Zetetic Astronomy, by 'Parallax' (pseud. Samuel Birley Rowbotham), [1881], at sacred-texts.

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p. 99

CHAPTER V.

THE TRUE DISTANCE OF THE SUN.

IT is now demonstrated that the earth is a plane, and therefore the distance of the sun may be readily
and most accurately ascertained by the simplest possible process. The operation is one in plane
trigonometry, which admits of no uncertainty and requires no modification or allowance for
probable influences. The principle involved in the process may be illustrated by the following
diagram, fig. 56.

Click to enlarge
FIG 56.
Let A be an object, the distance of which is desired, on the opposite side of a river. Place a rod
vertically at the point C, and take a piece of strong cardboard, in the shape of a right-angled
triangle, as B, C, D. It is evident that placing the
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triangle to the eye, and looking along the side D, B, the line of sight D, B, H, will pass far to the left
of the object A. On removing the triangle more to the right, to the position E, the line E, F, will still
pass to the left of A; but on removing it again to the right, until the line of sight from L touches or
falls upon the object A, it will be seen that L, A, bears the same relation to A, C, L, as D, B, does to
B, C, D: in other words, the two sides of the triangle B, C, and C, D, being equal in length, so the
two lines C, A, and C, L, are equal. Hence, if the distance from L to C is measured, it will be in
reality the same as the desired distance from C to A. It will be obvious that the same process applied
vertically is equally certain in its results. On one occasion, in the year 1856, the author having
previously delivered a course of lectures in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and this subject becoming
very interesting to a number of his auditors, an invitation was given to meet him on the sea-shore;
and among other observations and experiments, to measure, by the above process, the altitude of the
Nelson's Monument, which stands on the beach near the sea. A piece of thick cardboard was cut in
the form of a right-angled triangle, the length of the two sides being about 8 inches. A fine silken
thread, with a pebble attached, constituted a plumb line, fixed with a pin to one side of the triangle,
as shown at P, . The purpose of this plumb line was to enable the observer to keep the triangle in a
truly vertical position; just as the object of the rod C, in fig. 56 was to enable the base of the triangle
to be kept in one and the same line by looking along from E and L towards C. On looking over the
triangle held vertically, and one side parallel with the plumb line P, from the position A, the line of
sight fell upon the point B; but on walking gradually backwards, the top of the helmet D, on the
head of the figure of Britannia, which surmounts the column, was at length visible
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from the point C. On prolonging the line D, C, to H, by means of a rod, the distance from H to the
centre of the Monument at O, was measured, and the altitude O, D, was affirmed to be
 Click to enlarge
FIG. 57.
the same. But of this no proof existed further than that the principle involved in the triangulation
compelled it to be so. Subsequently the altitude was obtained from a work published in Yarmouth,
and was found to differ only one inch from the altitude ascertained by the simple operation above
described. The foregoing remarks and illustrations are, of course, not necessary to the
mathematician; but may be useful to the general reader, showing him that plane trigonometry,
carried out on the earth's plane or horizontal surface, permits of operations which are simple and
perfect in principle, and in practice fully reliable and satisfactory.
p. 102
The illustrations given above have reference to a fixed object; but the sun is not fixed; and therefore
a modification of the process, but involving the same principle, must be adopted. Instead of the
simple triangle and plumb line, represented in fig. 57, an instrument with a graduated arc must be
employed, and two observers, one at each end of a north and south base line, must at the same
moment observe the under edge of the sun as it passes the meridian; when, from the difference in
the angle observed, and the known length of the base line, the actual distance of the sun may be
calculated. The following case will fully illustrate this operation, as well as its results and
importance:
The distance from London Bridge to the sea-coast at Brighton, in a straight line, is 50 statute miles.
On a given day, at 12 o'clock, the altitude of the sun, from near the water at London Bridge, was
found to be 61 degrees of an arc; and at the same moment of time the altitude from the sea-coast at
Brighton was observed to be 64 degrees of an arc, as shown in fig. 58. The base-line from L to B,
50 measured statute miles; the angle at L, 61 degrees; and the angle at B, 64 degrees. In addition to
the method by calculation, the distance of the under edge of the sun may be ascertained from these
elements by the method called "construction." The diagram, fig. 58, is the above case "constructed;"
that is, the base-line from L to B represents 50 statute miles; and the line L, S, is drawn at an angle
of 61 degrees, and the line B, S, at an angle of 64 degrees. Both lines are produced until they bisect
or cross each other at the point S. Then, with a pair of compasses, measure the length of the base-
line B, L, and see how many times the same length may be found in the line L, S, or B, S. It will be
found to be
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 Click to enlarge
FIG. 58.

