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The Open Court of Inquiry. TH E EDITOR. Curvilincation of the Lines of Vision. “ What proof have you that the lines of vision are curved? I ask your kind as sistance that I may comprehend the fol lowing: If the moon is a reflection from the metallic strata constituting the shell of the earth, please explain how rays of light penetrate the opaque substances be tween the strata and the surface. I am asking these questions for my own infor mation on this most interesting subject, and would be grateful for reply.” The idea that rays of light are straight in a universe containing at mospheres— that is, spheres of air, the strata of which are in themselves curved— is on a par with the old idea that an object once set in motion would continue forever in a straight line un less acted upon by some force to change its course or stop its motion. The medium of transmission of light, so far as we see it, is our common air; and as its planes or strata are not flat, rays of light and vision are not straight. The paths or lines of radiation are in the direction of least resistance. But the atmosphere itself is but one of several factors which have to do with the various phenomena of the heavens and the horizon. Perspective and geo- linear foreshortening operate to produce apparent displacement of position of objects seen in the earth and sky. W e may illustrate: Alongside a rail w ay track, perfectly straight for a long distance, place a tube with center aper ture and cross-hair (or a transit instru ment will answer) so that the tube is perfectly parallel with the rail, and at a distance of about eight or ten inches. A t intervals of every hundred yards or so, place horizontal projections across the rail so that they may appear to pro ject to the perpendicular cross-hair. If, then, measurements be made of the length of the projections, they will be found to elongate in proportion to the distance from the point of observation. This is because perspective has operated on the side of the rail, causing the visual lines to curve away from the straight rail. W e may know positively that the visual lines curve, by referring them directly to the surface of the earth. Through a leveled transit instrument, read a point on the staff some distance away— say one mile. If both the transit instrument and the staff be re ferred to the same piece of still water, it will be found that the point read on the staff is higher than the center of the tube of the instrument, to the e x tent of five to seven inches. The ordinary w ay is to suppose that the lines of vision are straight, and that the earth curves downward from the straight line of sight. Thus the idea of the earth’ s convexity is founded upon a guess. First demonstrate the direction of the earth’s curvature, and a foundation is laid not only for as tronomy, but for physics, and all other branches of science. B y the same methods which surveyors employ to “ prove” the earth’ s convexity, we may show that a straight bar curves four different ways at the same time! A very graphic form of demonstra tion of the curvation of the rays of light in our atmosphere is found in the appearance of the tails of comets. Comets are within our sea of air when visible. T h ey are produced by the sunlight passing through the head or lens of the comet; the tail of a comet is the luminous trail of the light after leaving the lens. The tail is often curved, and is alw ays turned away from the sun. Comets are rarely visible, but excellent photographs of them ap pear in text-books on astronomy. Concerning the transmission of the substance of light through the crust of the earth, it has been conclusively shown by means of the X -ray, that ap parently opaque objects may be pene trated— even by the vision, when the X -ray is used. Even photographs are taken through what is termed opaque substances. Eong before the X -ray was discovered, the ultra-penetrable ray found place in the Koreshan Cos mogony. W e see the planets, the mercurial discs in the shell of the earth, by the universal X -ray, as directed from the discs to the planes of energy in the sky. W e look against the planetary mirrors in the sk y and see the discs in the earth. Correspondingly, we are enabled to see the earth from the out side, as it were, in the earth’s lunar picture in the sky, by means of ultra-penetrable rays. They are mud more powerful than can ever be mac; artificially, and are so refined as I pass through materials without struction. 'p & Man as the Great Creator. “ I send you herewith a few creation from the tongue and pen of two of o eminently scienceless teachers. The o by Professor Ostwald is certainly th I limit of human possibility. It would | seem, accordingly, that the Lord is i danger of losing his office, What p tience the Alm ighty must have!” Professor Ostwald, of the University of Leipsic, recently lectured at the Colunrbia University on the resultsoi attempts to create life. The experi ments of Professor Uoeb were carefully detailed; and the Professor hasmadea study of the field so far as invaded by modern empiricists. He ex; greater things than those now accom plished in biology, believing that mar, may create a type of life as high as our domestic animals ; and eventually, something almost akin to man may be evolved. A fter much thought on the | subject, he even announced his bel that man may eventually usurp so® of the functions of the Creator, that a new form of being of the high est type may w alk the earth as a product of advanced science. “ W ho know s,” he says, “ butane* order of hum anity may be created1’ But immediately after the above re m ark, he says: “ Our science is young. Some of the most important branches of chemistry have beet known but tw enty years. We cannot fully explain the facts and phenomena of life; and after all, a living thing is nothing but a system of energy and life. It is but a matter of chemistry." T h is at least shows that the moder. chemist will never perform the work oi the great Creator! But the idea of man as the Creator is not original with Prof. Ostwald. | A ll that has ever been created wai made by man. The Christian gospel reveals the character of the Man who | was God, a Creator who produced r suits w ithout a chemical laboratory. t
The Flaming Sword · Vol. 19, No. 39 · Mar 6, 1906 · PDF p. 12