, for instance, is at 33--that is to
say, it is 33 above the horizon. When a man goes toward the North Pole,
the Pole Star rises one degree above the horizon for each degree of
distance that he travels--that is to say, the altitude of the Pole Star
will be 34, then 40, then 50, then 60, then 70. If he reaches the North
Pole the altitude of the Pole Star will be 90 or have attained the
zenith--that is to say, will be directly overhead. This Pole Star and its
ascension are sensible things. The further one goes toward the Pole, the
higher the Pole Star rises; from these two known truths an unknown thing
has been discovered--that is, that the horizon is curved, meaning that the
horizon of each degree of the earth is a different horizon from that of
another degree. Man perceives this and proves from it an invisible thing
which is the roundness of the earth. This it is impossible for the animal
to perceive. In the same way, it cannot understand that the sun is the
center and that the earth revolves around it. The animal is the captive of
the senses and bound by them; all that is beyond the senses, the things
that they do not control, the animal can never understand, although in the
outer senses it is greater than man. Hence it is proved and verified that
in man there is a power of discovery by which he is distinguished from the
animals, and this is the spirit of man.

Praise be to God! man is always turned toward the heights, and his
aspiration is lofty; he always desires to reach a greater world than the
world in which he is, and to mount to a higher sphere than that in which
he is. The love of exaltation is one of the characteristics of man. I am
astonished that certain philosophers of America and Europe are content to
gradually approach the animal world and so to go backward; for the
tendency of existence must be toward exaltation. Nevertheless, if you said
to one of them, "You are an animal," he would be extremely hurt and angry.

What a difference between the human world and the world of the animal,
between the elevation of man and the abasement of the animal, between the
perfections of man and the ignorance of the animal, between the light of
man and the darkness of the animal, between the glory of man and the
degradation of the animal! An Arab child of ten years can manage two or
three hundred camels in the desert, and with his voice can lead them
forward or turn them back. A weak Hindu can so control a huge elephant
t