The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1870-09-10
Is the World Round!

J
trary by sum of five hundred pounds
and an interesting experiment has taken
place. This gentleman, in 1865, published
a book to prove that the earth is plane,
anything in the armament analogous to it.
| self. The whole question turns on the con-
vexity of water, for if the earth is a globe,
and twenty-five thousand miles in crcum-
ference, the surface of all standing water
must have a certain degree of convexity !;
every part must be an arc of circle, rising
at the rate of about eight inches per mile !;
and in every succeeding mile, eight inches
multiplied by the square of the distance
Mr.. Hampden says he tried the following
experiment. In the Old Bedford Canal,
Cambridgeshire, boat and flag was di-
rejected to sail from Welney Bridge, and
remain at Welche's Dam, six miles distant.
Mr. Hampden, with a telescope, placed
himself in the water as q bather, with his
eye not exceeding eight inches above the
surface. The flag and the boat down to
the water edge were clearly visible through
out the whole distance, so that he concluded
if the surface of the water had risen as
above mentioned, he could not have seen
the boat at ALL We have neither the space
nor the inclination to follow Mr.. Hampden
in the far fetched theories contained in his
volume. Suffice it to say that this gentle
man offered to stake five hundred pounds
on his theory; and Mr.. A. r. Wallace ac-
cepted the challenge, offering, in like man
ner, to stake five hundred pounds upon the
issue, and agreeing to "prove the convex
ity or curvature of the surface Of canal,
river, or lake" The spot chosen was that
portion of the Old Bedford Bridge and
Welney Bridge, a distance Of six miles in
straight line.
The experiment came off March ), 1870 :;
and an oblong signal, six feet by three, was
placed on Old Bedford Bridge, its centre
being thirteen feet four inches above the
water. At three miles distance along the
canal, I'VE quote from the report of Mr.
Carpenter, Mr.. Hampden's referee, staff
was erected, having a red disc of wood one
foot in diameter affixed to it, the centre of
which was also thirteen feet fsur inches
above the water; and on Welney Bridge,
three miles farther, third signal was plac-
ed, reaching the top of the bridge, thirteen
feet four inches likewise above the water.
The observations were made by means of a
large telescope (four-inch object glass, and
also by means of sixteen inch Troughton
level, placed in the same position and hight
above the water as the large Achromatic.-
On the centre signal-staff there was red
disc, which was allowed to remain nine feet
four inches above the water, OF four feet
lower than the other.
Now the result was, that in each Of these
observations, one taken from Welney Bridge
and the other from Old Bedford Bridge,
with the large achromatic telescope, the
two discs of the central staff appeared in
each case above the other bridge, showing
that the signal staff in the centre was
higher, and thus proving the convexity of
| the water. Similar results appeared with
the telescope of sixteen inch Troughton
level, placed in the same position. The
umpires, of course, could not agree, and
the editor of the Field was called in as
referee He decided that Mr.. Wallace, by
means of the experiment agreed on, has
proved to his satisfaction the curvature
to and fro " of the Bedford Canal to the
| extent of five feet more or less. He there
| Ill 4
pounds that had been lodged at Coutt' S
Bank.
Mr.. Wallace, in letter to the Field
april 2, 1s70,) commencing on Mr.. Car
penter's remarks in his Report, says that
that gentleman objects, to the value of the
view in the large telescope "because it
showed but two points, when a comparison
had to be instituted between three > but
was placed accurately at the third point,
just as was the spirit level telescope,-to
the view shown by which he makes No OBJ
lection The views from both extremities
Of the six miles agreeing so closely, both
prove the very great accuracy Of the level
used, and that it may be depended upon to
show that the surface Of water does really
sink below the true level line in a contin-
ually increasing degree as the distance is
greater but the proof Of eonvexity in no
way depends on this accuracy, as it was
shown still better by the large telescope
without syirit-level. The curvature shown
by the large telescope is about five and a
half feet at the middle signal, three miles
distance equal to eleven feet, il measured
at the farther signal; and the depression
below the cross-hair or true level line being
according to Mr.. Carpenter, an equal
amount makes twenty-five feet in ALL leav-
ing less than two feet for refraction to
bring it to the full theoretical amount,
which is something less than twenty-four
feet. The three points deviated in a verti-
cal direction very nearly, as much as is re-
quired by the assumed dimensions of the
earth, so that we may conclude that the
level telescope line is tangent to circle,
approximately the circle of the earth. Mr..
Vernon says, if the telescope in this e1per-
| lnenC ldu DCcI cAdCtly ttt IlSuL lts
to plumh-line dropped from its centre, it
would have been found that the surface OF
the water three miles off was six feet, and
at six miles, twenty-four feet, lower than
the water at the spot where the observation
was made.
Homer considered the world as flat. Mr..
Gladstone, in his 90 Studies of Homer and
the Homeric Age" states that in Homer's
estimation the form of the world was not
circular, but oval, having shorter diane
ter from east to west than from north to
south. In the map he gives, it is in the
form of a parallelogram with rounded edges,
like the oblong shield then in use. The
merit of the discovery of the spherical form
of the earth is due to the Pythagoreans,
who came to the conclusion from astronom-
ical observations but it is uncertain
whether Pythagoras was himself aware of
this truth. 1t was not received generally
in Greece until the age of Plato. The
Arabs specialized Oh the spherical form OF
| the globe and the calf, Almamoun, in S14