The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-10-27

red men have visited which have not been
trodden by the whites as well; and the
places that neither have been to must be, in
most instances, the tops of some of the
highest and most acclivitous mountains
certainly there are few, if any, plains,
valleys, or ordinary eminences that have
not been covered several times either &C
tually or constructively, by being upon
them in propria persona or by surveying
them after the manner Of civilization.
The assertion that there are portions of
the earth concerning which there is as
much guess-work as in the days of MARCO
Polo is equivalent to saying that the world
does not progress that this generation
knows no more than its predecessors. This
is rather though" announcement to come
from the pen of an educated man, and we
are disposed to class it among those flights
of fancy which the author of the article is
so much disposed to and which, without
analysis or investigation, set an article off
very well. Just what portions of the earth
he meant in this connection we can only
conjecture, and conjecture serves but to
squander time and effort without enabling
US to reach a satisfactory conclusion one
way or another. Since the days of MARCO
Polo the facilities for navigation, explora-
ton and Investigation have so greatly null
tiplied that one weeks work now is apt TO
be as productive of as. great results as a
years then; the work of tracing out and
exploring new fields and pushing frontier
lines further into the interior has been
going on steadily right along under
the improved conditions named, and
yet the range of guess work has not been
contracted in the least Oh Father ABRA-
HAM, what peculiar people these Christians
be! Where shall we place Captain Cook
and LIVINGSTON in history? Where the
country's STANLEY and the Worlds STEW.
EMS!
The next statement to be considered is
fully. as staggering as any Of its associates
mot only are we ignorant Of the popula-
tien of the world, but we do not know its
shape" If the correspondent. assumed ed
itorial and monarchial prerogative and
thus used the personal pronoun ''we' in the
singular number. the discussion as to that
point should properly cease where it is; but
further on is disclosed the fact that this is
not the case-that he includes NEWTON,
HERsCHEJ, TrNpALE. PROCTOR, PRATT and
all the great astronomers and physical
scientists living or dead, and all other peo-
pie large or small in that comprehensive
and companionable word. He'says sit is
generally believed that this planet is
globe somewhat f1attened at the poles, but
what the extent of the depression is we
can only conjecture since no one eucr uisited
the poles" Viewed in that light, ''we, do
not know that Mount Nebo is the Hottest
elevation in Utah, because nobody has ever
measured it with tape line; of course the
means which science has provided for US to
sions, angles, curves, etc.; without being
actually on the ground, are nil-they can
not be permitted to figure where we are
pinned down to what is actually known by
personal investigation and exploration
Explorers have not yet got to the poles,
true enough, but they have gone beyond
the line where the northern depression be-
gins, have ascertained to fraction how
far they were from the pole itself, and thus
fortified could state with tolerable exact
ness what the rate and extent Of depression
for the part which was inaccessible would
be, provided they had gone as far into the
depths of trigonometry as almost any
academy graduate has gone. Furthermore,
they hare made such measurements, and
because of having done so they do know
what the fiattening amounts to, and through
their knowledge ,ce exclusive of the cor
respondent also know it-not to within a
few inches or few feet of course-but the
conclusions are practically perfect. THE
HERALD has no hesitation in giving him the
information that the earth is in shape
an oblate spheroid, the extent
of the depression at either pole
being about thirteen miles. He might
know as to the shape if not as to the extent
of the f1attening without this assistance if
he would only for moment consider the
law of physics governing spheres which
rapidly rotate-it being tendency to
create bulge" at the equatorial region,
and corresponding depression at the
poles AT the earth's equator the velocity
of the constant revolution is little more
than thousand miles an hour, and the de-
pressions, like every other effect in nature,
exactly correspond. 49,: l-t.
Yes, "SYMMEs' hole" theory may be
true, for all "wen lrno,c, in accordance with
the rules which the correspondent adheres
to. The discoveries of SYMMEs, like some
of those of JULES VERNE, are mighty in
teresting reading" We strongly suspect
that the Ne,cs writer permits most of his
deductions to come from such sources,
instead of from the customary sources of
Anyway, he will have to
resort to different system of argument to
convince US that we do not know that
twice twelve is twenty-four. and that this
amount doubled is not forty -eight. If this
be delusion, it is preferable to any degree
of enlightenment.
MANY of the Liberals are squealing on
account of the size and frequency of the