Astronomy of To-day

y appearances, and this is perhaps more

mense dome upon the inner surface of which the stars are fixed. Such must needs have been the idea of the universe held by men in the earliest times. In their view the earth was of paramount importance. The su

rushing them out of existence? Fantastic myths sprang from the vain attempts to solve these riddles. The Hindoos, for example, imagined the earth as supported by four elephants which stood upon the back of a gigantic tortoise, which, in its tu

ally became convinced that the earth was spherical in shape, that is to say, round like a ball. In this opinion we now know that they were rig

exceptional notice from the fact that it was everywhere accepted as the true explanation until so late as some four centuries ago. This theory of the universe is known by the name of the Ptolemaic Sy

he planets Mercury and Venus, the Sun, and then the planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Beyond thes

ardentibu

puts it (s

olemaic idea o

or. Clearly men were flattered by the notion that their earth was the most important body in nature,