The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-03-18
Symmes, Funny Idea.

Scientists of all ages have held the
earth to be square, cone-shaped, fiat
or round. But they have never said
that it was hollow. That theory was
left f. John Cleve Symmes, of Ohio,
to llgate during the. first quarter
of til. century.
S!ymmes not only believed the earth
to be hollow, but peopled within. He
explained in a circular which he issued
in 1918 that it contained a number of
solid c%oncentric spheres, one within
the other, and that it is open al the
poles IL or Is degrees. To prove his
theory he appealed to a hundred brave
companies to start out with him from
Siberia in the fall season with tein-
deer and sleighs on the frozen sea.
He promised that they would find a
warm, rich land, stocked with thrifty
vegetables and animals, and even men,
when once n degree northward Of 81
was reached. Return was promised
in the following spring.
Everybody read the strange pamph-
let. Count Volney, the eminent
French scientist, laid it before the
Academy of Science Of France, and it
was agreed that it was worth consider
ing. Not satisfied with issuing cir
cular after circular, Symmes started
on u lecturing tour, and his earnest
mes, and enthusiasm attracted large
audiences. Though people believed,
they did not subscribe money to carry
out the proving Of the new theory.
Newspapers and the wits of the period
begun to ridicule the idea, and the
mysterious polar cavity which the
Ohioan expected to find at the pole
was dubbed "Symnes' Hole" and the
name sticks to it to this day.
S7mmes was a man Of ordinary
education, but of very studious dispo-
siticn. Mathematics and the natural
sciences possessed great attractions
for him. When he was 25 he enlisted
as an ensign in The United States
Army, and was promoted through all
the grades until he became Captain.
In 1916 he was discharged when the
army that fought the second wal
against England was disbanded.
In the eos of the present century
the subject of polar exploration vas
one If the important thoughts in the
| scientific world. Great Britain was
willing to pay handsome rewards for
| Arctic discoveries, and Symmes caught
the prevailing fever. He besought
| Congress to aid him in his. undertake
ing, and left no stone unturned to
make the Legislature of his own State
look at the matter according to his
idea. But the statesmen of that time
stucl, to the Constitution they had
made, and failed to crafty Captain
Symlnes' ambition.
He. in turn implored Russia to help
him, but the struggle was hopeless,
and it finally ended with his death in
1929. His tomb in Hamilton, O.,
ever now proclaims him ''father of the
theory of c%oncentric spheres and polar
voids."
Synmes' theory was that the earth
is not a solid mass, but was thrown
off ages ago by the sun in a molten
condition, which had gradually cooled
from the surface inward. He believed
it to be a hollow sphere with an open
ing at either pole. He fixed the
diameter at the Northern Pole at 1000
miles, estimating the Southern to be
a trife larger.
The shell Of the earth he held to be
1000 miles thick with plenty of space
to live inside the globe, and his argu-
ment in favor of that theory was that
God, the Creator, would not tolerate
such a waste as the inside Of the
earth would constitute without being
hollow. A suggestion received from
the rings of Jupiter and Saturn carrl-
ed him to the conclusion Of concentric
spheres, which he extended to all the
planets.
His theory was an ingenious one,
and attracted a great deal Of attention,
for very little was known al that time
Of tie North Pole.--&. Louis Re
public.