John C. Symmes’ Hollow Earth Writings
John C. Symmes' Hollow Earth Writings OliverCowdery.com -- The Premier Web-Site for Early Mormon History Bookshelf | Spalding Library | Mormon Classics | Newspapers | History Vault John C. Symmes (1780-1829) Hollow Earth Theory "No. 1. Circular" (1818) "Memoir 2." (1818) Port Folio (1818) Portrait (1820) "Petition, etc." (1819-1826) Concentric Spheres (1826) Articles Bibliography Biography Comments Symzonia (1820) | "Symmesonian No. 1" (1824) | Matthews' lecture (1824) Concentric Spheres (1826) | The Inner World (1886) | Fantasy depictions (2003) [some copies headed: "No. 1. Circular"] LIGHT GIVES LIGHT, TO LIGHT DISCOVER -- "AD INFINITUM. ST. LOUIS, (Missouri Territory,) NORTH AMERICA, April 10, A. D. 1818. TO ALL THE WORLD! I declare the earth is hollow and habitable within; containing a number of solid concentrick spheres, one within the other, and that it is open at the poles 12 or 16 degrees; I pledge my life in support of this truth, and am ready to explore the hollow, if the world will support and aid me in the undertaking. Jno. Cleves Symmes. Of Ohio, Late Captain of Infantry. N. B. -- I have ready for the press, a Treatise on the Principles of Matter, wherein I show proofs of the above positions, account for various phenomena, and disclose Doctor Darwin's Golden Secret. My terms are the patronage of this and the new worlds. I dedicate to my Wife and her ten Children. I select Doctor S. L. Mitchill, Sir H. Davy, and Baron Alex. de Humboldt, as my protectors. I ask one hundred brave companions, well equipped, to start from Siberia in the fall season, with Reindeer and slays, on the ice of the frozen sea: I engage we find a warm and and rich land, stocked with thrifty vegetables and animals if not men, on reaching one degree northward of latitude 82; we will return in the succeeding spring. J. C. S. Vol. VI. Philadelphia, December, 1818. No. 6. [p. 445] [p. 446] DR. MTICHILL TO CAPTAIN SYMMES. The following letter has appeared in the public journals, and we believe it may be relied upon as an authentic production from the pen of "one of the men, who honour America most by his information and talents;" and who has "a great share in the new glory which awaits our country." The letter from the explorer will be found (ante p. 445), and we thought we had saved the learned professor the trouble of writing a reply, by our voluntary communication on this important scheme, (vide ante [Feb. 1818] p. 123.) But some men will manage the own affairs in their own way. The doctor is a worthy old gentleman, and whether he encourage the wild adventures of Symmes, or flatter the "dear girls" of New York, we believe he means no harm to any body. His first object is to gratify a most inordinate vanity, but in seeking the means of administering to this passion, it must be admitted by all that Dr. Mitchill has done the state some service. New York, 16th June 1818. Sir -- The important enterprise sketched in your letter lately received by me from St. Louis, brings to my recollection several facts and occurences relative to the polar reegions of our planet. You doubtless know the zeal and perseverence with which our countryman John Churchman, urged to Congress and to other bodies, the importance of a voyage toward the North Pole. His object was to find the magnetic pole of the earth, which he affirmed to be several degrees from the axis on which it seems to revolve. But he did not live long enough to prove his doctrine, nor to ascertain the revolutions of his magnetic poles around the two extremities of the globe's axis. I remember him very well. His book is extant. The departure of the ice in vast masses from the arctic regions, began to excite general attention in 1805. During that year. [p. 447] I investigated the subject, and wrote a memoir upon the Greenland ice, which overspread the northern Atlantic ocean, and cooled the water and atmosphere enough to be felt in our climate as far south as 40 deg. north. I consider the Gulf stream as acting by its current to carry the ice away to the eastward, and by its warmth to melt it. Thereby this marine river saves the bays and harbours of our coast from obstruction and blockade by these congealed masses. This eaasy, with the testimony of many ship masters, is registered in the tenth volume of the Medical Repository. A few evenings ago, captain White, now of New York, told me he had, in the year 1774, penetrated on a whaling expedition as far as 82 degrees 30 minutes north. He was incompassed by floating fields of ice. The water of the ocean frequently curdled or thickened to icy crystals between them. The ship's rudder was unhung and taken on board, as being of no use; and the needle of the compass became torpid, or sluggish, to such