Abstract
IN your number for July 14th, after publishing an ex parte statement, you ask, “Will nothing stop Parallax's mouth?” I hope you will allow me to say, in your next issue, that only one thing can operate in doing so! That one thing is a practical experiment fairly conducted, honestly reported, and logically applied. Your readers will notice that although my signature (Parallax) is appended to the “copy of agreement,” it does not appear in the “copy of certificate,” and it is proper they should know the reason. It had been agreed that the flags should be fixed in my presence, and that the spirit-level employed should be in good working order and to my satisfaction in every respect. On arriving at the “scene of operations” at the appointed time, I found that the flags had been fixed, and that the spirit-level had been adjusted for some time before my arrival. I immediately protested, and demanded that I and the friends with me should go and measure the altitude of each flag, but an obstinate resistance was offered to this, and also to any interference with the adjustment of the “level.” I therefore at once declined to be longer present, and returned to Norwich, where the whole matter was exposed at a public meeting. Notwithstanding the manifest injustice of the attempt, and my refusal to have anything to do with it the moment I discovered its unfairness, these wise and clever and very just Newtonians would have the world believe that they had once and for ever settled the question of the earth's true form and magnitude. Such tricks are unworthy of the cause, and the men who can condescend to deal in them can do no real service to the school to which they belong.
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Parallax. The Rotundity of the Earth. Nature 2, 236 (1870). https://doi.org/10.1038/002236b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/002236b0
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