ublished in the days when Columbus
was thinking most closely upon the problem of a westward voyage, it
naturally exercised much influence upon his reasonings. Among the
treasures of the library at Seville, there is nothing more interesting
than a copy of this work annotated by Columbus himself: from this very
copy it was that Columbus obtained confirmation of his belief that the
passage across the ocean to Marco Polo's land of Zipango in Asia was
short. But for this error, based upon a text supposed to be inspired, it
is unlikely that Columbus could have secured the necessary support for
his voyage. It is a curious fact that this single theological error thus
promoted a series of voyages which completely destroyed not only
this but every other conception of geography based upon the sacred
writings.(37)

(37) For this error, so fruitful in discovery, see D'Ailly, Ymago Mundi;
the passage referred to is fol. 12 verso. For the passage from Esdras,
see chap. vi, verses 42, 47, 50, and 52; see also Zockler, Geschichte
der Beziehungen zwischen Theologie und Naturweissenschaft, vol. i,
p. 461. For one of the best recent statements, see Ruge, Gesch. des
Zeitalters der Entdeckungen, Berlin, 1882, pp. 221 et seq. For a letter
of Columbus acknowledging his indebtedness to this mistake in Esdras,
see Navarrete, Viajes y Descubrimientos, Madrid, 1825, tome i, pp. 242,
264; also Humboldt, Hist. de la Geographie du Nouveau Continent, vol. i,
pp. 68, 69.

V. THE CHARACTER OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE.

It would be hardly just to dismiss the struggle for geographical truth
without referring to one passage more in the history of the Protestant
Church, for it shows clearly the difficulties in the way of the simplest
statement of geographical truth which conflicted with the words of the
sacred books.

In the year 1553 Michael Servetus was on trial for his life at Geneva
on the charge of Arianism. Servetus had rendered many services
to scientific truth, and one of these was an edition of Ptolemy's
Geography, in which Judea was spoken of, not as "a land flowing with
milk and honey," but, in strict accordance with the truth, as, in
the main, meagre, barren, and inhospitable. In his trial this simple
statement of geographical fact was used against him by his arch-enemy
John Calvin with fearful power. In vain did Servetus plead that he had
simply drawn the words from a previous edition of Ptolemy; in vain did
he declare that this