorbits about centres in which the luminous matterwas collected

,whilst the second and the third

matter was whirling round . Of the dark bodiessome possessed so powerful a movement , theywere of so great mass and had drifted so far awayfrom the centre Of the vortex

,that no force could

retain them . These bodies have passed fromvortex to vortex

,and such are the comets .

Bodies of smaller mass and of smaller velocityassociated with the particles of the second element which were endowed with the same centri

104



consolidated to a coherent crust . The glow ofthe terrestrial surface was now extinct . No moreparticles could be sent out to the remote portionsof the vortex

,which therefore gradually ceased

to exist . But particles penetrated into this domain from adj oining vortices ; previously theyhad been repelled by the particles which theincandescent E arth emitted . By these means theextinct E arth was drawn into the solar vortexnear by and became a planet . The core of theE arth is still at wh ite heat and is surrounded by asolid crust

,the particles of the third order . There

are in this crust strata of air and Of water which arecovered by the solid crust (Figs . 1 5 ,

Occasionally fractures occur , and fragments O f the crust fallinto the water below

,which is then pressed up to the

surface and forms the o cean,whilst the fractured

crust becomes the material of mountains . Wateralso flows in the veins of the solid earth . In amore extended form these views were later expounded by BurnetThis briefly is Descartes ’ conception of the

Universe . The fixed stars , which are centres of

vortices grouped about the solar system,are at

such great distances,that their positions relatively

to the E arth are not noticeably changed by themovement of the E arth .

The science of chemistry was still very backward in that age . It was believed that the differentproperties were due to the shape of the smallest

108



The famous Dane Steno ( 1 63 1 whosemerits were only in 1 83 1 rescued from oblivionby E lie de Beaumont

,had the opinion that the

horizontal strata,especially when thev contained

fossils o f water animals,must have been deposited

from the water . As they had often been raised anddisturbed in their horizontal disposition

,external

forces had evidently been at work,and among

these,Steno thought

,volcanism played an im

portant part .

It was generally accepted then,that water

filled the interior of the E arth,communicating by

veins with the water of the ocean . Remarks tothis effect have already been mentioned in ourcomments on Descartes . Eminent advocates of

this erroneous opinion were Woodward ( 1 665— 1 722)and Urban B jarne ( 1 7 1 2) the latter consideredthe water to be dense

,turbid and boiling hot .

The ideas of Descartes were welcomed with thegreatest admiration by his contemporaries .

‘

Theybegan to replace the Aristotelian philosophy of

the universities . In Upsala they caused a livelycontroversy which perhaps gave an impulse tothe development of natural science in Sweden .

The clergy attempted to prevent the proclamationof these novel doctrines from the academicalchairs but they did not succeed in obtaining theconsent of the government to this oppression .

Among the young men,upon whom the teach

ing of Descartes made a very lively impression ,I IO


there was one, Swedenborg , who modified theCartesian cosmogony to a certain extent . According to Swedenborg , all things consist of vortices ,the atoms as well as the solar system . Everything is built up according to one universal scheme .

The simplest material particle is supposed to arisefrom the vortex motion of the immaterial point .

This is a very weak argument for a point without dimension may oscillate ever so rapidly

,i t

cannot thereby occupy any space . It wouldappear that Swedenborg attempted to explainthe origin of the world out of nothing on theselines . Although he suggests in some passages thatthe mathematical point has been in existencefrom eternity

,he is by no means consistent in this

respect ; for he says in another place , that thepoint itself had been created .

The cosmogony of Swedenborg differs from thatof

.

Descartes in so far , as he assumes that theplanets did not migrate into the vortices of thesolar system

,but they were

,on the contrary ,

ej ected from the Sun . Swedenborg imagined thatthe sun- spots increased

,and finally obscured the

whole luminous surface of the sun . The imprisoned fire then sought to escape and to expand

,

and the surrounding shell became strained andbroke at last . The dark shell was then gatheredinto a belt about the solar equator . The vortexafterwards continued to rotate

,until this solid

ring itself broke up into small fragments,which

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aggregated to spherical masses ; in this way the different planets and moons (as well as the sun- spots)had been formed . W h en a sun was bursting its shell ,it suddenly became visible ; this is Swedenborg

’ sexplanation of the sudden flashing-up of new suns .The planets and moons , Swedenborg suggests ,

are then carried away by the vortex,till they

reach a position,in which they are in equilibrium

wi th the vortex-aether about them . At this d istance they will move in almost circular paths .They behave j ust like a light body

,which rises in

the air and which does not come to rest,until it is in

an atmosphere Of the same density as its own . Thespecifically heaviest planetswould, therefore , be theinnermost

,while Descartes placed those planets

which had the greatest mass furthest outside .

Both these views are only approximately cor

rect,as will be seen from the following table,

which has been compiled according to the caleulations Of the American scientist See.

