Mohave County miner., 1899-10-14
Flat, Says Mr.. Breach.

of the leading American universities
and colleges, seeking to enlist them OF
his side in an argument that is just
now exercising the greatest mines il
England, namely, the question of tht
earth's shape. So ingenious are thu
arguments advanced by Mr.. Breach
that the man who calls on him in /,
scotfing mood comes away rather per
turbed in mind to find that he is hall
persuaded to believe there is some.
thing in the fiat earth theory after all
The talk | had with Mr.. Breach, sup
plemented by the information con-
tanned in the letters to the American
professors, gave me comprehensive
idea of the subtle reasonings which I'M
derlie the easy conversational argu-
ments of Mr.. Breach. To givet grist
of these arguments, Mr.. Breach's idea
is that the earth is central and the
greatest object in the universe, that its
surface is the top of colossal pillar,
its mountains and hollows forming ex-
crescences and indentations as on the
top of a Madeira cake; that this top
surface of the monstrous pillar is cir
cular in shape, and that above-a mere
matter of only 5000 miles or so distant
floats crystal sea, circular and CO.
extensive with the earth's surface,
through which we behold the celestial
bodies revolving in one plane The
north is the center. The south is the
circumference all the way around.
There is perpetual ice at the north cen
ter and at the south, the sun perform
ing its course above the intermediate
points.
"And the pillar which constitutes
the earth, Mr.. Breach, upon what does
that rest?"
"Ah," he replied, with a smile, "that
| cannot say. Job was once humiliated
by that question asked of God: "Where
vast thou when / laid the foundation
of the earthg Whereupon are the foun-
dations thereof fastened? Thus show
ing conclusively that the earth had
foundations and wasn't revolving
body"
"Ships have sailed round the world?"
/ Iquerried. "Quite so. A ship by con-
tinued sailing either east or 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 ships
masts at sea before the hull?"
"An optical illusion. Believe me, it
proves nothing. Cape Teneriffe can
be seen 10 miles. If the earth we're a
globe the cape should be a mile and
three-quarters out of sight.
"lf ships go out to sea sailing over
an orange-shaped ocean," he continued,
"they should as often be seen mount
ing high above the range of vision as
they are constantly seen hulls down,
owing to angular vision. We can only
see distinctly for three miles. By tel
escope the ship will appear again as
on sheet of glass. have proved this
by lightships and other things"
"But at sunrise you see the sun ris-
ing out of the water, if you are up
early enough, and at sunset it dips be-
hind the horizon to the west?"
Mr.. Breach smiled. ut is the law of
perspective" he replied. 1.-TWO paral-
lels will meet at given point"
"How do you account for day and
night?"
Easily enough. When the sun is in
the arc of the spiral course, which is
above our arc of the fiat earth, we have
day; when it is in the opposite arc we
get night. 1t is foolish to imagine that
the sun goes underneath the earth, as
foolish as the false teachings that the
earth rotates round the SUM-"
"The earth is the greatest of all
things created" he continued. at was
created first, is immovable and all 9TH
er bodies were made for it. The sun
was made first of the subsidiary bodies
TO give light to the world"
"But the sun is of greater propor-
tion?" ,
"No," he said, laughing at my folly.
Modern astronomers say so, but they
are wrong. God created the sun to
light the world. Whoever heard of the
light being made bigger than the place
TO be lighted? We never carry room