The story of our world is a story that is still very imperfectly known. A couple of hundred years agomen possessed the history of little more than the last three thousand years. What happened beforethat time was a matter of legend and speculation. Over a large part of the civilized world it wasbelieved and taught that the world had been created suddenly in 4004 B.C., though authoritiesdiffered as to whether this had occurred in the springautumn of that year. This fantasticallyprecise misconception was based upon a too literal interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, and uponrather arbitrary theological assumptions connected therewith. Such ideas have long since beenabandoned by religious teachers, and it is universally recognized that the universe in which we livehas to all appearances existed for an enormous period of time and possibly for endless time. Ofcourse there may be deception in these appearances, as a room may be made to seem endless byputting mirrors facing each other at either end. But that the universe in which we live has existedonly for sixseven thousand years may be regarded as an altogether exploded idea.The earth, as everybody knows nowadays, is a spheroid, a sphere slightly compressed, orangefashion, with a diameter of nearly 8,000 miles. Its spherical shape has been known at least to alimited number of intelligent people for nearly 2,500 years, but before that time it was supposed to be flat, and various ideas which now seem fantastic were entertained about its relations to the skyand the stars and planets. We know now that it rotates upon its {2}axis (which is about 24 milesshorter than its equatorial diameter) every twenty-four hours, and that this is the cause of thealternations of day and night, that it circles about the sun in a slightly distorted and slowly variableoval path in a year. Its distance the sun varies between ninety-one and a half millions at itsnearest and ninety-four and a half million miles.