Myths

I am reading Samuel Eliot Morison's biography of Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea. It was published in 1942 (not to be confused with 1492). Right off he says that people of Columbus' day knew the world wasn't flat. Columbus wasn't inspired by seeing masts appear taller on the horizon as they approached port. So why was I taught that bunkum in elementary school in the 1950s?

Morison is a reader-friendly writer, no small task for a historian. The book opens in a very moving way.

At the end of the year 1492 most men in Western Europe felt exceedingly gloomy about the future. Christian civilization appeared to be shrinking in area and dividing into hostile units as its sphere contacted. For over a century there had been no important advance in natural science, and registration in the universities dwindled as the instruction they offered became increasing jejune and lifeless. Institutions were decaying, well-meaning people were growing cynical or desperate, and many intelligent men, for want of something better to do, were endeavoring to escape the present through studying the pagan past.

Morison retraced as best he could the four voyages of Columbus in preparation for writing this book. I am not far enough into it to be swamped by naval jargon and I'm hopeful that it will continue to be non-textbook-ish. This amused me, when he writes of the "unfortunate human tendency to pluck at the laurels of the great":

As Von Humboldt cynically remarked, there are three steps in the popular attitude towards a great discovery: first men doubt its existence; next they deny its importance; and finally they give the credit to someone else.