Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-02-13
TIE ClBICAL PLANET.
Tho Surprising Theory Basod On
lts Alleged Discovery.

The alleged discovery 10y Arndt. of
Munich. oi a plane, whose orbit lies be-
,"ud that uf Neptune. and which differs
FROM all other reputable celestial bodies
in th" fact that it Is neither Il sphere nor
n sphoruid. but a cube. has naturally
,tu-cd some mrcNcitcmrnt among scientific
m'u. who. however. nearly all diScrcdit
the report. True or not. it has already
gwen occasion for some most curious
aud Interesting speculation Is to how
and why certain common physical phe-
nomrna, occurring on cubical planet.
would 'Iillrr from analogous phcnomc-
~ taking place on globe like the earth.
These sIwctIations are SO remarkable
aud apparently 80 well founded. and
the, lead Ia such peculiar results. bear
ing upon what are commonly thought
tn hc the very foundations of certainty
Ia regard to mathematical truth. that it
- high time they. or some of them,
should hc laid before the general public.
In "A conversation which recently took
I place between the present writer and DIR.
William Nankirk. the well-known phvsi-
/ ci~i aud mathematician. DR. Nankirk
SMILED at the notion Of the alleged dis
cn,cry. and said that even with the aid
of the new thirty-six inch lens made in
Paris i, would be utterly impossible for
I the most skillful observer TO say whether
/ planet lying beyond Neptune which
IA =. Al. IA. s.AA .,n
| distant from the carth-was a cube or a
/ sphere. The whole account is hoax," "
/ hr continued. land there neither are
nor can bc such things a cubical plan
/ cis that is la say. there are no such
/ things II there is any truth i'll the ncbu-
/ lar theory. which seems to be as near
the truth ~ il i possible TO come in the
/ present state of physics. But then. "
said he pacing thoughtfully up and
down the floor. "did YOU ever think
what an odd thing il would be to be cast
away not oil on n comet with Jules
! Verne. but on Il cubical planet? No?
Wrll.thcn; foronc thing. your present sys-
! ten of geometry and mathematicswOuld
hc upset before long completely and
! irrecovcrably demolished and knockded
into a cooked hat. All your straight
lines would be curves and your curves
straight lines; You could see around
corner; and probably look at the back
of your own head. if YOU wanted to, be-
sides doing many other strange things.
and all this upSctting of your present
certainty that a straight line is the short
est distgncc between two points, and so
on. would be due To the action of gravi-
intion alone. There is a fine thought
for Your lIegcls. your Harrises, your
Met 'n~hcs, your Emersons, your Bow
ems. and your mctaphysicians in gener-
nj Only tn think Of it! Aphysical fact
! pulls ,onr Immediately belongings and
| Your absolutely true mathematics away
like cloud Of dust in high windr'
How do you make that out?" asked
the writer.
I'm this way" was the reply of the
doctor. ~ he eagerly thrust one eyebrow
under his chin aud placed the other on
the top his magniliccntly proportioned
head. ''On cubcal planet that is to
say. on regular homogeneous material
mathematical figure bounded by SIX
equal planes -gravitation would tend
10 draw bodies toward the central point
! just ~ IL does on the earth. a stone let
iill from height would make, as VIC
say. bee line for the center. Now
consider what the result of such a state
of affairs would be. Suppose man tC
sci ou, To walk around our round earth
When he has gone about 5000 miles his
feet still point 10 the center and his leg
are at right angles with the line they
described when he started, and are in
precisely the same mathematical relation
To- the surface. and at the same distance
from the center. But what will take
place on cubical planet when trav-
clcr sets out on long journey? Some.
thing entirely different. Suppose his
starting place Ia be the middle point OF
an, one Of the six planes that form its
snriae, the point at which in equila.
trral rcctanglcS the diagonals cross each
other and that he proceeds in any di
rcciion toward the edge Of his square
toward what. in your blindness, YOU
might call the 'jumping-off plac, be
cause YOU probably think that when he
gets there he can lie down on his face
aud look sheer down the face of cliff
~ one looks down INTO canon. Sup
pos" our cubical planet to measure as
much between its opposite sides As the
earth does from one end Of its diameter
tn the other. say 5000 miles. and b. .00t
miles around. from the center
of the plane To the edge will b,
i.W1 miles. When man has gone
1000 miles on the earth his fee
s,ill point 10 the center. for b,
has been walking on curved surface
bat when he has gone the same distance
on a cuhical planet, he has. of course
hcrn walking on plane and, as his fee
mu.. by the force of gravity, cOntinu
aiiy point toward the center of the cube
~. bod, and face must incline more an,
more toward the surface n he goes on
lnn may see my meaning 10y noting tha
stone dropped from his hand any
where onto the plane must fall towar'
the center of the cube; its fall must b'
slauiing when the man stands any
wnrre nut at the planes middle point
aud the further away he is the more tn,
stone must slant. Ii would not drop a
right angles to the surface. as it woul,
on the earth. but ut an angle varying
according to circumstances. and, Just q.
ths stone slants in falling. the man.
body would slant in standing. BY grea
cNrriion he might do what we call stand
ing. bat generally when he occupied tina
position he would accidentally hav,
stumbled into it. His houses would al
have 10 slant in the same way; trees
would grow so. and rain would fall so. ,
What an extremely absurd situation
fora human being to occupy" exclaimed
the writer.
! We have something analogous to il