CHAPTER XLIX.
OSCILLATING THROUGH SPACE.- EARTH'S SHELL ABOVE ME?.
Continued my companion:
" We have just now crossed the line of gravitation. We were drawn downward
until at a certain point, to which I called your attention at the time, we
recently crossed the curved plane of perfect rest, where gravity ceases, and by
our momentum are now passing beyond that plane, and are now pressing against the
bond of gravitation again. This shell in which gravity centers is concentric
with that of the earth's exterior, and is about seven hundred miles below its
surface. Each moment of time will now behold us carried farther from this sphere
of attraction, and thus the increasing distance increases the force, of the
restraining influence. Our momentum is thus retarded, and consequently the
rapidity of our motion is continually decreasing. At last when the forces of
gravitation and mass motion neutralize each other, we will come to a state of
rest again. When our motion in this direction ceases, however, gravitation,
imperishable, continues to exert its equalizing influence, the result being a
start in the opposite direction, and we will then reverse our course, and
retrace our path, crossing again the central band of attraction, to retreat and
fly to the opposite side of the power of greater attraction, into the expanse
from which we came, and that is now above us."
" Can this oscillation ever end? Are we to remain thus, as an unceasing
pendulum, traversing space, to and fro across this invisible shell of attraction
from now until the end of time?"
" No; there are influences to prevent such an experience; one being the
friction of the attenuated atmosphere into which we plunge each time that we
cross the point of greater gravity, and approach the crust of the earth. Thus
each succeeding vibration is in shorter lines, and at last we will come to a
state of perfect rest at the center of gravity."
" I can only acquiesce in meek submission, powerless even to argue, for I
perceive that the foundations for my arguments must be based on those observed
conditions of natural laws formerly known to me, and that do not encompass us
here; I accept, therefore, your statements as I have several times heretofore,
because I can not refute them. I must close my eyes to the future, and accept it
on faith; I cease to mourn the past, I can not presage the end."
" Well spoken," he replied; " and while we are undergoing this
necessary delay, this oscillating motion, to which we must both submit before we
can again continue our journey, I will describe some conditions inherent in the
three spheres of which the rind of the earth is composed, for I believe that you
are now ready to receive and profit by facts that heretofore you would have
rejected in incredulity.
" The outer circle, coat, or contour, of which you have heard others
besides myself speak, is the surface crust of our globe, the great sphere of
land and water on which man is at present an inhabitant. This is the exposed
part of the Earth, and is least desirable as a residence. It is affected by
grievous atmospheric changes, and restless physical conditions, such as men, in
order to exist in, must fortify against at the expense of much bodily and mental
energy, which leads them, necessarily, to encourage the animal at the expense of
the ethereal. The unmodified rays of the sun produce aerial convulsions that are
marked by thermal contrasts, and other meteorological variations, during which
the heat of summer and the cold of winter follow each other periodically and
unceasingly. These successive solar pulsations generate winds, calms, and
storms, and in order to protect himself against such exposures and changes in
material surroundings, man toils, suffers, and comes to believe that the doom,
if not the object, of life on earth is the preservation of the earthy body. All
conditions and phases of nature on this outer crust are in an angry struggle,
and this commotion envelops the wretched home, and governs the life of man. The
surrounding cyclones of force and matter have distorted the peaceful side of
what human nature might be until the shortened life of man has become a
passionate, deplorable, sorrowful struggle for physical existence, from the
cradle to the grave. Of these facts man is practically ignorant, although each
individual is aware he is not satisfied with his condition. If his afflictions
were obvious to himself, his existence would be typical of a life of desolation
and anguish. You know full well that the condition of the outer sphere is, as I
have described it, a bleak, turbulent surface, the roof of the earth on which
man exists, as a creeping parasite does on a rind of fruit, exposed to the fury
of the ever-present earth storms.
The central circle, or medial sphere, the shell, or layer of gravitation, lies
conformably to the outer configuration of the, globe, about seven hundred miles
towards its center. It stretches beneath the outer circle ( sphere ) as a
transparent sheet, a shell of energy, the center of gravitation. The material
crust of the earth rests on this placid sphere of vigor, excepting in a few
places, where, as in the crevice we have entered, gaps, or crevices, in matter
exist, beginning from near the outer surface and extending diagonally through
the medial and inner spheres into the intra-earth space beyond. This medial
sphere is a form of pure force, a disturbance of motion, and although without
weight it induces, or conserves, gravity. It is invisible to mortal eyes, and is
frictionless, but really is the bone of the earth. On it matter, the retarded
energy of space, space dust, has arranged itself as dust collects on a bubble of
water. This we call matter. The material portion of the earth is altogether a
surface film, an insignificant skin over the sphere of purity, the center of
gravitation. Although men naturally imagine that the density and stability of
the earth are dependent on the earthy particles, of which his own body is a
part, such is not the case ... Earth, as man upon the outer surface can now know
it, is an aggregation of material particles, a shell resting on this globular
sphere of medial force, which attracts solid matter from both the outer and
inner surfaces of earth, forming thereby the middle of the three concentric
spheres. This middle sphere is the reverse of the outer, or surface, layer in
one respect, for, while it attracts solids, gases are repelled by it, and thus
the atmosphere becomes less dense as we descend from the outer surfaces of the
earth.
