The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-27
HEAT OF TEMPERATE ZONE
c. A. BOwsHER SAYS 1T is GREATER
THAN AT THE EQUATOR.
New System of Geography and n New
Philosophy Advanced by Him
Teachers Institute.

The regular course Of instruction at the
Marion County Teachers Institute that is
being held in the Criminal Court room was
broken into yesterday with address by
c. A Bowsher, of Champaign, H., on
new system of geography. He used a globe,
mounted on a mechanical device so that 1t
would revolve, to demonstrate his new
ideas His system completely revolutionizes
the method of studying geography, and
many of his statements were startling to
the educators, but, nevertheless, they were
borne out by the demonstrations on the
globe. Mr.. Bowsher declared that geogra-
ply is taught to-day on the same lines il
was when people thought the world was
fiat. Since ii was discovered that the world
is round, he said, the old flat geography"
had been adhered to and it is time to
begin the study of round geography"
Perhaps the most important statement he
made was that the equator is not the hot
test part of the globe. He said the hottest
part of the globe is about the fortieth par
allel or latitude, where civilization and
vegetation are found in their highest
stages. The hotter the climate, he said,
the greater the intelligence and capabili-
ties of man and the finer the vegetation.
The ability of man and the quality of vege-
tation, he said, depended upon energy, and
since energy emanates from the rays of
the sun the maximum degree of civilization
exists in the temperate zones, where the
heat Is greatest. He said the reason this
fact had not been discovered was because
mathematics had not been applied to geog-
raphy.
With the aid of his globe he demonstrated
why the temperate zones hottest. On
the equator, he said, there is only a twelve
hour day, and the accumulated heat is off
set by the twelve-hour night, when the sun
does not shine. In the temperate zone he
said, the summer days are fifteen hours
long and hence receive the suns rays three
hours longer than the torrid zone. Then
the temperate zone has a nine-hour night
SO that there is three hours less in which
TO OFFSET the heat of the sun than in the
torrld zone, giving the temperate zone in
all an advantage of six hours. He said
the accumulat ton of heat must be consid-
ered instead of what appears to be true on
the face of the map at first glance. He
said corn requires perhaps the greatest
amount or heat energy in vegetation, and
that is why it grows more luxuriously in
temperate zones. He said the reason corn
would not grow in the torrid zone was be-
cause there Is not enough heat.
ENERGY IN FOOD.
Wherever the greatest amount OF food
stuffs grow that contain the greatest
amount of energy or nourishment for man,
there will be found the highest civilization.
He said that bananas contained about one
fourth the amount of energy that corn pos
SeSSSS anu d man III the lOTTlQ zone would
have to stuff himself with four times as
much food of that kind as he would of
corn to gain an equal amount of strength
and energy. 1t is the nature of the food
and its lack of energy which cause people
living In the torrid zone to become lazy, he
said rather than from living in what is
commonly considered a warmer climate
lie said civilization can never be advanced
as far on any part of the earth as in the
temperate zone and about the fortieth par
allel, Tor the reason that other parts do not
receive the same heat energy.
While he did not mention il in his adj
dress, Mr.. BOwsher goes further with his
ideas than merely a study of geogra ply.
He says ii reveals a new philosophy which
! will eventually lead 10 a solution of the
perpleXing problems encountered by man
Where man came from, what ne is and
thousand other similar questions he saws
are too deep for the educators and thinkers
OF to-day, but he believes this new philos-
ophy will unravel the problem He SAYS
the time is coming when things will be
measured by units of energy. Then, he
says, questions of economics, labor and So
ciety Will be better understood and labor
contests and Industrial warfare viii be no
more. The reason civilization has advanced
in the United States above all other cOun-
tries, he sal l. is because Americans live in
a zone where nature gives them greater
energy and they have conducted that en-
| ergy into machinery.
Mr. BOwsher has been working on his
new philosophy and system of geography
about four years. He says the thinking
men of to-day are business men, and that
they are uncOnsciously considering some of
! the same ideas he is now advancing. Since
| he Inquired out his new geography and APP
| piled IL 10 philosophy he has addressed a
| number OF schools. teachers Institutes and
commercial bodies. talking to the latter
| along Philosophical and economic lines.