Arizona republican., 1899-09-12
THE EARTH Is FLAT
Ebcnezer Breach Gives Reasons TO
Show IT Is Not Round.

1 the lEdGI0S American U1AhG . It's anu
colleges seeking to enlist them on his
| side in an argument ttat is just now
exc: c;sing the greatest minds in Eng
| land, namely, the question Of the
earth's shape, writes a Portsmouth
correspondent. Mr. Breach, in his let
ter to the American men Of learning,
has prepared what he is pleased to call
a list OF Breach-lOaded arguments,
which &c to show that, whatever may
be said about TIE theory he exp1unds,
Mr.. Breach is without his equal amcng
the first earthites of modern times.
So ingenious are the arguments ad-
vanoed by Mr.. Breach that the man
who calls en- him in a scoffing mood
comes away rather pertuI bed in mind
to find that he is half persuaded to be
ieve there is something in TIE fiat
earth theory after all
The talk 1 had with Mr. Breach, sup
plemsnted by the information con-
tsined in the letters tci the American
professors, gave me a comprehensive
idea OF the subtle rcasonings that IN
derlie the easy conversational 2rgu-
ments of Mr.. Breach. To give the gist
OF these arguments, Mr.. BTelch's idea
is that the earth is the central and
greatest object of the universe; that
its surface is the top Of a colossal pill
lar, its mountains and hJl'7wS form
ing eXcrescences and indentations as
on the top of Madeira cake: that this
top surface of the monst7ous pillar is
circular in shape, and that abova-a
mere matter Of only 5000 miles or SO
distant-fCats a crystal sea, circular
and cO-eXtensive with the eartt's sur
face, through which we b9hletd the
celestial Bodies revolving in one plane.
One Of the illustrations I send gives an
idea of this The roughly and rapidly
fmprOvised circular disc on the table
represents the top Of the earth; the
paper patches are the con .inents. The
piece CT mechanism held in the right
had was constructed to show the spiral
course fnom the center to the circum-
ference, like a cOiled watch spring,
marking the course IF the planets. The
north is the centsr. The south is the
all the way round.
There is perpetual ice at the north cen
ter and at the south, the sun perform
ing its course above the intermediate
parts.
And the pillar which constitutes
the earth. Mr.. Breach, upon what does
that rest %
"Ah," h replied with a smile. that
l cannot say. Job was once humili-
ated by chat question, asked Of GCd,
Where vast tLl5u when | laid the
foundatiCEs of the earth?' Whereup3n
are the foundations thereof f3stened?'
Thus showing conclusivaIy that the
eatth had foundations and wasn't a
revolving body"
Ships have sailed around The
wCrld?" l Queried.
Quite SO. You take a point in nv
disk a ship by continued sailing, /
5ither east CT west, is bound to come
back to the point of starting. She
would have sailed round the world. /
Nothing is clearer
But the fact that you see Il ships +
nasts at sea before the hull?"
AN optical illusion. Believe me. if
proves nCthing. Cape Teneriffe can be
seen hundred and twenty miles. If
he earth were! a globe that cape
should be a mile and thE ee-uuarters /
out of sight.
II SHIPS go cut to sea sailing over
IN orange shaped ocean, he continued. /
they should as oftsn be seen noun /.
ans high above the range of vision as /
hey are constantly seen hull dawn. /
>Wlng tc angular vision We can ONLY I
zee distinctly for three miles. BY tele- |
'cope' the ship will appear again as a /
meet OF glass. I have proved this by |
Ightsh1ps and other things
but at sunrise you see the sun ris- +
Eg out Of the water, if you are up /
7arly enough, and at sunset it dips be- /
ind tbs horizon to the west
Mr. Breach smiled. 1T is. the law
= perspective" he replied. Two par
llIPlS will nj orix-
How do you account for day and
light?'
Easily enough. When the sun is in /
he arc CT the spiral course. which is
.DcVe our arc OF the fiat earth. we have /
lay; when it is in the opposite arc we
Jet night. 1t is foolish to imagine that
ne sun goes underneath the earth, as
1olish as the false teaching that the
arth relates round the sun.
The earth is the gre3tsst Of all
hfIgs created he continued IT
Fi3s created first, is immCvable. and
III other bodies were made for it. Thu
IN was made first of the subsidiary
'cdies to give light to the world
But the sun is Of greater proper
i01?"
No" he said, laughing at my foUy.
Modern astronomers say Sc. but tbsv
Ight the world. Whoever heard of a
ght being made bigger than the place
0 be Lighted? We never carry a. room
ound the candle but always the can
le round the room
The ingenuity and originality of the
rgument silenced me.
All pains are fiat" continued Mr..
'reach. Take the Sahara and the
Emp2s for instance. II you go to ge- ;
!oSy you will find all strata in fiat !
ayers, not in convex, as they would be {
/ a curved body. Look at the case OF !
Iyers- The Nile drops only one foot
l LOCO miles. Rivers canas-t fl w up
i'll, as they would have 20 do in
counting the curvature o. the world
But what excited Mr. Breach even
lore than the globular ''fallacy'' was
lat the earth should be supposed to l
evolve. /
why" he exclaimed, "if the world :
= > = i