Daily National Intelligencer

COMMUNICATION.

THE NEW THEORY OF THE EARTH

"Earth, on whose lap a thousand nations tread,
And ocean, brooding his prolific bed;
Night's changeful orb, blue pole and silvery zones,
Where other worlds encircle other suns;
One mind inhabits; one diffusive soul
Wields the large limbs, and mingles with the whole."

MESSRS. EDITORS:

I send you an extract of a letter from a friend, on the new theory of the earth. By giving it a place in the Intelligencer, you will gratify a number of your friends. The theory of hollow globes with open poles is equally hostile to the prejudices of the ignorant and the hypotheses of the learned. Its advocates, however, are on the increase. It is mortifying to the pride of science that more discoveries have been made by untaught geniuses than by regular savans.

RITTENHOUSE.

Ontario county, N. Y. Sept. 25.

At the time when the Scriptures inform us that the earth was "without form and void," the Almighty, in order to give form and comeliness to this mass of matter, and to make it a fit abode for countless myriads of living creatures, saw fit to give it motion, and, without doubt, to be governed by the immutable laws consequent on motion. Motion excited that strong natural power called the centrifugal force, that has a tendency to throw matter outwards in a tangent, (which you have seen so strikingly exemplified by my artificial globe;) which power, operating on the matter of which this earth is composed, went on enlarging and expanding it, until it met with an opposing force, called the centripetal power or gravity, that was, and is, of sufficient power, thro' the rotary motion of the earth, to give it that spherical form which it now has. Our earth has at length become completely balanced between these two great opposing forces. Its parts are now so completely joined, so perfectly consolidated, that we may rest in perfect security from those great irruptions and earthquakes with which the earth was shaken in ancient times. Earthquakes, more extensive and tremendous than any on record, must have happened to this globe after it was capable of supporting animal life. This is verified by the innumerable quantities of the bones of animals, shells, &c. that are now found in the bosom of the earth. These animals must have been buried instantly by violent irruptions; for, if they had died and remained on or near the surface, their bones must have been decomposed by the united effects of heat, air, and moisture, long before they could settle, or be covered any depth, by any natural means. After viewing and demonstrating the mighty and powerful force of the centrifugal power, (as any one may do on my artificial globe,) I am irresistibly led to the conclusion, that the earth must be hollow, the shell not of very great thickness, and open at the poles; the concavity nearly in exact conformity to the convexity of it. And, sir, it is not so much for us to believe it hollow in this enlightened age, as it was for our ancestors to believe it round. When we see every part and portion of our earth teeming with life in such vast variety, we are naturally led to enquire, if such be the shape of our earth, is not the hollow inhabited? We may answer, no, if perpetual darkness reigns there. But cannot the inside be as well lighted and warmed by the sun as the outside? You must be well aware of the facilities which the declination of the poles present-the greater volume of the sun, and the immense difference between his rays striking a concave surface, instead of a convex one. I will here mention an experiment that I lately made with my artificial globe; it may tend to elucidate many intricate and important points in natural philosophy. I put some fine dust in the hollow of the artificial globe. I then put the globe in quick motion. I soon found the dust flying out at the poles, exactly at the centre of it, at the stillest part of motion. I had formerly observed that there was considerable air carried round with the globe when in motion. It then occurred to me that it was not impossible that air and other invisible fluids might be carried in at the poles, close at the surface, and thrown out at the centre, the stillest part of motion. By means of the dust I found the result to be as I had anticipated. The natural laws that govern small things, must govern large ones. In that case we may conjecture some invisible fluid that is passing from the equator to the poles, may have the power of pulling round the magnet in its passage, partly on the same principle that we see the weather-cock by the wind: and the fact of the great variation of the needle in high latitudes seems to favor the idea, as the fluid must in that case be carried round when entering the poles, similar to water in a tunnel. This fluid may afterwards be thrown out at the stillest part of motion at the poles, to a great distance in space, where it may catch the sun's rays, and refract them; which will turn them out of their direct course, in the same manner as water, which occasions an apparent crook in a stick held perpendicularly in it when the sun shines. By this theory of the earth, many of the hitherto inexplicable appearances on it are easily and naturally explained: instead of its being a matter of wonder that the surface of our earth is so uneven, it will be a matter of surprise that it is not more uneven. Our mountains, being composed of heavier materials than our plains, would, as a matter of course, be thrown higher. And the inconsistency of the old theory will be seen, of water being carried, by vapor or by rains, to the highest hills, and there form reservoirs to supply the springs below, aqueduct fashion!-a theory with which not even its supporters are satisfied. The truth is, that water, on uneven ground, never sinks into the earth at best but a few feet; it runs down its sides. In no way can the cause of the multitude of the never-failing springs of water be so rationally explained as by their being forced up by the strength of the centrifugal force, excited by the motion of the earth. I will venture to predict, that, in less than half a century, it will not be considered so difficult, nor so cold a voyage, to go directly through the polar ices into the interior as it is to follow the coast, in the arctic region, Archangel, in Russia. Future navigators will look for continents under our oceans, and for oceans under our continents, where they will see the wisdom of God displayed by their continents being watered, by the aid of the centripetal power, from our oceans, and our continents, by the aid of the centrifugal power, from their oceans."