Part 10

In the report which appeared in the _Western Daily Mercury_, of Oct. 25, 1864, the following observations were also recorded:--“On the sea-front of the Camera house, and at an elevation of 110 feet from the mean level of the sea, a plane mirror was fixed, by the aid of a plumb-line, in a _true vertical position_. In this mirror the distant horizon was distinctly visible on a level with the eye of the observer. This was the simple fact, as observed by the several members of the committee which had been appointed. But some of the observers remarked that the line of the horizon in the mirror rose and fell with the eye, as also did every thing else which was reflected, and that this ought to be recorded as an _addendum_--granted. The surface of the sea appeared to regularly ascend from the base of the Hoe to the distant horizon. The horizon from the extreme east to the west, as far as the eye could see, was parallel to a horizontal line.”

The following version was recorded in the same journal, of the same date, and was furnished by one of the committee who had manifested a very marked aversion to the doctrine that the surface of all water is horizontal:--“A vertical looking-glass was suspended from the Camera and the horizon seen in it, as well as various other objects reflected, rising and falling with the eye. The water was seen in the glass to ascend from the base of the Hoe to the horizon. The horizon appeared parallel to a horizontal line.”

It will be observed that the two reports are substantially the same, and very strongly corroborate the remarks made at pages 15, 16, and 17 of this work. Indeed no other report could have been given without the author’s becoming subject to the charge of glaring, obstinate, and wilful misrepresentation. What then has again been demonstrated? That the surface of all water _is horizontal_, and that, therefore, the Earth cannot possibly be anything other than a Plane. All appearances to the contrary have been shown to be purely optical and adventitious.

[Illustration: FIG. 33.]

[Illustration: FIG. 34.]

Another proof that the surface of all water is horizontal and that therefore the Earth cannot be a globe is furnished by the following experiment, which was made in May, 1864, on the new pier at Southsea, near Portsmouth:--A telescope was fixed upon a stand and directed across the water at Spithead to the pier head at Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, as shown in the subjoined diagram. The line of sight crossed a certain part of the funnel of one of the regular steamers trading between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight; and it was observed to cut or fall upon the same part during the whole of the passage to Ryde Pier, thus proving that the water between the two piers is horizontal, because it was parallel to the line of sight from the telescope fixed at Southsea. If the Earth were a globe the channel between Ryde and Southsea would be an arc of a circle, and as the distance across is 4¹⁄₂ statute miles the centre of the arc would be 40 inches higher than the two sides; and the steamer would have ascended an inclined plane for 2¹⁄₄ miles, or to the centre of the channel, and afterwards descended for the same distance towards Ryde. This ascent and descent would have been marked by the line of sight falling 40 inches nearer to the deck of the steamer when on the centre of the arc of water, as represented in the following diagram; but as the line of sight did not cut the steamer lower down when in the centre of the channel, and no such ascent and descent was observed, it follows necessarily that the surface of the water between Southsea and the Isle of Wight is _not convex_, and therefore the Earth as a whole is _not a globe_. The evidence against the doctrine of the Earth’s rotundity is so clear and perfect, and so completely fulfils the conditions required in special and independent investigations, that it is impossible for any person who can put aside the bias of previous education to avoid the opposite conclusion that the _Earth is a plane_. This conclusion is greatly confirmed by the experience of mariners in regard to certain lighthouses. Where the light is fixed and very brilliant it can be seen at a distance, which the present doctrine of the Earth’s rotundity would render altogether impossible. For instance, at page 35 of “Lighthouses of the World,” the Ryde Pier Light, erected in 1852, is described as a bright fixed light, 21 feet above high water, and visible from an altitude of 10 feet at the distance of 12 nautical or 14 statute miles. The altitude of 10 feet would place the horizon at the distance of 4 statute miles from the observer. The square of the remaining 10 statute miles multiplied by 8 inches will give a fall or curvature downwards from the horizon of 66 feet. Deduct from this 21 feet, the altitude of the light, and we have 45 feet as the amount which the light ought to be _below the horizon_!

By the same authority, at page 39, the Bidston Hill Lighthouse, near Liverpool, is 228 feet above high water, one bright fixed light, visible 23 nautical or very nearly 27 statute miles. Deducting 4 miles for the height of the observer, squaring the remaining 23 miles and multiplying that product by 8 inches we have a downward curvature of 352 feet; from this deduct the altitude of the light, 228 feet, and there remains 124 feet as the distance which the light should be _below the horizon_!