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sixteen times, or sixteen times 50 miles, equal to 800 statute miles. Then measure in the same way
the vertical line D, S, and it will be found to be 700 miles. Hence it is demonstrable that the distance
of the sun over that part of the earth to which it is vertical is only 700 statute miles. By the same
mode it may be ascertained that the distance from London of that part of the earth where the sun
was vertical at the time (July 13th, 1870) the above observations were taken, was only 400 statute
miles, as shown by dividing the base-line L, D, by the distance B, L. If any allowance is to be made
for refraction--which, no doubt, exists where the sun's rays have to pass through a medium, the
atmosphere, which gradually increases in density as it approaches the earth's surface--it will
considerably diminish the above-named distance of the sun; so that it is perfectly safe to affirm that
the under edge of the sun is considerably less than 700 statute miles above the earth.

The above method of measuring distances applies equally to the moon and stars; and it is easy to
demonstrate, to place it beyond the possibility of error, so long as assumed premises are excluded,
that the moon is nearer to the earth than the sun, and that all the visible luminaries in the firmament
are contained within a vertical distance of 1000 statute miles. From which it unavoidably follows
that the magnitude of the sun, moon, stars, and comets is comparatively small--much smaller than
the earth from which they are measured, and to which, therefore, they must of necessity be
secondary. and subservient. They cannot, indeed, be anything more than "centres of action,"
throwing down light, and chemical products upon the earth.
 Zetetic Astronomy

Earth Not a Globe

by Parallax (Samuel Birley Rowbotham)
[1881]

Contents Start Reading Page Index Text [Zipped]

Samuel Birley Rowbotham, under the pseudonym 'Parallax', lectured for two decades up and
down Britain promoting his unique flat earth theory. This book, in which he lays out his world
system, went through three editions, starting with a 16 page pamphlet published in 1849 and a
second edition of 221 pages published in 1865. The third edition of 1881 (which had inflated to 430
pages) was used as the basis of this etext.
Rowbotham was an accomplished debater who reputedly steamrollered all opponents, and his
followers, who included many well-educated people, were equally tenacious. One of them, John
Hampden, got involved in a bet with the famous naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace about the flat
earth. An experiment which Hampden proposed didn't resolve the issue, and the two ended up in
court in 1876. The judge ruled against Hampton, who started a long campaign of legal harassment
of Wallace. Rowbotham hints at the incident in this book.
Rowbotham believed that the earth is flat. The contients float on an infinite ocean which somehow
has a layer of fire underneath it. The lands we know are surrounded by an infinite wilderness of ice
and snow, beyond the Antarctic ocean, bordered by an immense circular ice-cliff. What we call the
North Pole is in the center of the earth.
The polar projection of the flat earth creates obvious discrepancies with known geography,
particularly the farther south you go. Figure 54 inadvertantly illustrates this problem. The Zetetic
map has a severly squashed South America and Africa, and Australia and New Zealand in the
middle of the Pacific. I think that by the 19th century people would have noticed if Australia and
Africa were thousands of miles further apart than expected, let alone if Africa was wider than it was
long!
The Zetetic Sun, moon, planets and stars are all only a few hundred miles above the surface of the
earth. The sun orbits the north pole once a day at a constant altitude. The moon is both self-
illuminated and semi-transparent. Eclipses can be explained by some unknown object occulting the
sun or moon. Zetetic cosmology is 'faith-based', based, that is, on a literal interpretation of selected
Biblical quotes. Hell is exactly as advertised, directly below us. Heaven is not a state of mind, it is a
real place, somewhere above us. He uses Ussherian Biblical chronology to mock the concept that
stars could be millions of light years away. He attacks the concept of a plurality of worlds because
no other world than this one is mentioned in the Bible.
Rowbotham never adequately explains his alternative astronomy. If the Copernican theory so
adequately explains planetary motions, why discard it, and what would he use in its place? What is
the sun orbiting around once a day and how does it work like a spotlight, not a 'point source'? If the
moon is self-luminous, what creates its phases? If gravity appears to work here on earth, why
doesn't it apply to the celestial objects just a few hundred miles up?
To make his system work he had to throw out a great deal of science, including the scientific
method itself, using instead what he calls a 'Zetetic' method. As far as I can see this is simply a
license to employ circular reasoning (e.g., the earth is flat, hence we can see distant lighthouses,
hence the earth is flat).
Zetetic Astronomy is a key work of flat-earth thought, just as Donnelly's Atlantis, the Antediluvian
World is still considered required reading on the subject of Atlantis. If you ever have to debate the
flat earth pro or con, this book is a complete agenda of each point that you'll have to argue.
--John Bruno Hare, June 16th, 2005.

