earliest navigators found that this was not the case. When sailing southwards the stars in the northern sky appear lower and lower every night, and stars not previously seen shine out in the south.

Let us

FIG. 11.-Photograph of an eclipse of the moon, showing the curved form

assume that the earth is a globe surrounded by stars fixed in the celestial vault. A star exactly overhead at any place is on the horizon of an observer situated one-quarter of the distance round the globe in a north and south direction, and an observer at the Antipodes has his feet pointing to the same star. This indi

vidual cannot, of course, see the star, because the earth is in the way. Now, the same amount of north and south movement produces very nearly the same change in all latitudes. This is a clear indication that the earth is very nearly circular in a north and south direction. If it were exactly circular the same amount of journeying in a north and south direction would produce exactly the same effect on the altitudes of stars, whether the starting-point be "Greenland's icy mountains or India's coral strand."

To dwellers on a flat earth, the sun would be simultaneously visible from all parts as soon as he appeared above the edge. But observations show that this is not the case. When the sun reaches its highest point at Greenwich it is rising to the people at St. Louis and setting at Calcutta. It is mid-day," we telegraph to New Zealand. "With us it is midnight," the New Zealanders answer from their watchtowers. Twelve hours later the orb of day shines on the opposite side of the earth, and the people there enjoy its light, while our hemisphere is shrouded in darkness. In a day the sun appears to pass completely round the earth, hence in an hour a twenty-fourth part of a complete circle, that is, fifteen degrees (15°), is described (Fig. 12). The same fraction of the whole is passed over in the same time on all sides of the earth, and from this it is concluded that the world we live on is more or less round to the east and west, as well as north and south.

Sufficient has now been said to prove that the earth is a gigantic ball floating as it were in space, but without foundation or support of any kind (Fig. 13). Many people have a difficulty in understanding how

it is possible to live on a ball without slipping off. The difficulty arises, in the first place, from a misconception of the dimensions of our globe. The amount of slope is only eight inches in a mile, hence, if one end of a rod a mile long be imagined to lie upon the sea at any point, and the rod is supposed to keep perfectly straight, the other end would be found eight inches above the surface. Even this dip of the horizon often presents a

FIG. 12. To explain the succession of day and night. If London is supposed to be at the point marked "12 noon," the numerals represent the times at places to the east and west of it. The reader should imagine himself in space and looking down upon the earth's north pole.

difficulty. That "water finds its own level " is a saying familiar to all. Yet it appears to be at variance with the facts, for the level of water, in the sense that the expression is commonly used, is never the same at any two places. What is true, however, is that a plumbline at any place points towards the centre of the earth. The weight at the end of the line is attracted by the earth. It behaves as if all the force of attraction were concentrated at the earth's centre. Every

And

it runs, becoming less and less hasty in it and finally loses itself in the sea. The "waters of the earth" lie in great rocky surface. They want to sink lower, to the ocean floor, hoping, as it were, th of the earth would break and let them get centre of attraction. We are all subject t

of this same law.

Wherever we may be, the point

towards which we are attracted is the centre of the earth, and consequently the part of the heavens above us differs according to our position.

Space is boundless-without length, breadth, or depth that we know of. Could we journey through this infinite abyss there would be nothing to tell us whether we were moving "up," or " down," or "sideways," for these words have no meaning when no top, bottom, or sides exist. In this unlimited universe the earth occupies a point, and, materially speaking, is one of the most unimportant of God's creations. No foundations are required to support it, for though all our experience tells us that an unsupported ball will fall earthwards, in space there cannot be a "downward " motion.

The seeming motion of the sun across the sky is a phenomenon which cannot be overlooked, though the sight is so familiar that it may not give rise to any inquiry as to the cause producing it. Day after day the "God of Light" rises and puts life into a drowsy earth. When he departs, the flowers droop their heads in sadness, our own vital energy declines, and all nature pines for the return of the bounteous giver of so much gladness. The influence of sunlight is so great and so beneficial that it would have been strange if men had not worshipped our luminary, and paid considerable attention to his motions. In the days when the world was young, observers of the skies had considerable difficulty in thinking out a theory to account for the sun's daily movement. The Egyptians held that the sun was caught every night on the western horizon and conveyed to the eastern horizon by one of the gods, in