Again, at page 40:--“The lower light on the ‘Calf of Man’ is 282 feet above high water, and is visible 23 nautical miles.” The usual calculation will show that it ought to be 70 feet _below the horizon_!

At page 41 the Cromer light is described as having an altitude of 274 feet above high water, and is visible 23 nautical miles, whereas it ought to be at that distance 78 feet _below the horizon_!

At page 9 it is said:--“The coal fire (which was once used) on the Spurn Point Lighthouse, at the mouth of the Humber, which was constructed on a good principle for burning, has been seen 30 miles off.” If the miles here given are nautical measure they would be equal to 35 statute miles. Deducting 4 miles as the usual amount for the distance of the horizon, there will remain 31 miles, which squared and multiplied by 8 inches will give 640 feet as the declination of the water from the horizon to the base of the Lighthouse, the altitude of which is given at page 42 as 93 feet above high water. This amount deducted from the above 640 feet will leave 547 feet as the distance which the Spurn Light ought to have been _below the horizon_!

The two High Whitby Lights are 240 feet above high water (see page 42), and are visible 23 nautical miles at sea. The proper calculation will be 102 feet _below the horizon_!

At page 43, it is said that the Lower Farne Island Light is visible for 12 nautical or 14 statute miles, and the height above high water is 45 feet. The usual calculation will show that this light ought to be 67 feet _below the horizon_!

The Hekkengen Light, on the west coast of Norway (see page 54), is 66 feet above high water, and visible 16 statute miles. It ought to be sunk beneath the horizon 30 feet!

The Trondhjem Light (see p. 55), on the Ringholm Rock, west coast of Norway, is 51 feet high, and is visible 16 statute miles; but ought to be 45 feet below the horizon!

The Rondö Light, also on the west coast of Norway (see p. 55), is 161 feet high, and is visible for 25 statute miles; the proper calculation will prove that it ought to be above 130 feet below the horizon!

The Egerö Light, on west point of Island, south coast of Norway (see p. 56), and which is fitted up with the first order of the dioptric lights, is visible for 28 statute miles, and the altitude above high water is 154 feet; making the usual calculation we find this light ought to be depressed, or sunk, below the horizon 230 feet!

The Dunkerque Light, on the north coast of France (see p. 71), is 194 feet high, and visible 28 statute miles. The ordinary calculation will show that it ought to be 190 feet below the horizon!

The Goulfar Bay Light, on the west coast of France, is said at page 77, to be visible 31 statute miles, and to have an altitude at high water of 276 feet, at the distance given it ought to be 210 feet below the horizon!

At page 78, the Cordonan Light, on the River Gironde, west coast of France, is given as being visible 31 statute miles, and its altitude 207 feet, which would give its depression below the horizon as nearly 280 feet!

The Light at Madras (p. 104), on the Esplanade, is 132 feet high, and visible 28 statute miles, whereas at that distance it ought to be beneath the horizon above 250 feet!

The Port Nicholson Light, in New Zealand, erected in 1859 (p. 110), is visible 35 statute miles, the altitude is 420 feet above high water, and ought, if the water is convex, to be 220 feet below the horizon!

The Light on Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, is 150 feet above high water, and is visible 35 statute miles (p. 111), this will give on calculation for the Earth’s rotundity, 491 feet that the Light should be below the horizon!

Many other cases could be given from the same work, shewing that the practical observations of mariners, engineers, and surveyors, entirely ignore the doctrine that the Earth is a globe. The following cases taken from miscellaneous sources will be interesting as bearing upon and leading to the same conclusion. In the _Illustrated London News_ of Oct. 20, 1849, an engraving is given of a new Lighthouse erected on the Irish coast, The accompanying descriptive matter contains the following sentence:--“Ballycotton Island rises 170 feet above the level of the sea; the height of the Lighthouse is 60 feet including the Lantern; giving the light an elevation of 230 feet, which is visible upwards of 35 miles to sea.” If the 35 miles are nautical measure the distance in statute measure would be over 40 miles; and allowing the usual distance for the horizon, there would be 36 miles from thence to the Lighthouse. The square of 36 multiplied by 8 inches amounts to 864 feet; deduct the total altitude of the Lantern, 230 feet, and the remainder, 634 feet, is the distance which the Light of Ballycotton ought to be below the horizon!

