to produce, by way of foil, a morality
vastly superior, as they said, to that of Christianity, they had
recourse to the Brahmins and the Chinese. And though we hear less of the
ethics of these people since we have come to know them better, we are
still occasionally reminded of the superiority of their science.
Hinduism has been regarded as furnishing examples of the geologic
doctrine of a succession of creations extended over immensely protracted
geologic periods; and Buddhism represented as charged with both the
geologic doctrine and the perhaps less certain astronomic deduction of a
plurality of worlds. And before entering on our general argument, it may
be well to show by specimen what mere chance hits these are, and how
enormous the amount of the nonsense and absurdity really is in which
they are set.

When Brahma, wearied with the work of producing and maintaining the
universe, goes to sleep, say the Hindus,--an occurrence which happens at
the end of every four millions of years,--a deluge of water rises high
above the sun and moon, and the worlds and their inhabitants are
destroyed. When he awakes, however, he immediately sets himself to
produce anew; and another universe springs up, consisting, like the
former one, of ten worlds placed over each other, like the stories of a
tall building, and replenished with plants and animals. Of these our own
world is the eighth in number, reckoning from the ground floor upwards;
there are seven worlds worse than itself beneath it, and two better ones
above; with a few worlds more higher up still, to which the destroying
flood does not reach, save once or twice in an eternity or so; and
which, in consequence, have not to be re-created each time with the
others. The special forms which the upper and nether worlds exhibit do
not seem to be very well known; but that which man inhabits is "flat,
like the flower of the water-lily, in which the petals project beyond
each other;" and it has in all, including sea and land, a diameter of
several hundred thousand _millions_ of miles. It has its many great
oceans,--one of these (unfortunately the only one in contact with man's
place of habitation) of salt water, one of sugar-cane juice, one of
spirituous liquor, one of clarified butter, and one of sour curds. It
has, besides, its very great ocean of sweet water. And around all,
forming a sort of gigantic hoop or ring, there extends a continent of
pure gold. Of all the luminaries that ris