Mean

Rad ius. Mass. D istance. Densi ty.Sun 1 09

°

1 oo 332750 0 0 0 0 0 2 56“MercuryVenus 0 9 55 0 8 150 0 7 2 0 9 36

Earth 1'

000 1'

0000 1‘

oo 1'

000

Moon ,o

*

273 1 0 1 23 1‘

oo O j604Mars 0 5 36 0 1 080

Jup i ter 1 1°

1 3o 3 1 7$

ooo 0 2 30

Sat urnUranusNept une . o

‘

43o

In this table the rad i us of the E arth , i t s mass , i ts mean distance from the Sun, and i ts densi ty are taken as uni ts .

1 14


There prevails in Swedenborg ’ s works a generalwant of clearness , which is incomprehensible tomodern scientists . One gains the impression thathe cannot properly have considered

,what he was

writing down . At the conclusion of his Principia he gives a mathematical expression to hisvortex motion in that part we certainly shouldexpect to find complete lucidity . The vortex is

,

of course,limited on the outside with regard to

other whirls . Swedenborg now asserts that,i f the

distances of two planets from the external vortexlimit should be in the ratio of 1 to 4, their velocities should vary as 1 2 . That would imply thatthe force

,which urges the planet towards the

centre,should vary in the same proportion as

the distance of the planet from the vortex borderand inversely as its distance from the Sun . Butthis force is exactly N ewton ’ s gravi tation

,which

is inversely proportional to the square of the d istance of the planet from the Sun

,and this is not

at all in agreement with Swedenborg ’ s explanation . Yet Swedenborg was well acquainted withN ewton ’ s work , and he expresses on several occasions his deep admiration for him by saying thathe had never been sufficiently praised .

” In ordernow to compromise between his own view andN ewton ’ s View

,which was generally accepted

,

Swedenborg proposes that the latter view wouldbe correct when the vortex motion increased towards the edge of the vortex . This

,however

,does

1 1 5


not at all concur with N ewton ’ s law of the motionsOf the planets

,and is in fact almost inconceivable .

The suggestion is thrown out by Swedenborg ,that the Milky Way played

,in the visible stellar

Universe,the same part as the rotational axis of

the Sun within the planetary system . Accordingto this notion the suns with their planetarysystems would lie grouped about the great axisof the Universe , Which would run through theMilky Way

,and the Milky Way would appear

like a semicircular arc on the sky ,whilst it seems

to be ring- shaped . In the same manner we might ,according to Swedenborg

,imagine still larger

systems,of which the Galaxy system (our Milky

Way) only formed a small part . Similar ideaswere later re- advanced by Wright ( in whoprobably did not know Swedenborg ’ s argumentsand who assumed that the Milky Way correspondedto the ecliptic of the solar system . Further by Kant

who hardly added anything to the explanation of Wright , and by Lambert , who believed thatthe suns would group themselves into star clusters ,and the star clusters to Milky Ways

,etc .

We may ask,why Swedenborg

,with all his

admiration for N ewton,would not introduce his

epoch -making discovery into his own system .

The answer is that Swedenborg was quite governedby the idea that everything in the world

,the

large as well as the small,must have been made

according to one plan . It appeared impossible to

1 16



to us and the mean plane Of the largest (that isto say , to us nearest) nebulae are approximatelyparallel to the ecliptic . According to Wright andLambert

,a similar regularity might be expected

with regard to the suns of the Milky Way .

Pythagoras,it is said

,used to tell his pupils

,

that other planets were inhabited like the E arth .

The general acceptance of the system of Copermicus implied

, as a matter of consequence,that

our E arth could not be the centre o f the Universe ,and other worlds were thought to be peopled likeour own . Giordano Bruno preached with enthu

siasm this doctrine , which the theologi ans of thosedays considered so dangerous that it had to beexpiated at the stake . It was no doubt especiallythis doctrine which rendered the Church so wrothagainst Gali lei and other adherents of the Copernican system . W hen that view conquered inspite Of everything , people fell into the otherextreme . All the cosmic bodies were consideredto be peopled

,without any inquiry whether the

physical conditions admitted of the existence of

living and human beings . Phantasms about thepeople of the Moon were very popular in thosedays

,and they are still famili ar features of

popul ar stories . The great astronomer WilliamHerschel inclined to the belief

,that even the

Sun might be inhabited,and that the sun- spots

formed portions of the solid solar continent whichat times shone through the luminous solar clouds .

1 1 8


The visions of Swedenborg represent thestrangest fantasies of this kind . Swedenborg wasan extraordinarily conscientious man

,and there

can be no doubt,that he really believed what he

maintained . He relates that he had spent daysand weeks

,sometimes even months

,in the com

pany of spirits and angels from other worlds .

From them I received communications concerning the other worlds in which they dwell

,their

customs and manners and religions,and other

interesting things,and everything that has come

to my knowledge in this way,I may describe as

something that I have myself seen and heard .

”

It is a reasonable conclusion that large massessuch as the planets which partly exceed In sizeour E arth

,cannot merely have been created for

the purpose of circulating about the Sun in orderto send their spare light to one solitary E arththey must have been shaped for a different obj ect .

