8. Later they discovered, by the direction of the movement of the stars, and their periodical return in the same order, that the celestial vault could not be simply a hemisphere resting upon the Earth, but a hollow sphere, in the center of which was the Earth, flat at the utmost convex, and inhabited only upon its upper surface. This was a progressive idea.
But upon what rested the Earth? It would be useless to relate all the ridiculous suppositions born of the imagination. That of the Indians, who declared it was supported by four white elephants, the latter standing on the wings of a vulture; is sufficient for an example. Wise people avowed that they knew nothing about it.
