THE "GLOBULAR THEORY."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9325, 30 March 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE "GLOBULAR THEORY."

At the Board of Education yesterday afternoon, the following extraordinary letter and circular from John Hampden, of Croydon, England, were read by the chairman :—

Croydon, England, February 4th. Gentlemen, How discreditable it is to the educational professors of your colony that you should be made the dupes of that simpleton Mr. Hoskins. If he will consult Ferguson's Astronomy,published in 1803, he will see the same machines that he pretends to have invented and which may, at this very time, be seen at the principal opticians in London. His patent is not worth the paper on which it is written. But you must all be crazed if you imagine that this earth moves at all, or if it did, that it is by the aid of machinery ! I hereby promise Mr. Hoskins to pay for all his patents if he has proved the fact of gravitation, of the earth's sphericity, of the sun's stationary character, or of any ono of the conditions connected with Newton's solar system. It is au infamous imposition to teach poor children such pagan lies, such unscriptural' fictions, such baseless theories ! And your society ought to insist upon Mr. Hoskins proving the truth of his contrivance. I assert the whole of it to be an infamous fraud. It is just as easy to make a model of a lie as to write it in ink. As for a patent, it is a fraud on the revenue. I pledge myself to pay all his expenses if he will first prove the truth of his pretended motions.—-Yours, &c., John Hampden. The Globular Theory, as Adopted and Formulated by Sir Isaac Newton.—Unless here and there a man can be found of sufficient energy and determination to allow him to enter into conflict with the very scum of the literary world, the knavish cowards and infidel professors of the present day will resort to every possible device to thwart and resist discussion on this particular subject. With a view to open the eyes of the public, the most intelligent of whom have been hitherto bullied into submission to this pagan blasphemy, this execrable and baseless superstition, this satanic device to bring discredit and contempt on the Word of God, the Zetetic Society offers a premium of one hundred guineas for a lucid and impartial description of the origin, progress, and asserted proofs in support of the globular theory; such as will enable any student or intelligent person to give a ready and truthful reply to every inquiry as to his reasons for, or the grounds of liis belief in, the popular or school system of elementary geography. It must include the names and nationalities and authority of its original inventors, the data from whence they started, and the facts on which they relied to establish the truth of their conjectures. And this demonstrable chain of evidence from its earliest introduction up to the present time, must exhibit an ample justification for its universal adoption in all our public and national schools throughout the kingdom. The essay may be of any length, written in clear hand, and addressed to the secretary, Cosmos House, Surrey.—John Hampden, Croydon. Note: No appeal to the ordinary school books will be permitted; but its provable conformity to either Scripture, reason, or facts must be fully established. If these conditions are complied with, the premium will be paid within three weeks from the receipt of the copy. May, 1887.*

It is hardly necessary to say that nothing was done with tho letter, It seems that Hampden has been advocating this theory, that the world is flat, for some 30 years. Many years ago he made a bet of £500 that tho world was flat. A scientist took up the bet, and surveying experiments were made in tho Fen country, which proved that there, at any rate, the world was round. Hampden lost his bet, bnt was not convinced, and has persistently maintained his pancake theory ever since.