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.
EDITOR FLAMING SWORD:—If your theory of the shape of the world is correct, it will follow that plumb-lines will approach each other at the top, instead of at the bottom, or at the surface of the earth.
I do not know whether you have tried the experiment, but would it not be a good idea to drop two plumb-lines, say on fine steel wires, with heavy plumbs, from the highest building or tower that can be found on or in the earth, and then measure the distance between the lines at the top and the bottom? Would it not be possible that a finely graduated scale would show whether these lines are diverging from the earth or diverging toward the earth? If you have already tried this experiment, please let me know the result; and if you have not tried it, what do you think of its feasibility?—D. W. R., Greenville, Tex.
If the earth were convex, perpendiculars would diverge from the earth, and would consequently be farther apart at the top than at the bottom; on the concave basis, two radii of the earth's diameter would of course be farther apart at the bottom than at the top. This would be a geometrical and physical certainty.
A plumb line, perfectly free from all disturbances, horizontal attractions and oscillations, hangs perpendicularly, and always at right angles to the horizontal; but the question of testing the shape of the earth by suspending two plumb-lines from a high tower in close proximity, involves points which escape those who have given the subject only superficial thought.
It has been demonstrated hundreds of times that there is a mutual attraction existing between atoms of matter, and consequently, between two bodies left free to swing in the direction of the energies of attraction generated in the bodies. That which keeps the atoms of a piece of chalk together is called cohesion; destroy this force by a blow, and the chalk is reduced to powder. Cohesion is the strongest force of attraction; but there are other qualities of forces of attraction. Place two pith balls in a bowl of water and they will move toward each other until they come in contact. The well-known experiments of Cavendish and others with suspended leaden balls showed a perceptible movement of the balls free to swing horizontally. Suspended plumbs, made of any material, would be attracted out of the true direction of the perpendicular, and would therefore vitiate the value of the experiment as a test of the earth's shape.
Another difficulty in such an experiment would be to detect the difference of direction of the plumb-lines. We have had such experiments suggested to us scores of times before, and have ascertained by calculation the ratio of divergence of the earth's radii. Two straight lines extending from the center of a sphere 8,000 miles in diameter, and diverging 12 inches in 4,000 miles, would diverge at the ratio of 568 billionths of an inch per foot, or 284 millionths of an inch in 500 feet. Between the top and bottom of two plumb-lines suspended from an altitude of 500 feet, there would exist a difference of only 284 millionths of an inch; and if this infinitesimal space could be accurately measured, to the exclusion of all horizontal attractions and oscillations, the lines would be found to be farther apart at the bottom. If two plumb-lines were suspended 500 feet apart, from an altitude of 500 feet, the difference would be only 142 thousandths of an inch; but it would be impossible to measure the distance between the top of two such towers.
So far as we know, the Koreshan Geodetic Staff has performed the only experiments with levels and plumb-lines ever made in the history of the world, in view of determining the contour of the earth's surface. These experiments were made in connection with the Florida Geodetic Survey, wherein we relate by mechanical means, two points on the meridian, 2½ miles apart. The particulars of this survey are given in the CELLULAR COSMOGONY. Geodetically, we determined that this surface of the earth is concave, and also that the perpendiculars at the beginning and end of the arc measured converged above the earth's surface at a distance of about 4,000 miles. Our methods of test involved points of scientific accuracy; the length of the arc measured was sufficient to show an appreciable and measurable divergence of the plumb-lines. Our plumb-line experiments were conducted on a large scale, and were obviously far more satisfactory than those proposed, in which the divergence of the lines would be too small to be measured.
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.
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The Flaming Sword · Vol. 13, No. 41 · · PDF p. 12