LETTERS TO PROFESSOR GILMAN, OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY.
71 Chew Street, Baltimore, September 10, 1886.
Prof. Gilman, Johns Hopkins University—Sir: On the 21st ultimo I wrote to ask you if you received the pamphlet, which I left for you at the University twelve months ago, entitled “One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe,” and, if so, that you would kindly give me your opinion concerning it. I write, now, to ask you if you received my letter. I am quite sure that you will consider that the importance of the subject fully warrants the endeavor on my part to gain the views which may be entertained by you respecting it. The fifth edition will soon be called for, and anything you may urge—for or against—I shall be happy to insert in the “appendix.” I send, herewith, a copy of the fourth edition of the pamphlet.
Yours sincerely, William Carpenter.
71 Chew Street, Baltimore, October 7, 1886.
Professor Gilman—Dear Sir: I am now preparing the appendix for the fifth edition of my “One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe,” and I should be glad to receive your opinion of this work to insert in the said appendix. I can offer you from a few lines to a page, or two if necessary. Of course, if this work as a whole be a fraud, it must be fraudulent in all its parts; and each one of the “hundred proofs” must contain a fallacy of some kind or other, and the thing would justify your disapprobation—expressed in few words or many. If, on the other hand, the work is what it professes to be, it will certainly claim your approval. Yours sincerely, W. Carpenter.
71 Chew Street, Baltimore, October 14, 1886.
Prof. Gilman—Dear Sir: A week ago I wrote you a letter to tell you that I should be glad to receive your opinion of the “Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe,” of which work 5,000 copies are now in circulation. I wrote this work (26 pages) in one week, without neglecting my daily business: surely, you can reply to it in a week from this time. I will give you from one to four pages, if you wish that amount of space, and send you fifty copies, if you desire to have them, without putting you to the slightest expense. I will even take any suggestion you please to make as to the title which shall be given to this extra edition of my work containing your reply or opinions. I should be sorry to be under the necessity of printing this letter, with others, in my next edition, in the place of any such reply or expression of opinion; for I feel sure there is no one in Baltimore who is more capable of giving an opinion on this great subject. Trusting to hear from you in a few days, I am, Dear Sir, Yours truly,
William Carpenter.
71 Chew Street, Baltimore, October 22, 1886.
Prof. Gilman—Sir: This is the fifth letter—and the last—to you, asking you for an expression of your opinion concerning the “One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe.” Which would you prefer—to see my words, or yours, in print? I give you a week in which to decide.