a degree, that there was a necessity to shake the card, for rousing and waking it up, as it were. I wish success to the enterprises of the English for visiting once more the high latitudes. It would be gratifying to me that the inhabitants of our continent, which reaches very far to the north, should be foremost in exploring its extent and boundary. Men of ardour in the cause, and of hardy resolution, and of prudent foresight, are the proper persons for engaging in such adventures. There have been various speculations, on the constitution of the internal nucleus, or core of the earth; some considering it as occupied by solid rick, others by water, and others again by fire. Ulysses is represented by Homer as penetrating to the nether abodes by the way of Cimmeria -- and Aeneas is said by Virgil to have descended to the lower regions at Avernus. Dante has given a map, or profile, of the spaces between the crust of the globe and its centre of gravity, as an embellishment to his poem Inferno. But all these are visions of the imagination, of fictions of poetry; we stand in need of better information; one actual explorer would be better than a thousand inventors of stories. [p. 448] How rare and extraordinary would it be to converse with you, on your re-appearance from the internal worlds! I told captain Lewis and captain Riley, on the return of the former from the northwest coast of America, and the altter from the frightful deserts of Africa, that I beheld them as, in some sort, visitors from another sphere; so would you really be after the performance of the project contained in your letter. Adieu, and be happy! SAMUEL. L. MITCHELL. John Cleves Symmes, Esq. [p. 471] Captain Symmes again. -- Captain Symmes' theory of the earth is not quite so novel as is generally thought; the idea of the globe being hollow at the poles was suggestewd many years since. In a work published in Paris by an anonymous writer, called "New Conjectures on the Globe of the Earth," the author asserts, "that in examining the internal parts of teh globe, it is not possible to doubt, but it is a composition of several beds of slime arranged upon each other by the waters of rivers, and consisting of the substances which they contain, and which these rivers carry off from the rising grounds, in order to deposite them on their banks, or in the bottom of the sea, to which they run; that the globe of the earth was originally formed of a flat crust, composed of these depositions; that this crust being very thin (only two thousand three hundred and eighty fathoms thick) includes a very subtle air, is supported by the weight of a double atmosphere which surrounds it; that this equilibrium having ceased at the time of the deluge, the crust was broken and scattered; that its wrecks floated in the sea as clouds do in the air, and were heaped on each other, and in certain parts so accumulated as to form certain prominences; that our mountains proceeded from this; that by this subtraction from the crust of the earth, of the prices by which the mountains were then formed, there remained vacuities in this crust two or three hundred leagues in diameter; that it is by means of these apertures that the seas of both surfaces of the crust, at present communicate with each other, that these seas enter by the poles into the cavity of the globe, and turning round this cavity in a spiral line, they come out between the tropics, and causes the flux and reflux of the sea, which are some sensible in one part than another, according to the position and largness of the passages through which these seas enter or come out." Captain Adam Seaborn (pseud.) Nathaniel Ames? (1764-1835) Symzonia, A Voyage ... New York: J. Seymour, 1820 Title-page Advertisement Chapter 1 Chapter 7 various excerpts SYMZONIA: A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. By Captain Adam Seaborn. NEW YORK: Printed by J. Seymour. 1820. A D V E R T I S E M E N T. _____________ The Author of this work, and of the discoveries which it relates, leaves it to his readers to decide whether he excels most as a navigator or a writer, and whether he amuses as much as he instructs. If he has any professional vanity, arising from his enterprises upon the sea, it does not tempt him to conceal that, in the achievements here recorded, he availed himself of all the lights and facilities afforded by the sublime theory of an internal world, published by Captain JOHN CLEVE SYMMES, and by the application of steam to the navigation of vessels, for which the world is indebted to FULTON. Far from coveting what does not belong to himself, he feels, after having discovered and explored a world before unknown, that he can well afford to bestow on others the praise to which they are entitled. He has one