Material bodies were "heavy," and would "fall down" if
they were not supported. The universe, they said, was a sensible
scientific structure; things were supported in their respective
places. A great dome, of some unknown but compact material,
spanned the earth, and sustained the heavenly bodies. It might
rest on the distant mountains, or be borne on the shoulders of an
Atlas; or the whole cosmic scheme might be laid on the back of a
gigantic elephant, and--if you pressed--the elephant might stand
on the hard shell of a tortoise. But you were not encouraged to
press.
The idea of the vault had come from Babylon, the first home of
science. No furnaces thickened that clear atmosphere, and the
heavy-robed priests at the summit of each of the seven-staged
temples were astronomers. Night by night for thousands of years
they watched the stars and planets tracing their undeviating
paths across the sky. To explain their movements the
priest-astronomers invented the solid firmament. Beyond the known
land, encircling it, was the sea, and beyond the sea was a range
of high mountains, forming another girdle round the earth. On
these mountains the dome of the heavens rested, much as the dome
of St.
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