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j i i;NORTH EAST LONDON POLYTECHIMIC
DEPARTnENT OF HUMANITIESTHE FLAT EARTHERS
by Ellis Hillman"Every schoolboy knows that the earth is a solid ball, slightly flattened at thepoles, and surrounded by a cosmos of inconceivable immensity. Since Magellan
sailed around the world in 1519, a few have doubted that the earth is round.
Yet it is precisely because these views are universally accepted that the shapeof the earth is such a happy field of speculation for the pseudo-scientist.
•'Three eccentric theories of the earth have each won a surprising numberof adherents in the present century: Uoliva's flat earth^^ the view that theworld is hollow and open at the poles,+ and - most incredible of all - that weare living in the inside of a hollow sphere."
Flat and Hollow ~ in Facts and Fallacies in the Name of Science by Martin Gardner.
It is difficult to believe that there exists any group of people who seriously
entertain the belief that the earth is flat. Yet such is the case. There aresuch people.
If it were possible to design an instrument or meter to measure degree of absurdity
provoked by a seemingly rediculous proposition - the Flat Earth theory would
almost certainly represent the top of the scale.
The Flat Farther has been the butt of politicians and comedians alike who regard
him as the ultimate in absurdity. It is, therefore, perhaps of some interest
to separate fact from fiction, and discover the real truth about the Flat Earth
Society, its history, evolution and ideas.
History of the Flat Earth Society
The present International Flat Earth Research Society whose headquarters were in
Dover has a long and remarkable ancestry. The late Secretary, Sam Shenton, had
contacts with former members of the Zetetic Society, which was still flourishingat the turn of the century; this writer had the pleasure of meeting recently
one of its most distinguished veterans - a nonogenarian lay preacher by the nameof I.E. Wesley in Leceister. He found him a Noah-like patriarchal fi^re ofgreat spiritual strength and impressive appearance. This society had its origins
in the activity of the "Parallax", alias Charles Brough, in the last century.
"The Zetetic", which he launched, described itself as a monthly journal ofcosmographical science. It had on its masthead a quotation from Locke: "Hewho resolves to be just and yet will hear only one side, will be unjust in spiteof his resolution."
In his "Address to the Reader", Charles Brough explains the necessity "for theappearance of The Zetetic in the ranks of journalism". He wrote; ’...thegrowing interest which this all-important question of the shape and mobilityof the Earth is being regarded, and the numbers that are daily espousing thecause which we advocate, seem in themselves a sufficient guarantee for the belief
that the time cannot be far discontent when public opinion will unanimously
demand its speedy and final settlement.
++ Wilbur Glen Voliva was the General Overseer of Zion, Illinois, from 1905 to1935. He propounded the view that the earth is shaped like a flapjack, with theNorth Pole, the centre and the South Pole distributed around the circumference.
From a recent communication, it appears that the Christian Apostolic Church which
he helped to create regards the Flat Earth theory as "a personal project of thelate Wilbar Glen Uoliva and not a doctrine of the Church".

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No one who has, for a single moment, directed his attention to the subject,^ ^can fail to see its importance. Astronomy, Geology, Navigation, and all the^arts and sciences which follow in their train, essentially depend upon a^knowledge of the sure figure and condition of our world. Zeteticism affirmsthat it is not a globe but a Plane - vast, irregular, and immovable, ’’foundedon the seas, and established’in the floods", that the celestial bodies are notworlds and mighty globes but lights subordinate, and created for the serviceof the earth ....
This journal continued from Duly 1372 to November 1873 propagating the Zetetic
doctrine that the Earth is flat. The Zetetics found much of their evidence
not only from the Old and New Testament, but also from the Apocrypha quotingthe "Shepherd of Hermes" who with the word of strength fixed the heavens, andfounded the earth upon the water.
Other arguments presented in this journal in support of the Flat Earth proposi­tion are of particular interest. Thus, in the first issue, the "first" proof
that "earth is not a plane" is developed as follows:"The marine horizon, from whatever position it is viewed, always appears to be,and is, in fact, a perfectly level line, and since this appearance is ths samein all parts of the world, its surface must be level, and therefore the E a H his a plane.
"This may be proved to be the case by erecting at a suitable elevation on thesea shore a duly-levelled board, or a string - at right angles to a plumb-line tightly stretched between two vertical poles. On looking towards the sea, thehorizontal line for a distance of 20 miles may be easily observed, with thestraight-edge, or string; but if the earth were a globe, the horizontal line
would form an arc twenty miles in length, curvating both ways from the centre,
at the rate of eight inches, multiplied by the square of the distance. Hence thehorizontal line at either end of the distance ought to be depressed some 66 feetbelow the horizon in the centre. But as no such appearance is ever presented,
it necessarily follows that the earth cannot be a globe, or other than a plane."
The Editor of The “Zetetic" was a prolific writer and correspondent andanswered with comparative ease the inevitable questions that were asked byhis critics. In 3une 1873, a U.H. wrote.
"To the Editor of The Zetetic. Sir, - How do you account for the rising andsetting of the sun, if the earth is a plane?"
His editorial reply went as follows:"In a long row of lamps the furthest is apparently the lowest. A lamp fixed
on the top of a pole and carried away from an observer, appears to get lower
and lower as the distance increases. So with the sun: as it passes fromthe meridian towards the north west it appears to sink until it touches thehorizon.
"Btill receding, the upper arc at length comes into vanishing point anddisappears. Continuing its course beyond the North Pole, it first appears in
the horizon in the north-east, and seems to ascend towards the south until it
is again on the meridian. The whole is the effect of natural perspective."-2-

