Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/531

* COSMOGONY. 457 COSMORAMA. Dabwix's IlYroTiiE.sis. Ill recent years several Hew and interesting cosniogonie theories have been eUiliorated. In 1885 George Howard Dar- win showed niatheniatieully that the present con- dition of our earth and moon (the revolution of the moon and its axial rotation being syn- chronous) might have been brought about by the action of tlie tidal friction work- ing continuously throiigh successive ages of cosmic time. Indeed, it is quite reasonable to suppose that, when earth and moon were nearer together, and as yet in a more or less plastic condition, very gigantic tides nuist have been set up — tides involving the earth's semi-solid matter, as well as the oceans of water and air. Darwin's researches have brought out the fact that such tides must produce important modifi- cations in any system of celestial bodies, and he has been able to explain the origin of many puzzling phenomena in the case of the moon by making use of his fundamental ide.a of cosmic tidal friction. The ilETEORiTic Hypothesis. Sir Xorman Lockyer has recently advocated a eosmogonic theory altogether different from the nebular hypothesis. This is the so-called Meteoritic Hy- pothesis. It assumes that the stars have been made up by the combining together of masses of meteors (q.v.), space being supposed to contain numberless swarms of those little bodies. It is not impossible that both the meteoritic and the nebular hypotliesis may have had a share in the devolopment of planetary systems. For the meteoritic building up of a nebulous mass may have antedated the contraction of that mass and its transformation into rings and planets in the manner suggested by Laplace. See Nebulae; Solar System; Sun; etc. -xciENT Cosmogonies. Scarcely any people, either ancient or modern, has been without some theory concerning the creation of the world. Passing over the views of such primitive tribes as the Australians or American Indians, the cosmogojiics of chief interest in connection with our own views are those of Babylonia, India, Iran, Greece, and ancient Germany. The Baby- lonian system resembles in many respects the cosmogony of the Bible. There was darkness and water, with strange monsters. Into this chaos the god Bel entered, and clove the cosmic sea, and parted the darkness. Animals took the place of the former monsters, and man himself was created, as well as the sun and moon and five planets. In India the story of the creation was more philosophical. In some of the latest hymns of the Rigveda (q.v.), water was the source of all, wlience came fire and wind — the breath of divinity. Or. again, the world arose from the sacrifice of Man (Skt. piirusha). whose head became the sky. his feet the earth, his eye the sun, his breath the Avind. while from his mouth, arms, thighs, and feet the four castes sprang. These ideas, developed more fully in the ])seudoepical Sanskrit Puranus (q.v.), exhibit clearly the pantheistic trend of Hindu thought. The role of Kama or Love in Indian cosmogony bears some resemblance to that of the Greek Eros. Iranian cosmologv*. as we find it in the Avesta and the M'ritings in Pahlavi (q.v.). corresponds to the dualistic character of the Zoroastrian religion. Orniazd. the god of everlasting light, created the good in opposition to Ahriman, the devil, who dwells in eternal darkness. In the course of a ])eriod of three thousand years Ormazd created the heaveUj water, earth, plants, animals, and man. In the following tliive thousand years Ahriman produced evils to combat tlu'sc crea- tions of Ormazd; but, despite some temporary success, he was finally forced to yield to the powers of good. Greek cosmogony is more varied. The Homeric poems regard Ocean as the source of the world, while the Hesiodic account ascribes the first he- ginnings to Cliaos. Tlialcs followed the first theory, and Anaximander the second, which has its parallel also in India. Anaximenes con- sidered air to be the source of all, wliile Heracli- tus postulated fire as the primal element, and supposed a constant flux of all things, where only the divine law (Zeus) was immutable. The notion of Eros or Love as a cosmic force was introduced into Greek philosophy by Parmenides and Em- pedocles, for which Anaxagoras substituted Mind (Gk. vovq) ■ Of special interest in this connec- tion is the atomic theory of Democritus, accord- ing to whose view the world is permeated by a soul which is composed of atoms in continual motion, and wdiich partake of the nature of fire. Later Greek philosophy did hardly anything toward the development of eosmogonic ideas. For Germanic beliefs on this subject, the most comprehensive source is the Wluspa. an Ice- landic poem of the twelfth century of our era. Here, however, the Teutonic ideas are strongly influenced by Christianity, and contain, according to the opinion of some scholars, an admixture of Gnostic concepts. Bibliography. The eosmogonic ideas of the Eg^-ptians may be found in the studies of Na- ville. The cosmological views of the American Indian and Eskimo tribes, of the African races, and of the peoples of Farther Asia and the islands of the Eastern seas, may be gathered from the writings of Brinton, Boas. Gill. George Grey, Tylor, and others. The Hindu theories of creation will be found in Hopkins, Religions of India (Boston, 1895), and the Persian specu- lations in Jackson, "Tranisehe Religion," in Geiger und Kuhn, Grimdriss der iranischcn Philologie (Strassburg. 1000). Consult also: Lukas, Grundbegriffe in d^r Konmogonie der alien Vollcer (Leipzig, 18B3) ; .Jensen, Komnologie der Babylonier (Strassburg, 1890) ; Meyer, Eddische Kosmogonie (Freiburg. 1891): Faye. Stir I'ori- gine dn monde,. . theories cosmogoniques des oncicns et des niodernes (2d ed.. Paris, 1885). COSMOP'OLIS (from Gk. K6a,ws. Jcosmos, order, world, universe + t6?.(j, polin. city). A French novel by Paul Bourget (1892)". The characters come to Paris from all quarters of the earth, forming an international society. Tlie theme of the action is the persistence of ethnical differences even where a complete cosmopolitan- ism has apparently been reached. COSMOP'OLITE (Gk. Kocxfto-o^JT'/s . cosmopo- lites, citizen of the world, from Kdrr/ios, kosmos, order, world, universe + noVrt/s, polites. citizen, from 7r6/ IS, polls, city). A plant which grows spontaneously in every climate. Not to be con- fused with ubiquist (q.v.). COSMORAMA, koz'md-ra'ma (from Gk. kU. fios, losiiK/s, order, world, universe -+- ipa/ia, ho- rania. sight, irom bpnv, horan. to see). An ar- rangement of lenses and mirrors for viewing pic- tures, so that they appear as natural as possible.