LETTER FROM PROF. I. N. VAIL.
My Dear Dr. Bowers: I have read with much interest thy compendium of “The Earth’s Annular System,” as published by me in 1886. A synopsis of that work can give but a meager idea of the grand conception of the annular evolution of the earth. “The Annular Theory” stands on the immutable truth that worlds evolve according to invariable law.
This compels us to admit that all worlds are made alike, in the general changes they undergo. Just as a bud evolves into a flower of the most delicate construction and architectural order, so a world launched from the same designing Hand must move in the same line of eternal order, and under the law of natural uniformity develop and grow into a completed world.
This also leads us to the conclusion that if one world possess at any time an annular system, then all worlds must possess a similar appendage during some period of their existence. Consequently that simple fact that the planet Saturn possesses at this time an annular or ring system is proof that the earth once had a similar appendage. For we must either admit this truth or we must admit that the planet Saturn has not evolved thus far along a line of nature’s uniformity, but is today a victim of accidental conditions. This law refuses to admit.
But “The Annular Theory” does not rest on these grounds alone. A universe of invariable order pronounces it an immutable truth. The judgment of the chemist and philosopher is positive that a rotating world cannot pass from the molten state to the present condition of the earth without undergoing annular changes.
Since the publication of “The Earth’s Annular System” I have had opportunities of examining more minutely the subjects treated of therein and have secured the most overwhelming evidence that the theory there proposed is in the main correct and will stand the test of all time. I have found, outside the realm of physical science, the most positive evidence that primitive man actually saw at least two rings revolving about the earth, named them and worshiped them as gods. These relics I have rescued from the wreck of ages, and with these I will prove the fact that this earth once had a complex system of Saturn-like rings.
Thus in the end the geologist and astronomer will be compelled to admit its truthfulness whether they desire to or not. I have found among the ruins of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, India and China annular fossils, the identification of which settles at once and forever this great question.
Again, I need not point the geologist to the mysteries of the glacial epochs, which grow darker and darker as he looks for a competent cause for their production. He must know that the great ocean of vapors that hovered for unknown time over the earth in the loftiest heights of the atmosphere, such as now are seen on two of our neighbor planets, could not have fallen to the earth without covering it in the higher latitudes with measureless masses of snow, resulting in excessive refrigeration. I need but point him to the fact, proven by the coast surveys of the world, that the oceans have encroached upon the land to such an extent since the last glacial epoch that they stand now fully thirty fathoms deeper than they did in pre-glacial times. I need only point him to that grand clock-work of worlds shining from the firmament—every scintillating point, every rolling sun, is a witness of nature’s eternal order, and proclaims that uniformitarian principle of world evolution, by which the philosophic investigator must stand. The geologist must build on this rock of uniformity in the evolution of worlds. The earth has evolved along this line, and the wreck of annular conditions is seen on every page of its rocky volume.
In the year 1875 I published a little volume entitled “The Earth’s Aqueous Ring.” In it I stated my convictions, and gave reasons therefor, that all the glacial periods the world ever saw were produced by supra-aerial vapors descending from an annular system that revolved about the earth from the remotest geologic ages to the flood of Noah, which was itself produced by the fall of the last remnants of those upper waters. These claims I am fully prepared to substantiate, whatever opposition may be brought against them.
Isaac N. Vail,
Elsinore, Cal., July 6, 1892.
Transcriber’s Note
The following changes were made to the text as printed:
Page 3: “rings of agueous vapor” changed to “rings of aqueous vapor”
“decent at the poles” changed to “descent at the poles”
5: “the same No matter” changed to “the same. No matter”
6: “Kelper’s “Third Law”” changed to “Kepler’s “Third Law””
7: “FURTHER EXAMINATION OF THE RECORD” changed to “FURTHER EXAMINATION OF THE RECORD.”
“silicious Archæan beds” changed to “silicious Archaean beds”
“Archæan metaliferous deposits” changed to “Archaean metalliferous deposits”
8: “God made the firmmanent” changed to “God made the firmament”
“under the firmmament” changed to “under the firmament”
“above the firmmament” changed to “above the firmament”
“The earths surface” changed to “The earth’s surface”
“the suns direct rays” changed to “the sun’s direct rays”
“overcanopyed by annular waters” changed to “overcanopied by annular waters”
9: “THE NOCHIAN DELUGE” changed to “THE NOACHIAN DELUGE”
“Aryan, Phonecian, Greek” changed to “Aryan, Phoenecian, Greek”
“Greeks, Cythians and Celtic tribes” changed to “Greeks, Scythians and Celtic tribes”
“among the Peruvians’ and Mexicans” changed to “among the Peruvians and Mexicans”
“the ruins of Ninevah” changed to “the ruins of Nineveh”
11: “fresh water shells are found” changed to “fresh-water shells are found”
“decent of Annular vapors” changed to “descent of Annular vapors”
12: “soon as killed purification” changed to “soon as killed, putrification”
“the downrush of snows” changed to “the down-rush of snows”
“a semitropical world” changed to “a semi-tropical world”
“over-canopying fund of vapors” changed to “overcanopying fund of vapors”
“posessed more bouyant power” changed to “possessed more buoyant power”
“doubtless, dropped from icebergs” changed to “doubtless dropped from icebergs”
“upon the earth The great” changed to “upon the earth. The great”
“boulder and conglomerate rocks” changed to “bowlder and conglomerate rocks”
13: “the disolving of glaciers” changed to “the dissolving of glaciers”
“decended to the body” changed to “descended to the body”
“primordal life-forms” changed to “primordial life-forms”
“unknow depths of space” changed to “unknown depths of space”
14: “Gardner of Nature” changed to “Gardener of Nature”
“Carboniferous carbonacious matter” changed to “Carboniferous carbonaceous matter”
“down fall of a silicious ring” changed to “downfall of a silicious ring.”
17: “fibres runnning vertically” changed to “fibres running vertically”
“ferns, sigillaria lepidodendra” changed to “ferns, sigillaria, lepidodendra”
18: “seperated by layers of clay” changed to “separated by layers of clay”
21: “cannel-coal inseperably joined” changed to “cannel-coal inseparably joined”
“submerged beneath fresh water” changed to “submerged beneath fresh-water”
22: “great super-ariel fund” changed to “great super-aerial fund”
“isolated fresh water ocean” changed to “isolated fresh-water ocean”
“New Foundland to Ireland” changed to “Newfoundland to Ireland”
“wide expanse of fresh waters” changed to “wide expanse of fresh-waters”
23: “antideluvians and their environment” changed to “antedeluvians and their environment”
“inhospital and uninhabited” changed to “inhospitable and uninhabited”
“glacitation of polar worlds” changed to “glaciation of polar worlds”
“constantly dimishing” changed to “constantly diminishing”
“upon the race his environment” changed to “upon the race; his environment”
24: “natures eternal order” changed to “nature’s eternal order”