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Question as to What Constitutes Proof of Modern Astronomy; Prof. Totten's Appeal to Mathematical Coincidences; Evidences that the Earth is Not a Planet.
PROF. U. G. MORROW.
THE CONCLUSIONS of modern astronomers are founded upon the premise that the earth is a convex body, with a diurnal rotation on its axis, and with an annual revolution about the sun. This premise has not only not been proven, but scientific men disagree as to what department the burden of proof that the earth is really a planet, belongs. We place in contrast two definite statements concerning the same subject. One is by Astronomer Russell, of England, page 97 of his work, "Wonders of the Sun, Moon, and Stars": "It belongs to geography to teach and prove that the earth is round, or globular, or spherical, remotely resembling an orange in shape. The proof is very easy and conclusive beyond all doubt." The other is by Prof. Totten, the noted chronologist, who occasionally deals with astronomical subjects with some pretension as to accuracy: "The earth is round all about, like all the other planets in this solar system. This is not proved so much by geography as by astronomy. The lunar eclipse gives us the most potent evidence of the planetary character of the orb on which we live, and the telescope, by revealing what the other planets are, how they move, revolve, and rotate, tells us the rest."
The reason Prof. Totten takes this position, is because The Flaming Sword has taught him that the disappearing ship's hull does not prove the convexity of the earth—and he frankly admits that it does not. He has learned that the hull disappears in accordance with the laws of perspective foreshortening, and that the telescope restores it to view again; but his avenue of escape from the conclusion that the earth is not convex is in the conception that "this, too, will be true even on a curved surface, whether the earth is convex or concave." Having admitted that the main so called proof of the earth's convexity is without actual weight, he looks to astronomy to support itself without a basic premise within reach of accurate test. He virtually asks his readers to accept, as evidence, the apparent harmony of mathematical calculations, founded primarily upon a "proof" which he has now abandoned as inconclusive.
Prof. Totten makes an appeal from the court of terrestrial inquiry, to that of the fancied harmony of mathematical calculations—to Bode's law or scheme of ratios of planetary distances from the sun. Bode's scheme embodies the unexplained mathematical necessity of adding 4 to each of the numbers 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, etc., doubling after the second, to the end of nine "terms," thus making a progressive series of 4, 7, 10, 16, 28, etc., which, divided by 10, give the calculated mean distances of the planets from the sun, in terms of the radius of the earth's orbit. The plan makes the earth occupy one of these terms (that of 10); there would be an open space for one term of the series, unless the earth is considered as a planet; and the assertion is made that "its term cannot be eliminated from the sequence without destroying it, any more than we can omit the fourth term of the binomial formula, and maintain that it preserves its integrity."
If Bode's law were worth anything, it would fix the mean distance of each planet from the sun in terms of definite miles with invariable accuracy. It is because it does not do this, even from the basis of the calculated distances, that we deny its integrity. It destroys itself by not conforming to the results of calculation from the modern astronomical standpoint. It is not in accord with the results of calculation in a single instance, but manifests discrepancies of from over 1,000,000 miles on the distance of Mercury (over 7,000,000 on Mars; 42,000,000 on Saturn; 38,000,000 on Uranus,) to over 800,000,000 miles on that of Neptune! So utterly useless is Bode's law, that Prof. Young, the noted astronomer of Princeton, asserts that it is only approximately correct for the majority of the planets, while "in the case of Neptune it breaks down utterly, and is not even approximately correct. For the present, at least, the law is to be regarded as a mere coincidence." We hold that if the "law" fails in the case of Neptune (which was not known at the time of the discovery of Bode's law), it is not sufficiently important in principle to require that the earth shall actually occupy the space of the third term of the series. If it were absolutely necessary that the planets should occupy such terms because of a coincidence in the arrangement of numbers, the orbits of all the satellites would necessarily have to conform to them; but it is obvious to the astronomical mind that they do not.
The Earth is Not a Planet.
It is better to depend upon the rhythmic harmony of universal law than to rely upon a series of numbers which does not fit that to which it is desired to apply. The classing of the earth as a planet violates all laws of analogy, the meaning of words, and the rhythm of the sevens. Language, which is just as natural as man himself, is not to be lightly set aside. The idea that the earth constitutes the basis and limit of the universe, has found place in the language, if not in the conception, of the enlightened nations of the world; and certainly, the ancients maintained this conclusion. That which belongs to the earth, or the people of the earth as a whole, is said to be universal. There have been universal empires, universal languages, universal systems of philosophy, and universal religions; we speak of universal progress and universal fame, though the things and conditions do not extend beyond the earth itself. The word universal in such instances is correctly applied, else language is neither natural nor scientific.
The earth is not classed as a planet in practical astronomy nor astrology, either ancient or modern; and the Bible itself makes the earth the basis of the heavens—for the heavens are "heaved-up things." The heavens are to the earth what the mind is to the human body; they are lifted up in static balance by levic force. It is a remarkable fact that in the language of practical astronomy, there is no such thing as the conjunction of the earth with any heavenly body, for the simple reason that the earth is not a heavenly body! The astronomical definition of the word conjunction is "the meeting of two or more stars or planets in the same degree of the Zodiac;" hence, conjunctions may be observed, and the position of the bodies located in the constellations. There is no other application of the astronomical term. It would be utterly absurd to speak of the earth as having a certain celestial longitude or right ascension!
Koreshan Astronomy maintains that the ecliptic is universal; that it is the orbit of the sun in his annual motion; that the line extends through the twelve constellations of the Zodiac in fact, not merely in appearance; and that the movements of the sun, moon, and planets in this Zodiacal belt indicate seasons and cycles which belong to the divine order of the propagation of life and manifestations. The very powers of the heavens recognize that the Zodiacal movements and precessions are in accordance with corresponding movements along the ecliptic of human development—the path of the divine Sun. Nineteen hundred years ago, when the signs and constellations were in unison—when the sign Aries (the ram or lamb) was in the constellation Aries, the Lamb of God was born into the world of humanity. These signs speak the language of divine creation, and their movements are inseparably linked by principles of universal law, to the processes of divine progress. Chronology itself, by which we may know the length of divine cycles and dispensations, is in the terms of the earth's time, measured by the sun and moon, by eclipse teams, and by solar and planetary precessions.
The harmony of these relations and the meaning of these symbols and signs are manifest in the mathematical rhythm and order of the dispensations; they are universal in application; but they could not obtain in other worlds having different periods of rotation and revolution; with Zodiacs embracing different constellations, and with different suns having different precessional cycles. The one sun of the only physical cosmos is the fitting celestial symbol of the one Creator and Luminary of the only world of man. Deity expresses himself perfectly in the complex system of existence environed by the earth, the great cell of universal, eternal perpetuity—and there can be no more.
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Editorial transcription, lightly normalized from the scan. Line-break hyphenation, spacing, capitalization, and unmistakable OCR errors have been repaired; the claims remain those of The Flaming Sword.
The Flaming Sword · Vol. 16, No. 6 · 27 Dec. 1901 · PDF pp. 5-6