Title Page
Preface to the Second Edition
Contents
List of Diagrams
Chapter I. Zetetic and Theoretic Defined and Compared

Chapter II. Experiments Demonstrating the True Form of Standing Water, and
Proving the Earth to be a Plane
Introduction
Experiment 1
Experiment 2
Experiment 3
Experiment 4
Experiment 5
Experiment 6
Experiment 7
Experiment 8
Experiment 9
Experiment 10
Experiment 11
Experiment 12
Experiment 13
Experiment 14
Experiment 15

Chapter III. The Earth No Axial or Orbital Motion

Chapter IV. The True Form and Magnitude of the Earth
Chapter V. The True Distance of the Sun
Chapter VI. The Sun's Motion, Concentric With the Polar Centre
Chapter VII. The Sun's Path Expands and Contracts Daily for Six Months Alternately
Chapter VIII. Cause of Day and Night, Winter and Summer; and the Long Alternations of Light and
Darkness at the Northern Centre
Chapter IX. Cause Of Sunrise And Sunset.
Chapter X. Cause of Sun Appearing Larger When Rising and Setting Than at Noonday
Chapter XI. Cause of Solar and Lunar Eclipses
Chapter XII. The Cause of Tides
Chapter XIII. The Earth's True Position in the Universe; Comparatively Recent Formation; Present
Chemical Condition; and Approaching Destruction by Fire

Chapter XIV. Examination of the So-Called ''Proofs'' of the Earth's Rotundity

Why a Ship's Hull Disappears Before the Mast-Head
Perspective on the Sea
On the Dimensions of Ocean Waves
How The Earth Is Circumnavigated
Loss of Time on Sailing Westward
Declination of the Pole Star
The ''Dip Sector.''
Variability of Pendulum Vibrations
Arcs of the Meridian
Sphericity Inevitable From Semi-Fluidity
Degrees of Longitude
''Spherical Excess''
Theodolite Tangent
Tangential Horizon
Stations and Distances
Great Circle Sailing
Motion of Stars North and South
Continued Daylight in the Extreme South
Analogy in Favour of Rotundity
Lunar Eclipse a Proof of Rotundity
The Supposed Manifestation of the Rotation of the Earth
Railways, and ''Earth's Centrifugal Force''
Deflection of Falling Bodies
Goose Roasting by Revolving Fire
Difference in Solar and Sidereal Times
Stations and Retrogradation of Planets
Transmission of Light
Precession of the Equinoxes
The Planet Neptune
Moon's Phases
Moon's Appearance
Moon Transparent
Shadows on the Moon
Conclusion

Chapter XV. General Summary--Application--Cui Bono

''Parallax'' and his Teachings: Opinions of the Press
General Index
List of Works, Newspapers, Periodicals, Published Correspondence, and Scripture Texts Referred to
or Quoted From