In the _Times_ newspaper of Monday, Oct. 16, 1854, in an account of her Majesty’s visit to Great Grimsby from Hull, the following paragraph occurs:--“Their attention was first naturally directed to a gigantic tower which rises from the centre pier to the height of 300 feet, and can be seen 60 miles out at sea.” The 60 miles if nautical, and this is always understood when referring to distances at sea, would make 70 statute miles, to which the fall of 8 inches belongs, and as all observations at sea are considered to be made at an elevation of 10 feet above the water, for which four miles must be deducted from the whole distance, 66 statute miles will remain, the square of which multiplied by 8 inches, gives a declination towards the tower of 2,904 feet; deducting from this the altitude of the tower, 300 feet, we obtain the startling conclusion that the tower should be at the distance at which it is visible, (60 nautical miles,) more than 2,600 feet _below the horizon_!

The only modification which can be made or allowed in the preceding calculations is that for refraction, which is considered by surveyors generally to amount to about ¹⁄₁₂th of the altitude of the object observed. If we make this allowance it will reduce the various quotients by ¹⁄₁₂th, which is so little that the whole will be substantially the same. Take the last quotation as an instance--2,600 feet divided by 12 gives 206, which deducted from 2,600 leaves 2,384 as the corrected amount for refraction.

SECTION 14.

GENERAL SUMMARY--APPLICATION--_CUI BONO?_

In the preceding sections it has been shown that the Copernican, or Newtonian theory of Astronomy is “an absurd composition of truth and error;” and, as admitted by its founder, “not necessarily true or even probable,” and that instead of its being a general conclusion derived from known and admitted facts, it is a heterogeneous compound of assumed premises, isolated truths, and variable appearances in nature. Its advocates are challenged to show a single instance wherein a phenomenon is explained, a calculation made, or a conclusion advanced without the aid of an avowed or implied assumption! The very construction of a theory at all, and especially such as the Copernican, is a complete violation of that natural and legitimate mode of investigation to which the term _zetetic_ has been applied. The doctrine of the universality of gravitation is an assumption, made only in accordance with that “pride and ambition which has led philosophers to think it beneath them to offer anything less to the world than a complete and finished system of nature.” It was said, in effect, by Newton, and has ever since been insisted upon by his disciples--“Allow us, without proof, the existence of two universal forces--centrifugal and centripetal, or attraction and repulsion, and we will construct a system which shall explain all the leading mysteries of nature. An apple falling from a tree, or a stone rolling downwards, and a pail of water tied to a string set in rapid motion were assumed to be types of the relations existing among all the bodies in the universe. The moon was assumed to have a tendency to fall towards the Earth, and the Earth and Moon together towards the Sun. The same relation was assumed to exist between all the smaller and larger luminaries in the firmament; and it soon became necessary to extend this assumption to infinity. The universe was parcelled out into systems--co-existent and illimitable. Suns, Planets, Satellites, and Comets were assumed to exist, infinite in number and boundless in extent; and to enable the theorists to explain the alternating and constantly recurring phenomena which were everywhere observable, these numberless and for-ever-extending objects were assumed to be spheres. The Earth we inhabit was called a _planet_; and because it was thought to be reasonable that the luminous objects in the firmament which were called _planets_ were _spherical_ and had _motion_, so it was only reasonable to suppose that as the Earth was a planet it must also be spherical and have motion--_ergo_, the Earth is a globe, and moves upon axes and in an orbit round the Sun! And as the Earth is a globe, and is inhabited, so again it is only reasonable to conclude that the planets are worlds like the Earth, and are inhabited by sentient beings! What reasoning! Assumption upon assumption, and the conclusion derived therefrom called a thing proved, to be employed as a truth to substantiate the first assumption! Such a “juggle and jumble” of fancies and falsehoods, extended and intensified as it is in theoretical astronomy, is calculated to make the unprejudiced inquirer revolt in horror from the terrible conjuration which has been practised upon him; to sternly resolve to resist its further progress; to endeavour to overthrow the entire edifice, and to bury in its ruins the false honours which have been associated with its fabricators, and which still attach to its devotees. For the learning, the patience, the perseverance, and devotion for which they have ever been examples, honour and applause need not be withheld; but their false reasoning, the advantages they have taken of the general ignorance of mankind in respect to astronomical subjects, and the unfounded theories they have advanced and defended, cannot but be regretted, and ought to be resisted. It has become a duty, paramount and imperative, to meet them in open, avowed, and unyielding rebellion; to declare that their unopposed reign of error and confusion is over; and that henceforth, like a falling dynasty, they must shrink and disappear, leaving the throne and the kingdom to those awakening intellects whose numbers are constantly increasing, and whose march is rapid and irresistible. The soldiers of truth and reason have drawn the sword, and ere another generation has been educated, will have forced the usurper to abdicate. The axe is lifted--it is falling, and in a very few years will have “cut the cumberer down.”

