The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-03-29
"THE sun DO MOYE.n
her. John Jasper In,iorscd-IIis Views I'm
Accordance With the Zctetic School OF
Philosophy.

| BALTIMORE, March l5.-Thc Roy
John Jasper Of Richmond is not without
good company in his opinion that the
World Is Hat, and that "thc sun do move. y
his Is the doctrine held by the Ietetic
school OF philosophy, which some wear.
hSo male quite = stir ii: England The
name Is formed from Greek word
meaning to seek or inquire. An active
rropagandist of Ie,rtic doctrine is Prof.
Mm' Carpenter, II Chew street. who hu.
necn In this country abou, five years.
ne Is man of medium height, auburn
hair and beard, with bright, restless ewes,
ana animated manner. lie has literary
tastes, and when the reporter called he
was turning off u clever little ucrostic
poem.
;, Jasper is right about The matter" the
Professor said, although he has not
complete understanding of it. There arc
plenty OF men who agree with him, but
mere are few who are willing to ucknowl.
edge the belief. II is unpopulnr a,d
keers man back in the world. bui
care nothing for that"
Tho founder of the Zctctic school, the
Professor explained, was an EneI;si,
chemist named Rowbotham, whose views
were formed as far back as 1888. In
1911 he iectured vt Greenwich, Professor
Carpenters native town. The Professor.
.ncn J"urneyman printer, laughed at
the idea OF man going about lecturinr
mat the earth was fiat, but went to hear
MN. Il listened to that lecture for an
hour and n half" said the Professor
and since then have never doubted
that the earth is flat" In 1866 he
Issued work on the subject. He nut
his thoughts directly in the type, and it
took him three years, working in his
leisure hours, to compose the work. Since
tncn nc has gotten out a number Of pam
phlets, and with pen and voice has
stoutly maintained the Zrtetic doctrine.
This doctrine il that the earth ia a fla,
disk, with the North pole at it's centre.
The seas encompass the land and mpen-
etrable ice surrounds the seas, "and what
Is beyond" says the Professor, "God only
knows" The sun and other heavenly
bodies are lights in the armament cir.
cling over the earth around the pole star
as a center. 'The key note of this phi.
iosophy 10 that water will seek its level.
II the earth were globe, water would
have TO be curved, but since water il
demonstrably always level the earth can.
not be round" Rowbotham's views
were originally suggested by observations
on the old Bedford Canal. For twenty
miles in Cambridge County, England, il
runs in straight line. Rowbotham
spent some nine months along the canal
IN daily observations, and in whatever
way he looked along the surface of its wa.
ter he always found it level.
When Professor Carpenters book WAS
published it made II jealous convert OF
Air. John liampden, who, the Professor
says, il a descendant of the Hampden of
Cromwell's time. lie bought Carpen
ter's copyright and challenged the scien
tho world to prove the convexity of any
surlace of water. Professor Alfred Il.
Wallace accepted the challenge and
wager of $500 side was made. Th.
test was made in March, 1870 Professor
Wailace's method WIS the placing OF
three signal disks along the canal for six
miles, all at the same elevation. His
proposition was that if there was no
curvature of the earth's surface, a tele.
scope placed Mt the same elevation would
bring all the disks in line, but that, in
fact, the central disk would show above
the terminal disk. Mr.. Carpenter was
llampden's referee DIR. NJ. w. b. Coul.
cher was Wallace's referee. They disn
greed as 10 the result of the test, each
claiming victory for his aide. j. ii.
Walsh, editor Of the London Field, who
was the umpire, decided that Wallace
had won and paid over the money to
hin. !tampda;i denounced Wallace as
a swindler, and was eventually sent to
Jail for twelve months for libel. He
sued for his money. and go, verdict on
the ground that the wager WAS illegal.
The affair bankrupted Hampden, but did
not shake his conviction.
Professor Carpenter eagerly meets
every objection advanced. The circum
navigation of the earth is simply descrih
ing circle on the disk about the North
Pole es the central point He says thai
it is the only astronomical theory tina,
accords with Holy Writ, which is what
commends 1t to the Rev. John jasper.
Professor Carpenter says that tho belief
is privately held by great numbers OF
persons who are deferred from ayowing
1t ny its unpopularity. He showed u
letter received lnst week from Fortress
Monroe, in which the conversion of a
non commissioned officer to the Zete,ic
doctrine was reported.