The greater degree of attraction for gases belongs, therefore, to the earth's
exterior surface."
" Exactly at the earth's exterior surface ?" I asked.
" Practically so. The greatest density of the air is found a few miles
below the surface of the ocean; the air becomes more attenuated as we proceed in
either direction from that point. Were this not the case, the atmosphere that
surrounds the earth would be quickly absorbed into its substance, or expand into
space and disappear."
" Scientific men claim that the atmosphere is forty-five geographical miles
in depth over the earth's surface," I said.
" If the earth is eight thousand miles in diameter, how long
would such an atmosphere, a skin only, over a great ball, resist
such attraction, and remain above the globe? Were it really
attracted towards its center- it would disappear as a film of water sinks into a
sponge."
" Do you know," I interrupted, " that if these statements were
made to men they would not be credited? Scientific men have calculated the
weights of the planets, and have estimated therefrom the density of the earth,
showing it to be solid, and knowing its density, they would, on this
consideration alone, discredit your story concerning the earth shell."
" You mistake, as you will presently see. It is true that man's ingenuity
has enabled him to ascertain the weights and densities of the planets, but do
you mean to say that these scientific results preclude the possibility of a
hollow interior of the heavenly bodies?"
" I confess, I do."
" You should know then, that what men define as density of the earth, is
but an average value, which is much higher than that exhibited by materials in
the surface layers of the earth crust, such as come within the scrutiny of man.
This fact allows mortals of upper earth but a vague conjecture as to the nature
of the seemingly much heavier substances that exist in the interior of the
earth. Have men any data on hand to show exactly how matter is distributed below
the limited zone that is accessible to their investigations?"
" I think not."
" You may safely accept, then, that the earth shell I have described to you
embraces in a compact form the total weight of the earth. Even though men take
for granted that matter fills out the whole interior of our planet, such
material would not, if distributed as on Earth's surface, give the earth the
density he has determined for it."
" I must acquiesce in your explanations."
" Let us now go a step further in this argument. What do you imagine is the
nature of those heavier substances whose existence deep within the Earth is
suggested by the exceedingly high total density observed by man on upper
Earth?"
" I am unable to explain, especially as the materials surrounding us here,
seemingly, do not differ much from those with which my former life experience
has made me acquainted."
" Your observation is correct, there is no essential difference in this
regard. But as we are descending into the interior of this globe, and are
approaching the central seat of the shell of energy, the opposing force into
which we plunge becomes correspondingly stronger, and as a consequence, matter
pressed within it becomes really lighter. Your own experience about your weight
gradually disappearing during this journey should convince you of the
correctness of this fact."
" Indeed, it does," I admitted.
" You will then readily understand, that the heavy material to which
surface-bred mortals allude as probably constituting the interior of the earth,
is, in fact, nothing but the manifestation of a matter-supporting force, as
exemplified in the sphere of attractive energy, the seat of which we are soon to
encounter on our journey. Likewise the mutual attraction of the heavenly bodies
is not a property solely of their material part, but an expression in which both
the force-spheres and the matter collected thereon take part.
" Tell me more of the sphere in which gravitation is intensest."
" Of that you are yet to judge," he replied. " When we come to a
state of rest in the stratum of greater gravity, we will then traverse this
crevice in the sheet of energy until we reach the edge of the earth crust, after
which we will ascend towards the interior of the earth, until we reach the inner
crust, which is, as before explained, a surface of matter that lies comformably
with the external crust of the earth, and which is the interior surface of the
solid part of the earth. There is a concave world beneath the outer convex
world."
" I can not comprehend you. You speak of continuing our journey towards the
center of the earth, and at the same time you say that after leaving the Median
Circle, we will then ascend, which seems contradictory."
" I have endeavored to show you that matter is resting in or on a central
sphere of energy, which attracts solid bodies towards its central plane. From
this fundamental and permanent seat of gravity we may regard our progress as
up-hill, whether we proceed towards the hollow center or towards the outer
surface of the globe. If a stick weighted on one end is floated upright in
water, an insect on the top of the stick above the water will fall to the
surface of the liquid, and yet the same insect will rise to the surface of the
water if liberated beneath the water at the bottom of the stick. This comparison
is not precisely applicable to our present position, for there is no change in
medium here, but it may serve as an aid to thought and may indicate to you that
which I wish to convey when I say ` we ascend' in both directions as we pull
against Gravity. The terms up and down are not absolute, but relative."
Thus we continued an undefined period in mind conversation; and of the
information gained in my experience of that delightful condition, I have the
privilege now to record but a small portion, and even this statement of facts
appears, as I glance backward into my human existence, as if it may seem to
others to border on the incredible. During all that time- I know not how long
the period may have been- we were alternately passing and repassing through the
partition of division ( the sphere of gravity ) that separated the inner from
the outer substantial crust of earth. With each vibration our line of travel
became shorter and shorter, like the decreasing oscillations of a pendulum, and
at last I could no longer perceive the rushing motion of a medium like the air.
Finally my guide said that we were at perfect rest at a point in that mysterious
medial sphere which, at a distance of about seven hundred miles below the level
of the sea, concentrates in its encompassing curvature, the mighty power of
gravitation. We were fixed seven hundred miles from the outer surface of the
globe, but more than three thousand from the center.