Extracted text
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 Koreshan Cosmogony does not ignore any of the facts taught in other systems of cosmogony; it simply adds more facts to those already ascertained. Measurement has proven the earth to be about 25,000 miles in circumference; this is one fact with which to deal. A peeled orange measures about ten inches around; the peeling of that same orange on its white or inside surface also measures ten inches, does it not? Now, suppose the earth to be like the orange peel instead of the orange; could it not measure 25,000 miles in circumference on its inside surface? A circumference (circum means about or around) of 25,000 miles is possible, for either a convex or a concave surface. What, then, is there to prove that the earth is like the orange, or the orange peel, or that it is a solid globe inhabited on the outside, or a hollow sphere inhabited in the inside?
The ship disappearing hull first over a convex bulge of the earth would demonstrate the direction of curvature, if, with the aid of a telescope, the ship could be brought entirely into view again, which is a fact ignored by the Copernican system of cosmogony believed in today. Of course, Copernicus did not use a telescope in his day, for Galileo had not yet invented one; so there was more excuse for his making the error of thinking the earth convex, than there is for modern cosmogonists.
With a circumference of 25,000 miles, there is a curvature of about eight inches to the mile; but in two miles it does not curve sixteen inches, as one might hastily conclude, but rather, thirty-two inches, which is just square the distance times eight inches. It is a geometrical fact, that to find the amount of curvature the distance must be squared. For experimentation, place a paper over the face of a clock from XII to II, and call that one mile; only one half of the figure I will be visible. Then place the paper from XII to IV, which would represent two miles, and the height of two I's is visible just midway from XII to IV.
In six miles the earth has a curvature of twenty-four feet. At that distance, providing the observer's eye was about six or seven feet above the water's surface, a fair sized vessel would be hidden by the intervening bulge, would it not? Well, it is not; and furthermore, it is seen for many miles beyond, with the aid of a telescope. If the earth curved convexly, this would be an impossibility. Yet it is not flat, for Magellan's expedition, as long ago as 1521, proved the earth's rotundity by circumnavigating or sailing around it. Starting from Spain, his fleet (pursuing a westerly course) finally reached Spain again. Then this earth of ours must be like the orange peel, and we dwell on its inside surface.
Why the ship disappears hull first, also other questions relative to the Koreshan Cosmogony, will be discussed for the younger readers. Remember to inquire of your teachers, parents, and of navigators, why the ship can be brought to view with a telescope, after it should be hidden (according to so called scientists) by the bulge of the earth. Ask any questions of THE FLAMING SWORD that may arise, and make some experiments yourself, if it is possible.
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The source scans remain the record. This page preserves the periodical's argument and reported observations without presenting its conclusions as independently established results. The claims remain attributed to The Flaming Sword.
The Flaming Sword · Vol. 24, No. 5 · May 1910 · PDF p. 20