FIG. 25.
The following experiment has been tried, with the object of obtaining definite results. If the Earth is a globe, having a circumference of 25,000 miles at the equator, the circumference at the latitude of London (51°) will be about 16,000 statute miles; so that the motion of the Earth’s surface, if 25,000 miles in 24 hours at the equator, in England would be more than 700 feet per second. An air-gun was firmly fixed to a strong post, as shown at A in [Figure 25], and carefully adjusted by a plumb-line, so that it was perfectly vertical. On discharging the gun, the ball ascended in the direction A C, and invariably (during several trials) descended within a few inches of the gun at A; twice it fell back upon the very mouth of the barrel. The average time that the ball was in the atmosphere was 16 seconds; and, as half the time would be required for the ascent and half for the descent, it is evident that if the Earth had a motion once round its axis in 24 hours, the ball would have passed in 8 seconds to the point D, while the air-gun would have reached the position B H. The ball then commencing its descent, requiring also 8 seconds, would in that time have fallen to the point H, while the Earth and the gun would have advanced as far as W. The time occupied being 8 seconds, and the Earth’s velocity being 700 feet per second, the progress of the Earth and the air-gun to W, in advance of the ball at H, would be 5,600 feet! In other words, in these experiments, the ball, which always fell back to the place of its detachment, should have fallen 5,600 feet, or considerably more than one statute mile to the west of the air-gun! Proving beyond all doubt that the supposed axial motion of the Earth DOES NOT EXIST!
The same experiment ought to suffice as evidence against the assumed motion of the Earth in an orbit; for it is difficult, if not impossible, to understand how the behaviour of the ball thrown from a vertical air-gun should be other in relation to the Earth’s forward motion in space than it is in regard to its motion upon axes. Besides, if it is proved not to move upon axes, the assumption that it moves in an orbit round the Sun is useless for theoretical purposes, and there is no necessity for either denying or in any way giving it farther consideration. But that no point may be taken without direct evidence, let the following experiment be tried:—Take two carefully-bored iron tubes, about two yards in length, and place them, one yard asunder, on the opposite sides of a wooden frame, or a solid block of wood or masonry; so adjust them that their axes of vision shall be perfectly parallel to each other, and direct them to the plane of some notable fixed star, a few seconds previous to its meridian time. Let an observer be stationed at each tube; and the moment the star appears in the first tube, let a knock or other signal be given, to be repeated by the observer at the second tube when he first sees the star. A distinct period of time will elapse between the signals given, showing that the same star is not visible at the same moment by two lines of sight parallel to each other and only one yard asunder. A slight inclination of the second tube towards the first would be required for the star to be seen at the same moment. If now the tubes be left in their position for six months, the same star will be visible at the same meridian time, without the slightest alteration being required in the direction of the tubes. From which result it is concluded that if the Earth had moved a single yard in an orbit through space there would at least be the difference of time indicated by the signals, and the slight inclination of the tube which the difference in position of one yard required. But as no such difference in the direction of the tube is required, the conclusion is unavoidable that in six months a given meridian upon the Earth has not moved a single yard, and that therefore the Earth has not the slightest degree of orbital motion—or motion at right angles to the meridian of a given star! It will be useless to say in explanation that the stars are so infinitely distant that a difference in the angle of inclination of the tube in six months could not be expected, as it will be proved in a subsequent section that all the stars are within a few thousand miles from the Earth’s surface!
SECTION 3.
THE TRUE DISTANCE OF THE SUN AND STARS.
As it is now demonstrated that the Earth is a plane, the distance of the Sun and Stars may readily be measured by plane trigonometry. The base line in any operation being horizontal and always a carefully measured one, the process becomes exceedingly simple. Let the altitude of the Sun be taken on a given day at 12 o’clock at the high-water mark on the sea shore at Brighton, in Sussex; and at the same hour at the high-water mark of the River Thames, near London Bridge; the difference in the Sun’s altitude taken simultaneously from two stations upon the same meridian, and the distance between the stations, or the length of the base line ascertained, are all the elements required for calculating the exact distance of the Sun from London or Brighton; but as this distance is the hypothenuse of a triangle, whose base is the Earth’s surface, and vertical side the zenith distance of the Sun, it follows that the distance of the Sun from that part of Earth to which it is vertical is less than the distance from London. In the Diagram, [Figure 26], let L B represent the base line from London to Brighton, a distance of 51 statute miles. The altitude at L and at B taken at the same moment of time will give the distance L S or B S. The angle of altitude at L or B, with the length of L S or B S, will then give the vertical distance of the Sun S from E, or the place which is immediately underneath it. This distance will be thus found to be considerably less than 4,000 miles.
FIG. 26.
The following are the particulars of an observation made, a few years ago, by the officers engaged in the Ordnance survey. Altitude of the Sun at London 55° 13′; altitude taken at the same time, on the grounds of a public school, at Ackworth, in Yorkshire, 53° 2′; the distance between the two places in a direct line, as measured by triangulation, is 151 statute miles. From these elements the true distance of the Sun may be readily computed; and proved to be under 4,000 miles!
Since the above was written, an officer of the Royal Engineers, in the head-quarters of the Ordnance Survey, at Southampton, has furnished the following elements of observations recently made:—