consolation, in which he is confident of the sympathy of those who wish him well; namely, that if the book is not bought and read, it will not be because it is not an American book. He gives notice that he has no intention to relinquish his right to the invention of oblique paddles for steam ships, though the circumstances narrated at the close of the volume hinder him from taking out a patent at present. [ iv ] A VOYAGE. Chapter 1. The Author's reasons for undertaking a voyage of discovery. -- He builds a vessel for his purpose upon a new plan. -- His departure from the United States. In the year 1817, I projected a voyage of discovery, in the hope of finding a passage to a new and untried world. I flattered myself that I should open the way to new fields for the enterprise of my fellow-citizens, supply new sources of wealth, fresh food for curiosity, and additional means of enjoyment; objects of vast importance, since the resources of the known world have been exhausted by research, its wealth monopolized, its wonders of curiosity explored, its every thing investigated and understood! The state of the civilized world, and the growing evidences of the perfectibility of the human mind, seemed to indicate the necessity of a more extended sphere of action. Discontent and uneasiness were every where apparent. The faculties of man had begun to dwindle for want of scope, and the happiness of society required new and more copious contributions. I reasoned with myself as follows: A bountiful Providence provides food for the appetite which it creates; therefore the desire of mankind for a greater world to bustle in, manifested by their dissatisfaction with the one which they possess, is sufficient evidence that the means of gratification are provided. And who can doubt but that this is the time to find the means of satisfying so general a desire? ... For further extracts from chapters 1-6, see this web-site: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA98/silverman/poe/symzonia.html Chapter 7 Description of the first view of the coast. -- The Author names the discovered country Symzonia. -- Enters the harbor. -- His first interview with the Symzonians. -- Sketch of their appearance. -- He commences the study of the Symzonian language. -- Wonderful powers of mind displayed by the natives. -- Account of an aerial vessel. Excerpt The mild oblique rays of the morning sun gilded to our view "A scene surpassing Fancy's vision." Gently rolling hills within an easy sloping shore, covered with verdure, chequered with groves of trees and shrubbery, studded with numerous white buildings, and animated with groups of men and cattle, all standing in relief near the foot of a lofty mountain, which in the distance reared its majestic head above the clouds, offered to mariners long confined to a wide waste of water the highest reward for their enterprise and perseverance; -- the heartfelt satisfaction, that it was to their courage and skill that their fellow citizens would be indebted for the contemplation of so much loveliness. Here there was nothing wanting to a perfect landscape. Plain, hill, and dell sometimes rising with an easy slope, at others, broken, abrupt, or craggy; with an ocean in front, and a mountain in the rear, it was complete. At noon, on the 24th of December, we anchored in 14 fathoms water, on a fine sandy bottom. This land, out of gratitude to Capt. Symmes for his sublime theory, I immediately named SYMZONIA. The coast lay about S. S. W. and N. N. E. In the roadstead we were sheltered from all winds except those which blew directly along shore. These were not much to be feared, for we had found the prevailing W. S. W. winds to blow as steady as a trade wind for several days without any gales or stormy weather. There were a number of buildings on the island, one of which from its magnitude and superior appearance to the others, I judged to be a public edifice of some sort. This structure was two stories high, while all the others were but one. In the front, a large open portico with an extensive platform, appeared to be a place of business, great numbers of people being collected upon it. In front of this building, a jettee into the water afforded convenient landing, and I directed the boat to be placed alongside of it. As I approached, all the people retired, and no sooner had I stepped upon the jettee than those in front of the large building moved into it. Being determined to open an immediate communication with this people, who from the comforts with which they were surrounded could not be savages, I took off my sword, and gave it to Whiffle, and ordered him to lay off with the boat a half pistol shot from the shore, and not to fire a shot, nor to show his arms, unless he saw me run, or heard