laders of the journal were inforiuBd in a s/uall adi/ertisBuiBnt on thethat '^sets of back nunibars^^ could be obtained, post free fo r sei/en sU
addressed "Editor of The Z e te tic , 24 Leighton Road, Kentish Toun, Londi
Perhaps the most rnassii/e Zetetic fistronoiny contribution to F lat Earthliterature was Parallaxes oun Zetetic fistronoiuy published in 1673 by Johi
This 425 page work became the source-book fo r nearly a l l the la te r hjritin^of prominent British Flat Earthers including the uork o f the same name wri
jointly by Lady Blount and Albert Smith (who wrote under the name o f Zetettin 1093.
The actii/ities of Parallax were recorded at length in both the local and natipress, and even such eminent persons as Augustus De PJorgan, President o f theRoyal Astronomical Society, and Professor of Flathematics in Cambridge Uniyersi
was moved to write in the Athenaeum Journal for 12th October 1872.
"The flat earth floating tremously on the sea, the sun moying always oyer i t ,giving day when near enough, and night when too f a r o f f , the self-luminous
moon, with semi-transparent i n v i s i b l e moon created to giue her an e c lip se
now and then; the new law of perspec tive, by which the vanishing o f thehull before the masts, usually thought to prove the earth i s globular,
really proves it f l a t : a l l these and other things well f i t t e d form exercisesin learning the elements of astronomy. P a rallax , though confident i n theextreme, neither impeaches the honesty of those whose opinion he assails ,nor allots them any future in c o n v e n i e n c e ( Q u o t e d '^Zetetic Astronomy^' p*416).
The Universal Zetetic Society was founded in New York in September 1873 andin London in December 1883, as the Zetetic Society by Parallax and "others^'.
We are further informed that ^'many local branches were started in all theprincipal countries" with the exception of Russia, ^'where the Earth is notallowed to circulate,"
A number of eminent Victorians associated themselves with this Society
whose President was Lady
Blount and Uice^-President, C, De Lacy Evans
M.R.C.S., Ph.^D., etc., late surgeon of the Gold Coast, The committee included
Joseph Chamberlain Esq., naJor-General firmstrong, Dr, E, Haughton, H.D,,and an Archbishop, C,I. Stei/ens, D.D., LL,B, The motto was 'Ueritate Uictoriaf.
George Bernard Shaw himself appeared to haue been acquainted yith theindefatigable work of this Society and he relates a delightful story in his"Everybody's Political Uhat's What”, which recreates the intellectual
atmosphere of those times.
"On another occasion I was present at a meeting addressed by a gentleman uho
was devoting his life to combatting the modern heresy that the earth isglobular, and maintaining that it is flat.
The debate that folloued uas
quite the funniest that I have ever attended.
Opposition such as no^other atheist could have prowaked assailed him and he, having heard theirarguments hundreds of times, played skittles uith them, lashing the meeting
into a spluttering fury as he answered easily uhat is considered unansujerable.
When he was asked whether he had ever watched a ship through a telescope andseen it sink beneath the horizon he blandly inquired whether the questioner
had ever used a telescope in this manner. Apparently nobody present except
myself and the Lecturer ever had. The lecturer went on, "I haue myself
witnessBd this interesting illusion. Hy questioner, though he admits he has
spoken from hearsay about the ships, has no doubt often stood on a railway
bridge and seen the two parallel tracks converge and meet in the distance, nay
I ask him whether he believ/es that the two lines do actually converge and meet-3-

