Abstract
THE protion of the earth's surface bounded by the horizon which one is able to take in at one view, is but seldom a regular plane; more generally heights and depressions, mountains and valleys, alternate with each other so irregularly, that at first nothing seems farther from reality than the idea of a regular form of the earth's surface. But the more our point of view overtops the mountains which lie within the horizon, the further obviously will our range of view extend, and all the mountains and valleys which give so irregular a form to the horizon of the plain will, under this condition, become imperceptible and unimportant. Indeed, one can easily conceive that if the eye were able to comprehend at one time a much greater portion of the surface, the irregularities of the plain caused by the mountains and valleys would appear exceedingly small in comparison with the extent of surface. But such considerations must also have occurred to the ancients; for the earliest conception among the Greeks of the form of the earth's surface was that of a flat disc surrounded by the river Okeanos, into which the sun plunged nightly. The first advance was made by Thales, who said the earth must have a point of support, and Imagined it was borne by the water. Anaximenes supposed that a strong dense atmosphere supported the earth. Quite another idea prevailed in India, where the earth was believed to be borne on the back of an elephant. More correct views of the figure of the earth prevailed, at an earlier period in other parts of the East, in Egypt and a part of Asia. The Egyptians and Chaldeans taught at the earliest period the spherical form of the earth, and Pythagoras appears to have adopted this idea from them.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
THE FIGURE AND SIZE OF THE EARTH 1 . Nature 18, 556–558 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/018556a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/018556a0