PAGR . . . Pipa Toad Hatching Eggs on its Back • 493 • 497 500 · 501 504 506 · 508 · 511 • 517 · 522 524 526 529 • 532 • 533 • 535 • 539 541 · 547 • 549 • 551 • 553 • 556 • 559 · 560 · 563 · 555 · 567 • 570 • 573 • 575 579 · 585 589 592 • 595 601 . . . 603 . 607 . 612 . 614 . 618 621 . . · 622 · 623 PAGE . 625 626 627 628 633 . 635 . 637 642 643 . .645 . 647 The Spike Fish . 649 . 650 .650 .652 · 655 · 656 .657 . 659 660 662 . 663 664 665 . 670 . 671 . 673 . 676 . . . 689 . боо . 692 .693 . 695 • 696 697 700 701 702 704 705 . PAGK . . . . • 706 • 707 708 • 702 711 712 713 715 • 720 721 723 • 725 729 • 730 731 · 733 • 735 736 · 738 741 744 • 747 • 749 • 750 753 • 755 • 756 757 · 760 · 762 . . Loon in the Jaws of an Angler-Fish : , , Peari . • 763 • 766 • 767 • 768 • 769 • 770 • 772 • 776 • 779 · 781 783 787 789 • 797 . 804 PAGB . Shower of Brilliant Meteors on the Ocean . 807 813 . 817 . 820 821 831 832 836 .839 . 843 844 845 846 849 • 858 . 859 . 860 . 861 . 862 . 863 BOOK I. THE EARTH. CHAPTER I. MARVELS OF THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD. Curious Old Legends and Superstitions-A Chinese Quarryman-A Scandinavian God with his Sledge-Hammer-Strange things Seen by a Sybil—The Crust of we gaze at the brilliant heavens, or cast our eyes upon the It stands revealed in the azure dome of heaven, where glows a perfect dust of stars, and in the living atom which hides from us the marvels of its organization. The ideas of the ancients respecting the birth of the world, and the origin of its wonderful forms of life, appear to us to be very singular. We find curious old traditions and legends, stories of mighty gods and enormous giants, who had something to do with the work of creation. There were strange fancies, too, concerning the shape of the earth, the boundaries of its lands and seas, the foundation on which it was built, and the movements of the heavenly bodies. The Grecian picture of the creation, as we see it engraved on the shield of that famous warrior, Achilles, represents the earth as a flattened disk, surrounded everywhere, and in a circular form, by the sea, or rather by the river of ocean which defines the limits of the known world. Above this terrestrial disk the solid sky is outspread like a dome; a dome supported by two massive pillars, which rest on the god Atlas. A similar absurdity prevails among several ancient peoples. The Scandinavians balance the |