19 . The earth

- - - Things   - - -			Qualities
earth moon mountain     star	attraction   direction distance dust existence growth middle month	motion powder quality range root seed substance     year	thick -- thin fixed physical present

Other Words :

air , island , land , mine , river , sea , sky , sun ; country (e) ; coal , map , metal , nation , oil , said , sand , stone , system ; space (e)

19 . The earth 1

    At one time men said that the earth was flat, and fixed in space like an island in a great sea. But now everyone has the knowledge that the earth has almost the form of an orange and is all the time going round. It has two sorts of motion. Every 24 hours it makes a complete turn, like a ball with a rod through the middle when you give it a push with your finger. And all the time it has been doing this, it has been going forward, till at the end of a year it has gone completely round the sun.     The motion of the earth round the sun gives us summer and winter ; its other motion gives us night and day. The direction of the turn is from west to east, and that is why we see the sun going across the sky from east to west.     The earth goes round the sun and not out into space because the distance between the earth and the sun is kept fixed by the attraction of the sun. Every star in the sky is kept in its place by attraction. Our earth is a cold star. It is one of the 8 great stars which go round the sun.     All physical things have this quality of attraction for other physical thing The attraction between the earth and the moon keeps the moon going round the earth, and other stars have other moons which are kept near them by their attraction. The moon goes round the earth in a shorter time than the earth goes round the sun. The moon goes round the earth in a month.     A very long time before the existence of men, the earth was a mass of fire going round in space. It got colder till some thing like a hard skin came over it, thin at the start, but slowly getting thick, though even now the substance in the middle of our earth has not got cold.     At a later time the earth had water all over it. Then, here and there, a mass of land came up through the sea, making a mountain or a range of mountains, and the first dry land came into existence.     But this new dry land was not like dry land at the present time. It had no plants or animals on it, and not even any earth for the seed or root of a plant. The earliest plants and animals did not have their existence on the land, but in the water, and some books say that all plants and animals have come from a substance like jelly in the sea. The growth of plants was not possible till powder from the stones had made a cover of dust for the land. Then, slowly, some of the animals came from the water on to the land, and from them the first land animals came. But men did not come into existence till much later.

----- 1 . See the Notes on this Step.

Questions

1. What did men say at one time about this earth 2. What are the two motions of the earth? 3. Why does the sun seem to go from east to west? 4. What keeps the earth from going out into space? 5. What sort of body is the earth? 6. What goes round the earth? 7. What was the first dry land? 8. Why were there no plants on the first dry land? 9. What are the first plants and animals said to have come from? 10. What made a cover of dust for the land?

Answers

1 . That it was flat and fixed in space. 2 . It makes a turn and it goes round the sun. 3 . Because the turn of the earth is from west to east. 4 . The attraction of the sun. 5 . It is a cold star. 6 . The moon. 7 . Mountains or ranges of mountains which came up through the sea. 8 . Because it had no earth for their seeds or roots. 9 . A substance like jelly in the sea. 10. Powder from the stones.

----- 1 . "The earth," The expansion from earth as a substance to the earth as the star covered by that substance, and on which we are living, is a very natural one, needing only to be pointed out to be quite clear.