as thay saem to him to do?* Thereupon another questioner, boiling u/ith rage,rose and shoutad, ’Can you deny that if you start from Liverpool and keep
travelling due west or east you will find youself in Liverpool again?*’Of
course you do', said the lecturer, and traced a circle on the flat table top
with his finger. The next questioner, confident that he was cornering thelecturer this time, played his ace of trumps with *In an eclipse the shadowof the eclipse body is roundl How do you account for that?**So is theshadow of tha griddle, which is the flattest thing on earth*, was the reply,"I joined the debate to declare that the lecturer had answered and silenced
all his opponents, who had only picked up and parroted a string of state ments they had never thought out nor verified.' And further on he comments:"They assumed that I believed the earth to be flat, and concluded that thisindicated not only gross ignorance of science, but abhorrent moral delinquency.
It was evident that the writers would have seen me, if not burnt at the stake,at least imprisoned for a year, with entire satisfaction.
I might have written
the leading article in The Free Thinker for twenty years without provoking asingle abusive postcard."
What is not evident from this revealing story is the curious fact that according
to Margaret Cole it was in the Zetetical Society that Sidney Webb first metBernard Shaw to form a close friendship which lasted for sixty years.
The famous Rudyard Kipling short story "The Village That l/oted The Earth wasFlat" with its amusing description of the geoplanarians also lends some
support to the belief that he had some acquaintance with the late Victorianor early F.dwardian Zetetics.
The Zetetics were clearly quite an influential society,[MODERN imZSIn more recent times, the propaganda of the International Flat Research Society
has had an increasing impact on a sceptical public. The Guardian and theObserver have both interviewed its indomitable Secretary. Shortly after thepublication of the Gemini photographs, Sam Shenton, interviewed by John Fairwell,
had this to say to the Guardian .
"The whole thing hinges upon thephotographs being taken from a moving vehicle and this photograph clips one
portion of the horizon. If the camera was turned round in another direction itwould clip another portion of the horizon, thus showing the vehicle was still
earthbound." ("Flat All Round", 10th Dune 1965). And Eric Clark's summary ofSam Shenton's belief runs as follows: "Astronauts just circling around overa flat surface. Ships disappearing over the horizon? 3ust perspective. Photo­graphs from space showing a curve on the earth's surface? Distortion causedby the wide-angle lens in the camera." (Observer« 28th August 1966)
Sam Shenton's latest pamphlet, The 'Plane' Truth once obtainable for 2s., ablysums up the modern flat earth position. It is not only in Britain and theUnited States that Flat Earth Societies and propagandists have flourished.
In South Africa, a certain Ernst Lodewicus Venter published a small 46 page
book entitled 100 Proofs that Earth is not a Globe (with supplement) in
Bloemfontein in 1940.
In Germany, Holland and Portugal, Flat Earth publications hax/e received aconsiderable boost from public reactions to articles appearing in the Presson the subject.
In Lisbon, a H, Benedy published A Terra l\lao e Esferica in 1960, and about
the same time a nationally famous Dutch Flat Farther Klaus Dykstra publishedhis Pleidooi voor de Pla'tte Aarde.

perhaps this uiorldwidB mushrooming of Fundamentalism reflects something
deeper than just an escape from the ever accelerating scientific andtechnological revolution. Perhaps the Flat Earther represents a last-standdefence against the acceptance of everything, however incredible, thatscience has to teach us. By questioning the most fundamental of ourassumptions, he forces us to re-think our most cherished prejudices. His
continued presence in this beuiildering "scientific" world of ours is surely
not to be denied.
P.S. It would be churlish to fail to refer to at least one of the Hollow
Earth theories propounded by Army Captain 3ohn Cleves Symmes who sent a letter
dated St. Louis, Missouri Territory, April 10, A.D.1818 - "To All the World
I declare the earth is hollow and habitable within; containing a number ofsolid, concentric spheres, one within the other and that it is open at thepoles twelve or sixteen degrees. I pledge my life in support of this truth,
and am ready to explore the hollow, if the world will support and aid me inthe undertaking."
Two documents were attached to this manifesto. Dne was the announcement of abook (which never appeared), and the other a certificate of sanity!
(Ulilly Ley’s "Watchers of the Sky", p.513).

%CB/CDflOctober 1976

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