The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-06-27
New Information About the Earth.

From time TO time the public mind,
especially that part of it which does
not disturb itself with any valuation OF
scientific effort, is thrown into spas
modic state through utterances which
tend to throw doubt upon long-inherit-
ed notions regarding the planet which
we inhabit. Somewhat more than a
half century ago the then famous Cap
tain Synes succeeded sufficiently in
convincing a large body of humanity
of the emptiness of our planet, and OF
the ready approach from the outside
TO this region of emptiness. Symes'
globe, a treasure among the collections
Of the Academy of Natural Sciences OF
Philadelphia, is a monument TO that
form of credulity, unfortunately too
largely developed among almost all
classes of people, which appears wiz
charming force TO those who have not
yet learned 10 properly appreciate or
estimate the value of common sense,
fact and logic. and who only too gladly
welcome a departure" from old no
tions. At the present time a son of
old Symes is pressing upon the foot
steps of his father and is attempting
TO force the law of internal hollowness
upon those who themselves are not too
IlfnlN Dull uD IN their Ultuldl lIdllc-
work. Some 20 years ago a challenge
was thrown out by a certain John
Hampden Of London. asking for the
proofs that the earth was round, as
against his own conviction that ii was
fiat or square. 1t did not take long for
the distinguished English naturalist,
Alfred Russell Wallace to prove to a
judges mind. by means of the Bedford
level and of objects scattered over ii,
h. a Gir Y Af he
him was awarded the forfeit for having
indicated the level sense of science.
and with it the rOtundity Of the earth.
And yet, after all. perhaps the earth is
not of that full rOundness which ge-
ographers have so universally assumed
VI. De LaDparent. one of the foremost
of French biologists, and Mr.. Low
thian-Green. an English physicist of
considerable eminence. have recently
found what to them appears 70 be SUI
ficient cause for doubling the accuracy
of the old belief-a doubt founded
largely upon the results of Nansen's
late explorations in the Arctic regions
and upon certain discrepancies which
have been known 10 exist between the
astronomical and geOdetical determin-
atoms of the polar and equatorial di-
ameters of the planet. 4 conclusion
reached is that the earth might in re-
atty be top-shaped with the spinning
point represented in a prOtuberance OF
the south pole In support of this pO-
sitiOn il is pointed out that the area
now assigned to the Arctic ocean is
approximately that which has been as
sumed by Murray, the geOgrapher of
the Challenger expedition, for the
area of the Antartic continent-about
4, 500. 900 square miles-that the depths
observed by Nansen correspond in or
der of magnitude to the nights OBJ
served by Ross. and that the average
depth of the Arctic basin IS seemingly
equal 10 that of the very much larger
basins of the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans. The general bearing of these
facts upon the main question are a lit
tie difficult to gather. and. in truth,
many physicists decline TO see any veal
pertinence in them: but it is sufficient
" interesting to note prominent men
of science opening a question which
has been generally assumed TO be as
firmly sealed as any question well can
he sealed It may. however. not be
amiss to await further determinations,
as we have still TO reconcile
the differences obtained for the polar
hattening to which reference has been
made The ordinary assumed ratio of
polar hattening. determined from
made almost entirely in
the northern hemisphere, is 1924. while
the value obtained by NJ. Tisserand
from the procession Of the equinOXes
is 1921