Athanasius – Underground: Question Set 8

00:01 Question one states an antonym of "prodigious" and the fourth sentence of the fifth paragraph would most accurately be which of the following.

00:09 Generous, expansive, unctuous or middling? We want the answer opposite in meaning to prodigious, right? But we want prodigious to be defined by the passage not just by our dictionary understanding of it.

00:25 The quote is, "The prodigious volcanoes and fire-vomiting mountains visible in the external surface of the earth, do sufficiently demonstrated to be full of invisible and underground fires." In order for the earth to be full of underground fires, prodigious would need to be something along the lines of multitudinous, great, or expansive.

00:51 Generous and expensive can accordingly be ruled out.

00:55 Maybe we don't know what unctuous means.

00:58 So we'd look at the word middling.

01:01 Middling is something average or insignificant.

01:05 And while not a perfect fit, is pretty close to an antonym.

01:09 Between a word you don't know the meaning of and one that is pretty good, we would have to go with answer choice D middling, which is the correct answer.

01:19 Unctuous for the record, means flattering to the point of in sincerity.

01:25 Question two states, Mondas Subterraneous could most accurately be described as: A misguided criticism of earlier scientific treatises; a fanciful imagining of underground caverns; a fiction disguised as a scientific treatise; or D an early scientific study of nature, specifically the nature of volcanoes.

01:49 Athanasius, the author, in his own words, wanted to write something that was rare, exotic, and pretentious.

01:58 The alternatives of Mundus Subterraneus.

02:01 This could come across as fanciful. Answer choice B.

02:05 But we have to remember that the author validated several of the claims of Athanasius.

02:11 Mundus subterraneous, is hardly a criticism of anything, answer choice A. So it couldn't be a misguided one.

02:20 It's reasonable to assert that it was an early scientific study for the limited tools available at the time.

02:26 answer choice D.

02:27 Even though it wouldn't fit our modern definition of scientific.

02:32 You could have ruled out C for the same reason as B, namely that the author explicitly validated several of the claims in the book.

02:40 So it would not be a work of fiction.

02:42 Leading answer choice D as corrected answer.

02:46 Question three states, according to the author, Kircher got which of the following topics correct.

02:52 The source of the Nile; the formation of igneous rock; the existence of cave dwelling giants; or the formation of living beings from inorganic matter.

03:02 We first have to assess the general cadence of the author of the passage.

03:08 He appears to be an individual that is firmly grounded in scientific orthodoxy, but who is willing to listen to individuals outside of the mainstream.

03:17 Indeed, Robert Hooke himself was outside of the mainstream and was a tailor by profession, but who himself published many significant scientific treaties.

03:27 We can evaluate the answers in context of who the author is.

03:32 The source of the Nile was listed as the moon.

03:35 So that's fairly easy to rule out, and the existence of cave-dwelling giants should appear equally fanciful to the author.

03:43 We are told that Kircher Athanasius discussed spontaneous generation answer choice D, But the author doesn't really give any commentary on his opinion about that.

03:55 Answer choice B.

03:57 The formation of igneous rock is, however, commented on when the author states in paragraph three had a more or less correct explanation of how igneous rock is formed.

04:07 Clearly confirming an answer choice B is the correct selection.

04:12 Question four states, which of the following statement is the most accurate assessment of Mundus Subterraneous? It was a novel even though not entirely correct, study of natural formations and the world.

04:24 It outlines the ways in which the earth may be used for material gain and development.

04:30 It was an explanation of various waterways and its interaction with the environment; or it sought to make a case for extraterrestrial beings through a study of abnormal geographic formations.

04:43 The author first introduces Athanasius, author of Mundus Subterraneus, as a bit of a renegade outsider to the scientific world.

04:52 The author then alternates between positive and invalid points from Mundus Subterraneus, and concludes with his strongest, his Athanasius theories on interior of the earth per evidence of volcanoes.

05:07 B and D don't align with the character of the passage.

05:11 Answer choice C, an explanation of various waterways, while touched on with the source of the Nile was not an extensive focus.

05:20 Answer choice A, It was a novel even though not entirely correct study of natural formations and the world accurately summarizes the nature of the work Athanasius produced and is the correct answer selection.

05:34 Question five states, all of the following would be reasonable deductions to make about Athanasius Kircher except for which of the following? It's mentioned that Athanasius was a Jesuit scholar, So, he was likely a member of the clergy answer choice B.

05:50 And highly educated. Answer choice A.

05:52 Athanasius published his work immediately before Robert Hooke, a fellow scientist, so it seemed that a cultural climate of scientific investigation was afoot answer choice C.

06:05 That leaves us with D.

06:07 Mundus Subterraneus was the only writing ever produced by Kircher.

06:11 That's a tad extreme.

06:12 So right off the bat, we should suspect it if Kircher published simply a single other work that would negate answer selection D.

06:22 Therefore, this is in fact not a reasonable deduction, and we could select answer choice D is the correct answer.

06:30 Question six states, in which of the following disciplines would the subjects described in this passage fit? Psychology, Geography, Geology, or Chemistry? Again, Athanasius was a Jesuit scholar.

06:45 However, he wrote about the natural sciences.

06:47 He did not discuss psychology, so it would not be answered selection A.

06:52 Geography studies how the natural environment shapes human society.

06:56 Geology strictly sticks to the physical aspects of the earth.

07:01 Well, one could infer that chemistry and to selection D was discussed by Athanasius when he discussed the ethics of alchemy.

07:09 The greater focus was on the physical characteristics of the earth with a few fantastic elements and admittedly one explanation of cave-dwelling beings and their economies.

07:20 The greater focus by far however, was simply the examination of the physical aspects of the earth with a medley a different viewpoint, that we as moderators would probably use.

07:33 Geology, therefore, is preferred or Geography, making as choice C, Geology is correct.