This line of reasoning , which Swedenborg ascribesto the spirits from strange worlds

,is probably very

common and has,no doubt

,a main share in the

great interest which astronomy excites above allother science .

“ The planets,

”Swedenborg ’ s

spirits inform us , revolve about their axes andhave day and night . Several of them are accom

panied by moons that travel about them j ust asour Moon does about our E arth . The planetSaturn

,which is furthest removed from the Sun ,

has in addition a huge ring which supplies its

1 19

TH E L IFE OF TH E UN IVE RSE

planet with ample,though reflected light . How

can anybody , who is acquainted with these factsand who is capable of reasoning

,assert that the

celestial bodies should be unpeopled Itis well known to spirits and angels

,that the

Moon and also the satellites which circulate aboutJ upiter and Saturn are inhabited .

” Those inhabitants are described as intelligent beingssimilar to man . Even those

,who have not

conversed with spirits,cannot have any doubt

that these celestial bodies are inhabited . For

they are E arths,and where there is an E arth ,

there are also men ; for man was the ultimate purpose of every E arth Swedenborg obtained inthis manner knowledge and information not onlyabout the planets of our solar system

,but also

concerning the inhabited worlds and other Suns ,down to the very borders of the visible Universe .

His spirit was transplanted into those regions ,whilst his body remained on E arth . Thus helearnt that our Sun is larger than the other sunsof the heavens . For

,from one of these planets ,

he saw all the stars of Heaven and one amongthem which was greater than the others

,and a

voice from Heaven explained to him ,that that

was our Sun . Another time he was on a planetwhich was pointed out to him as the smallest inthe Universe , scarcely 3750 km . in circumference .

Frequently he speaks also of the animals andplants on the other planets .

120



( in 1 78 1 and Uranus had in fact alreadybeen observed by Flamsteed in 1 690 ,

that is tosay , about the time of Swedenborg

’ s birth,1 688 .

It is visible to the naked eye,and no doubt people

without number had seen it,al though before the

days of Herschel nobody thought,it might be a

planet .Very striking is also the assertion that the

inhabitants of Mercury should enj oy a very comfortable climate

,in spite of the violent radiation

from the Sun,which must be 6 6 times stronger

than upon the E arth . The explanation was supposed to be the very smal l density of the planet ’ satmosphere . That a rarefied atmosphere wouldhave a cooling effect

, Swedenborg concluded fromthe surprising cold everywhere Observed on highmountains

,even in the tropics . This Swedenborg

himself told the people of Mercury,who are de

scribed as little intelligent . According to ouractual views

,living beings can hardly exist upon

Mercury .

From all this we clearly perceive that thespirits and angels , with whom Swedenborg ima

gined to converse in his visions , could not communicate to him any more than what he himselfknew

, or what he regarded as probable . Measuredby our present knowledge the information

,which

he acquired from those revelations,laboured under

exactly the same defects as the common scientificbeliefs of those days . I have reproduced Sweden

1 22


borg ’ s account of his spirit communications onlywith the object of showing how a learned man ofhis type imagined the cosmic system ,

and not atall for the purpose of giving an idea of this remarkable man ’ s profound knowledge which

,according

to his own conviction , he had acquired by supernatural means .

I t is very characteristic for that age that Kantalso

,no doubt induced by Swedenborg ’ s example ,

dwelt in his Theorie des Himmels at lengthon the properties O f the reasonable beings inhabiting the other planets . He confines himself , however

,to the solar system . With a deficiency of

critical power which is unfortunately not veryrare

,he asserts “ This relation has a degree of

credibility,which is not far removed from estab

lished certainty .

J ust as the different planets have higher specificgravities

,the nearer they are to the Sun

,he says

(and this presumption is wrong), thus the materials,out of which the planetary inhabitants and alsothe plants are composed , must be of lighter andfiner qualities

,the further removed those planets

are from the Sun .

At the same time the elasticity of the tissues oftheir bodies and their suitability must increasewith the distance . The intellectual qualities ,especially the capacity for thinking

,the rapid

grasp,the definiteness and intensity of their con

ceptions, the power of combination,rapidity of

1 23


action,in short

,the general perfection of their

talents should similarly increase with the distanceof their abodes from the Sun .

This Opinion appeared all the more necessary tohim

,because the day of J upiter only lasts ten

hours , a time which hardly suffices to an in

habitant of the E arth with his coarser naturefor getting enough sleep . Both Kant and Swedenborg suggested that the numerous moons whichmove about the outer planets were in existence in order to rej oice the inhabitants of thoseplanets ; sin was not known to them

,virtue

probably ruled supreme on those planets .Thus writes the greatest philosopher of that

time,who could not quite free himself from the

naive metaphysical and teleological sentimentsof his contemporaries . The teleological inter

pretation which demands a purpose for everything postulated

,.as Swedenborg expressed it ,

that man was the obj ect for which the E arthexisted . This teleological doctrine exercised atthat time somewhat the same influence as thedoctrine of evolution does at present .

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