The Earth a Globe, and it is necessarily demanded that it has a diurnal and an annual and various other motions; for a globular world without motion would be useless--day and night, winter and summer, the half year’s light and darkness at the “North Pole,” and other phenomena could not be explained by the supposition of rotundity without the assumption also of rapid and constant motion. Hence it is _assumed_ that the Earth and Moon, and all the Planets and their Satellites move in relation to each other, and that the whole move together in different planes round the Sun. The Sun and its “system” of revolving bodies are now assumed to have a general and all-inclusive motion, in common with an endless series of other Suns and systems, around some other and “central Sun” which has been assumed to be the true axis and centre of the Universe! These assumed general motions with the particular and peculiar motions which are assigned to the various bodies in detail, together constitute a system so confused and complicated that it is almost impossible and always difficult of comprehension by the most active and devoted minds. The most simple and direct experiments, however, may be shown to prove that the Earth has no progressive motion whatever; and here again the advocates of this interminable and entangling arrangement are challenged to produce a single instance of so called proofs of these motions which does not involve an assumption--often a glaring falsehood--but always a point which is not, or cannot be demonstrated.

The magnitudes, distances, velocities, and periodic times which these assumed motions eliminate, are all glaringly fictitious, because they are only such as a false theory creates a necessity for. It is geometrically demonstrable that all the visible luminaries in the firmament are within a distance of a few thousand miles, not more than the space which stretches between the North Pole and the Cape of Good Hope; and the principle of measurement--that of plane triangulation--which demonstrates this important fact, is one which no mathematician, demanding to be considered a master in the science, dare for a moment deny. All these luminaries then, and the Sun itself, being so near to us, cannot be other than very small as compared with the Earth we inhabit. They are all in motion over the Earth, which is alone immoveable, and therefore they cannot be anything more than secondary and subservient structures, ministering to this fixed material world, and to its inhabitants. This is a plain, simple, and in every respect demonstrable philosophy, agreeing with the evidence of our senses, borne out by every fairly instituted experiment, and never requiring a violation of those principles of investigation which the human mind has ever recognized, and depended upon in its every day life. The modern, or Newtonian Astronomy, has none of these characteristics. The whole system taken together constitutes a most monstrous absurdity. It is false in its foundation; irregular, unfair, and illogical in its details; and in its conclusions inconsistent and contradictory. Worse than all, it is a prolific source of irreligion and of atheism, of which its advocates are, practically, supporters! By defending a system which is directly opposite to that which is taught in connection with all religions, they lead the more critical and daring intellects to reject the scriptures altogether, to ignore the worship, and doubt and deny the existence of a Supreme Ruler of the world. Many of the primest minds are thus irreparably injured, robbed of those present pleasures, and that cheering hope of the future which the earnest christian devotee holds as of far greater value than all earthly wealth and grandeur; or than the mastery of all the philosophical complications which the human mind ever invented.

The doctrine of the Earth’s rotundity and motion is now shown to be unconditionally false; and therefore the scriptures which assert the contrary, are, in their philosophical teachings at least, _literally true_. In practical science therefore, atheism and denial of scriptural authority have no foundation. If human theories are cast aside, and the facts of nature, and legitimate reasoning alone depended upon, it will be seen that religion and true philosophy are not antagonistic, and that the hopes which both encourage may be fully relied upon. To the religious mind this matter is most important, it is indeed no less than a sacred question, for it renders complete the evidence that the Jewish and Christian scriptures are true, and must have been communicated to mankind by an anterior and supernal Being. For if after so many ages of mental struggling, of speculation and trial, and change and counterchange, we have at length discovered that all astronomical theories are false, that the Earth is a plane, and motionless, and that the various luminaries above it are lights only and not worlds; and that these very doctrines have been taught and recorded in a work which has been handed down to us from the earliest times; from a time, in fact, when mankind could not have had sufficient experience to enable them to criticise and doubt, much less to invent, it follows that whoever dictated and caused such doctrines to be recorded and preserved to all future generations, must have been superhuman, omniscient, and, to the Earth and its inhabitants pre-existent.