that it is achieved by the eyes emitting rays which touch the objects seen and then transmit the
182 The Literal Meaning of Genesis same as nothingness though it be, was still made by none but God, and was simultaneously created with the things that were formed from it.
30. Let us take it as granted, then, that this formless basic material may be said to be signified by the words. Now the earth was invisible and shapeless, and there was darkness over the abyss; and the Spirit of God was being borne over the water (Gn 1:2), and that apart from what is put there about the Spirit of God, we are to understand the other words, while indeed being the names of visible things, as intended to suggest that formlessness as best it could be done to the less quick-witted, because these two elements, earth that is and water, are more manageable than the others in the hands of workmen for making things, and that is why this formlessness was the more suitably suggested by these names.
16 But if this is the most probable interpretation, there was no formed mass there which the light could illuminate on one side and on the other produce dark ness, so that night could follow the departing day.
A suggestion that during thefirst three days night and day mean contraction and emission of light
31. We might, however, wish to understand the emission and contraction of that light as constituting day and night; but if so, we cannot see any reason why it should be done like that—there were no animals yet, after all, for whom this beneficial alternation could be arranged, and for whom, now that they have evolved, we see that it is arranged by the circling of the sun; nor does any example spring to mind which would enable us to accept as in the least likely such an emission and contraction of light for bringing about the alternation of night and day. Yes, the darting out of rays from our eyes is indeed the darting out of a kind of light, and it can be contracted when we fix our gaze on the air that is nearest to our eyes, and emitted when we turn our attention along the same line to things that are further away.17 Nor does it cease, to be sure, to see things further away when it is contracted, but it certainly sees them more hazily than when the glance is emitted directly at them. But still, the light which is in the sense of the seeing subject is so slight, we are informed, that unless it was assisted by the light outside, we would be able to see nothing; and since it cannot be distin guished from that external light, it is hard, as l said, to find an example by which the emission of light into day and its contraction into night could be demon strated.
17. The common theory of vision at the time—at least, the one Augustine took for granted—was that it is achieved by the eyes emitting rays which touch the objects seen and then transmit the impression back to the sense of sight; something like the antennae of certain insects—or the headlights of a motor car!