If the moon, as the astronomers contend, is a body thrown from the earth by centrifugal force, while the earth was still in a semi-fluid state, why was it thrown just that distance, two hundred and forty thousand miles, no further or no less; why did it then change its course and float in empty space, ever since accompanying the earth in its travels around the sun?
What becomes of the ocean waters at the high point of the equator? Do they flow by gravity, like the waters of a stream, toward the lower levels, the north and south poles? Who and what holds that water in place between the poles and the equator? Take a rough surfaced metal ball upon a spindle and speed it up to a surface speed of one thousand miles per hour, let us say; charge it with electricity as the earth is said to be charged, then pour water on the spinning ball. Will it adhere to the ball or does the centrifugal force throw it off in all directions?
If standing water has not a uniform level, let our astronomers build a tank, several miles long, such as the watering channels used by the railroads. Would the level of this standing water be higher at one end than at the other?
Or was Copernicus wrong as well as all other astronomers who blindly believe in him, like they blindly followed the theory of gravity until another came along and told us we were all wrong?
We believed, for years, that we could locate a star in a fixed position. Now we are told by Einstein that it cannot be done because the rays of the stars are bent when passing through the gravitational field of the sun.
These are but a few of the seemingly contradictory theories of our universe, which speculative science would have the unsophisticated public believe.
I often ask myself, is the universe a huge Fata Morgana, covered by a veil no mortal shall ever lift?
Truly the guesses of one generation are but the amusements of another. If it were possible to cruise the distant heavens some startling facts would no doubt be revealed. As yet it is all a dream.
Finishing the article, Carl folded it and put it away. To himself, half aloud he muttered, “Whew! That sets one to thinking. This is something I have been looking for for a long time—the universe in a nutshell. Too bad he didn’t live to finish and publish it. It would have given the world something to talk about.”