me fire a pistol; in which cases he must pull into the most convenient place to take me off, and to defend me. I then walked slowly up the jettee. When I reached the head of it, I took off my hat and made a low bow towards the building, to show the Internals that I had some sense of politeness. No one appeared. I walked slowly up the sloping lawn, stopped, looked about me, and bowed, but still no one appeared to return my civilities. I walked on, and had arrived within one hundred yards of the portico, when I recollected, that when Captain Ross was impeded in his progress northward by the northern 'icy hoop,' he met with some men on the ice who told him they came from the north, where there was land and an open sea. These men were swarthy, which Capt. Symmes attributes to their being inhabitants of the hot regions within the internal polar circle; in which opinion he was no doubt correct. I had frequently reflected on this circumstance, and had settled the matter in my mind that they were stragglers from the extreme north part of the internal regions; and could not but consider Capt. Ross as a very unfit person for an exploring expedition, or he would not have returned without ascertaining where those men came from, or how a great sea could exist to the northward of the 'icy hoop,' through fear of wintering in a climate where he saw men in existence who had passed all their lives there. I remembered that these men so seen by Capt. Ross, saluted him by pulling their noses; and surely it is not surprising that men, inhabiting such different positions on this earth as the inside and outside of it, should differ so much as to consider that a compliment in the one place, which is deemed an insult in the other. Indeed it seemed to me a small thing, when I considered how widely the most enlightened of the externals differ in opinion upon the most simple propositions of religion, politics, and political economy. I was full in the faith that those men of Ross had been internals, and that their mode of salutation was much more likely to be in accordance with the manners of the Symzonians, than the rude fashion of us externals. I therefore pulled my nose very gracefully, without uncovering my head. This had the desired effect. Several persons from within the building assembled on the platform of the portico. They stared much at me, which convinced me they were people of high fashion; conversed eagerly with one another, and seemed undetermined how to act. More than one hundred men collected, before any one showed any disposition to advance even to the front of the portico; and on the other hand, I dared not advance towards them, lest I should again put them all to flight, being already sensible that it was my dark and hideous appearance that created so much distrust amongst these beautiful natives. I therefore kept my position, occasionally pulling my nose out of politeness. Full twenty minutes passed in this suspense; when one of the group, a man near five feet high, came to the threshold of the platform, and, raising his hand to his forehead, he brought it down to the point of his nose, and waved it gracefully in salutation, with a slight inclination of the body, but without actually pulling the nose as I had done. At the same time he spoke to me, in a soft, shrill, musical voice. His language was as unintelligible to me as the notes of a singing bird; but his mode of salutation was not. I caught it with the aptness of a monkey, returned his courtesy after his own fashion, and answered him in English, with as soft a whine as I could affect, that my rude voice might not offend his ears. We spoke to each other in vain: he walked round, and surveyed my person with eager curiosity. I did the like by him, and had abundant cause; for the sootiest African does not differ more from us in darkness of skin and grossness of features, than this man did form me in fairness of complexion and delicacy of form. His arms were bare; his body was covered with a white garment, fitted to his shape, and hanging down to his knees. Upon his head he wore a tuft of feathers, curiously woven with his hair, which afforded shade to his forehead, and was a guard for his head against the rain. There was no appearance of any weapon about either him or any of the others. Having both satisfied our eyes, I again endeavored to make myself intelligible to him; and, by the aid of signs, succeeded so far as to convince him that I came in peace, and meant no harm to any one. He pointed to the building, which I took as an invitation to go in, and walked towards the portico, with the Internal by my side. An amusing scene now occurred, while we endeavored to communicate our thoughts and wishes to one a… truncated (12,305 more characters in archive)