Symmes's Theory of Concentric Spheres / Demonstrating that the Earth is hollow, habitable within, and widely open about the poles

by James McBride; John Cleves Symmes

It is a fact well attested by whalers and fishers in the northern seas; and one that almost every author who adverts to the northern fisheries confirms, that innumerable and almost incredible numbers of whales, mackerel, herring, and other migratory fish, annually come down in the spring season of the year, from the artic seas towards the equator. Some authors describe the shoals of herring alone, to be equal in surface to the island of Great Britain. Besides these, innumerable shoals of other fish also come down. These fish when they first come from the north in the spring, are in their best plight and fattest condition: but as the season advances, and they move on to the southward, they become poor; so much so, that by the time they get on the coast of France, or Spain, as fishermen say, they are scarce worth catching.

The history of the migratory fish affords strong grounds to conclude, that the shoals which come from the north, are like swarms of bees from the mother hive, never to return; particularly the herring and other small fish. They are not known to return in shoals: and it is doubted by some writers on the subject whether any of them ever return north again, or whether they are not entirely consumed by men, and by other fish.

Whalers and other fishermen who go to the north, generally prosecute their business in the seas between latitudes sixty and seventy degrees, where whales are most abundant. Pinkerton, in his voyages, states, that the Dutch, who at different periods got detained in the ice, and were compelled to winter in high northern latitudes, could find but few fish to subsist on during the winter: which proves that the migrating fish do not winter amongst, or on this side of the ice.—All these facts relative to fish, appear to be well authenticated. Now, were the earth a compact and solid spheroid, according to the old theory; and were the seas frozen nearly to the bottom at the poles, as we would be led to conclude, where could all those fish, that come down to us every spring, breed? or, if they even all returned in the autumn, and all the north were a sea that did not freeze even to the poles, it would require a great stretch of credulity to imagine where they could obtain food for the winter; or even if their source of food were inexhaustible, could the region of the pole afford space sufficient for their health, so as to migrate south in the spring? If the earth be not hollow, (or at least greatly concave about the poles) where could all those fish find room in winter? But on Symmes's plan, admitting the globe to be a hollow sphere, and the inner, or concave part, as habitable as without, (at least as habitable for fish) the whole matter is at once explained.

Whales, and various fish, delight in cold regions. According to Symmes's Theory, a zone at a short distance beyond the real verge of the sphere, (which constitutes the coldest part, or as he has thought proper to term it, "the icy circle,") commencing at the highest point, in about latitude sixty-eight degrees, in the northern sea, near Norway, thence gradually declining to about latitude fifty degrees in the Pacific ocean, which is the lowest point, and thence regularly round again to the highest point. A certain distance beyond this, and short of the apparent verge, this zone, or icy circle exists, which is believed to be the coldest region of the earth. After passing this, we would advance into the interior of the globe, and into a milder clime. In the interior region, it is contended, those immense shoals of fish are propagated and grow, which annually come out and afford us such an abundant supply: nor does it appear that the interior parts of the sphere are altogether forsaken by the fish in summer; for shoals of fat mackerel and herring come down from the north in autumn, as well as in the spring.

The seal, another animal found in cold regions, is also said to migrate north twice each year; going once beyond the icy circle to produce their young; and again to complete their growth, always returning remarkably fat—an evidence that they find something more than snow and ice to feed on in the country to which they migrate.

Numerous other facts of importance, relative to the migration of quadrupeds, are well authenticated by travellers and others: particularly that of the rein-deer. In Rees's Cyclopedia, under the head, "Hudson's Bay," it is stated, that the rein-deer are seen in the spring season of the year, about the month of March or April, coming down from the north, in droves of eight or ten thousand, and that they are known to return northward in the month of October, when the snow becomes deep. Hudson's Bay is situated between sixty and sixty-five degrees north latitude. We are informed by professor Adams of St. Petersburgh, that on the northern coast of Asia, every autumn the rein-deer start north-eastwardly from the river Lena, and return again in the spring, in good condition: the mouth of the river Lena is in about latitude seventy degrees north. This appears to me rather a mystery according to the old theory of the earth, for why should those deer when the cold commences, seek a colder climate, and a more sterile country? The inhospitable coast of Liberia and Hudson's Bay, in the gloom of a dark winter, I should suppose, would be cold enough, without their seeking to spend the winter among nothing but eternal mountains of ice at the pole; where nature must be robed in snows and crowned with storms.

Hearne, who travelled very high north and northwest on the continent of America, details various facts in his journal, which strongly corroborate Symmes's position. Some of the facts he attempts to explain agreeably to his own ideas, and others he considers inexplicable. Among a great collection of facts, he states, that large droves of musk-oxen abound within the arctic circle, few of which ever come so far south as the Hudsons-Bay factories. He mentions seeing in the course of one day, several herds of those animals, of seventy or eighty in a herd, in about latitude sixty-eight degrees. He states that the polar white bears are very rarely found by any of the Indians in winter; and that their winter retreats appear to be unknown;[6] that they are sometimes seen retiring towards the sea on the ice in autumn; and appear again in great numbers in the latter end of March, bringing their young with them.

Hearne also states, that the white or arctic foxes are, some years, remarkably plentiful; and always come from the north; that their numbers almost exceed credibility; that it is well known none of them ever migrate again to the northward; and that naturalists are at a loss to know where they originate.[7] He also mentions that all kinds of game, as well as fish, in those high latitudes, are at some seasons excessively plentiful, and at others extremely scarce.

These facts strongly corroborate the doctrine of a hollow sphere: otherwise, why should the rein-deer, and other animals, migrate north instead of south; as our Buffalo on the plains of Missouri do, when pressed with snow and cold weather? Instinct generally leads animals to fruitful and productive, rather than unproductive, regions; why then proceed north on the approach of winter, unless in expectation of finding a warmer climate, or, at least, a more mild and plentiful country, beyond the icy circle? Independent of the immense droves of rein-deer, great numbers of musk-oxen, white bears, and white foxes, spend their winters towards the north; which tends to establish the fact, that a considerable extent of land must exist in that quarter of the earth. This, however, would infringe on the space necessary to accommodate the vast quantities of fish which appear to be propagated in that region, if the old system were true.