The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-02-28
THE CUBICAL PLANET.
The Surprising Theory Based On
It's Alleged Discovery.

The alleged discovery by Arndt, of
Munich, of planet whose orbit lies be-
yond that of Neptune, and which differs
from all other reputable celestial bodies
in the fact that it is neither sphere nor
a spheroid, but cube, has naturally
caused some excitement among scientific
men, who, however, nearly all discredit
the report. True or not, it has already
given occasion for some most curious
and interesting speculation as to how
and why certain common physical phe-
nomena, occurring on cubical planet,
would differ from analogous phenome-
ma taking place on globe like the earth.
These speculations are so remarkable
and apparently so well founded, and
they lead to such peculiar results, bear
ing upon what are commonly thought
to be the very foundations of certainty
in regard to mathematical truth, that it
Is high time they, or some of them,
should be laid before the general public.
In a conversation which recently took
place between the present writer and DIR.
William Vankirk, the well-known physi-
cist and mathematician, DR.. Vankirk
smiled at the notion of the alleged dis
covery, and said that even with the aid
OF the new thirty-six inch lens made in
Paris it would be utterly impossible for
the most skillful observer to say whether
a planet lying beyond Neptune-which
Itself is more than $500, DOC. 900 miles
distant from the earth-was cube or a
sphere. 'sThe whole account is a hoax
he continued, 'and there neither are
nor can be such, things as cubical plan
ets-that is to say, there are no such
things If there is any truth ia tie nebu-
lar theory, which seems to be as near
the truth as it is possible to come in the
present state of physics. But them"
said he pacing thoughtfully up and
down the floor, Ibid you ever think
what an odd thing it would be to be cast
away, not OF on comet with Jules
Verne, but on a cubical planet? No?
Well, then; forone thing. your present sys-
tenn OF geometry and Acknowledgement
be upset before long completely and
irrecoverably demolished and knockded
into 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 upsetting of your present
certainty that a straight line is the short
est distance between two points, and so
on, would be due to the action of crawl
.tation alone. There is a fine THOUGHT
for your .Hegels, your Harrises, vour
McCoshes, your Emersons, your Bow
ems, and your metaphysicians in gener-
al! Onlyto think of It'll physical fact
pulls yonr immediately belongings and
your absolutely true mathematics away
like cloud of dust in high wind!'
"How do you make that outp'' asked
the writer.
sln this way" was the reply of the
doctor. as he eagerly thrust one eyebrow
under his chin and placed the other on
the top of his magnificently proportioned
head. ION cubical planet-that is 10
say, on regular homogeneous material |
mathematical figure bounded by six
equal planes gravitation would tend |
10 draw bodies toward the central point
Just as 1t does on the earth. A stone let |
fall from height would make, as we
say, bee line for the center. Now. |
consider what the result of such a state |
OF affairs would be. Suppose man to |
set out TO walk around our round earth.
when he has gone about 5000 miles his |
1eet still point to the center and his leos
are at right angles with the line they
described when he started. and are in i
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 a trav-
eler sets out on a long journeyp Some
thing entirely different. Suppose his
starting place to be the middle point of
any one of the six planes that form its
surface-the point at which in eouila-
teral rectangles the diagonals cross each
other-and that he proceeds in any d.
rection 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 1
gets there he can lie down on his face
and look sheer down the face of a cliff
as one looks down INTO canon. Sun
pose our cubical planet to measure as
much between its opposite sides as the
earth does from one end of its diameter
to the other, say 5000 miles, and 81. 900
miles around, from the center
IF the plane to the edge will be
:, 200 miles. When a man has gone
1000 miles on the earth his feet ,
till point to the center, for he
las been walking on q curved surface, ,
nut when he has gone the same distance
n cubical planet, he has, of course, {
cen walking on plane and, IS his feet I
aust, BY the force Of gravity. continu- .