"NO SOOTH POLE"

Evening Star, Issue 20422, 1 March 1930, Page 24

"NO SOOTH POLE"

, The ‘ Daily Mail ’ rectify received a cable message with regard to Commander Byrd’s recent South Pole (light from” Mr Wilbur Glenn Voliva, of Zion City, Illinois, United States. Mr Voliva, who as president of the State Hoard of Education gave instructions some time ago for the teaching in all Zion City schools of the theory that the world is Hat and the law of gravitation is a fallacy, stated in his message : “Without any desire to detract from tlio theoretical or practical accomplishments of Commander Byrd and his sturdy comrades, wo say unequivocally that 'Commander Byrd’s Ihght docs not prove the earth to be a globe. Commander Byrd simply Hew to a point which he believes to have been ilOdeg south, and then back to his starting place. According to the pop- ■ ary cm a globular earth OlJtleg south would be the South Polo. But if OOdeg south is any point in a 00,-000-mile circle of ice, winch bounds on the south all the southern seas, then this flight of Commander Byrd’s moans nothing so far as the shape of the earth is concerned. “ Get someone lly round the earth at SUdeg south latitude and prove it to ho the same distance as it is at :VVleg north latitude. “ Few people realise that these distances are found only by theory, and that proof is still lacking' for the theory on which the calculations are based. We are still seeking proof that the earth is a globe. The truth is that the earth is a circular plane.”