RINGS AND CANOPIES
By
F. L. Parsons
BIBLICAL GEOLOGY and the VAILIAN THEORY
Rings and Canopies
THE EARTH’S OWN RECORD OF IT’S PAST
Why should the earth have experienced Ice Ages in the past?
Will the earth again become a glaciated world?
Why was there an Ice Age at the equator when at the time there was
no glaciation at the north pole?
Why do we still find frozen animals from a previous age?
Why are these frozen animals a logical result of a once molten
earth?
Where did the ice come from?
Why were the polar regions sometimes sub-tropical?
What was the source of the energy that raised mountains?
Why are the mountain ranges near present or ancient coast lines?
Why is coal found in polar regions, but not in the tropics?
Is
coal a deposit of vegetable matter?
How old can this earth be?
What is the answer to these and other "mysteries"?
With an appendix-"Does all this agree with the Bible".
Don’t keep forever on the public road, going only where others
have gone. Leve the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. You will
be certain to find something you have never seen before. Of course, it will be
a little thing, but do not ignore it. Follow it up, explore all around it; one
discovery will lead to another, and before you know it you will have something
worth thinking about to occupy your mind.
Alexander Graham Bell.
———-
It
is true I milked twenty cows to get the milk, but so help me, the butter I
churned is all mine.
Charles Lamb.
———-
(I’ve milked over fifty cows for the cream for this one.)
(The Author)
FOREWORD
1.
In presenting a new treatise on the method of the formation of the earth, some
logical motive should be supplied. A completely new theory, no matter how
illogical, might supply such a motive. But we must confess that the theory
herein presented is not new; it has merely been overlooked by writers on this
interesting and important subject. In fact this theory is as old as man, for
the first recorded writings on the subject are in complete harmony with the
substance of this volume.
2.
About the year 1860, John Taylor, an English mathematician, set forth in some
detail the belief that the water and crust material of the earth did not
descend at one time, but frequently and over long periods. About 25 years
later, Prof. I.N. Vail, arrived at his conclusions independently, presented
much the same thoughts in a series of lectures and publications. His work
attracted a little more attention than had Taylor’s, and his theory became
known generally as the "Vailian Theory," while he preferred the term
"Annular System."
3.
Since that time additional information has become available, all of its giving
additional support to their general conception. So here we have tried to
present only the facts with such logical deductions as those facts warrant, and
allow you to be their judge. In presenting these thoughts to our scientific
friends, almost invariably we were warned that such a theory would never meet
acceptance "because it agrees with the Bible." But surely in a land
such as ours, where the Bible remains "the best seller", it seems
that it should add immeasurably to the force of the argument to show that this
volume is supported by the Bible. Nevertheless, we have refrained from
appealing to any of the ancient writers which might add support, but have
adhered strictly to three fundamentals, FACTS, NATURAL LAW, AND LOGIC. Geology
cannot be considered as a science separate and apart from all others. Whatever
conditions we find upon earth in connection with its structure, they are there
because of the operation of immutable natural laws. Natural Laws, including the
laws of chemistry, physics, biology, mechanics, electronics, astronomy, even
mathematics, have been operative in every past age. And here is one fixed,
unchangeable rule to which every logical mind will give assent:? "FOR
EVERY RESULT WE FIND UPON THIS EARTH, GREAT OR SMALL, THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A
SUFFICIENT, COMPETENT, AND REASON-ABLE CAUSE."
4.
As we see about us upheavals and erosion, great canyons and lofty mountains,
deserts and oceans, we must conceive of means and forces entirely adequate to
produce these conditions, in harmony with natural law and in logical sequence
as a result of preceding events. We must be able to see the source of the
energy that could raise mountains, sink the sea beds, and spread out the great
prairies and deserts. We should be able to understand the solution to such
questions as to why our metal and coal reserves are where they are; why ice
caps now cover the polar regions although they once were warm; why equatorial
regions were glaciated; why three great fresh water ice islands are now
floating in the Arctic sea; and how giant boulders weighing up to six thousand
tons were moved to new locations, often higher than their own source. These are
only a few of the "mysteries" that should become plain.
5.
If we have been able to pass on more logical and reasonable solutions to these
questions, it was only because we were fortunate enough to learn them from our
mentor, and prove them over a period of the last half century, which has been a
period of great advance in knowledge, and not because of special erudition on
our part. Two thousand years ago a writer whose teachings finally wrecked the
Roman Empire advised his readers, "prove all things, hold fast that which
is true." That advice is still good today.
CHAPTER ONE
FACTS ABOUT THE EARTH, AS IT IS AND AS IT
WAS
6.
In attempting to arrive at the methods by which this world was ordered for an
habitation for things living, we are dealing only with circumstantial evidence,
and we can offer no personal witnesses to testify on our behalf. It is
substantially axiomatic in civil law that if either, or both, sides depend upon
circumstantial evidence, the theory that they present to explain that evidence,
and the conclusions which they draw, must account for all material facts, and
leave no such facts unexplained. There must be no unexplainable mysteries
surrounding these material facts. Yet in all geologic theories which have been
presented to the jury of public opinion, there is none that does not admit that
many mysteries are left unexplained, and unexplainable, by that particular
theory. Putting this test to the theory herein presented, we find that the
so-called mysteries are not only explained but actually become a necessary
corollary to the general plan, and in full accord with natural law.
7.
Let us remember that every event of any consequence in the history of earth has
left its imprint, but that imprint may be only fragmentary, for other events
may have partially or almost completely obliterated the record. But actually
there can be no contradictory sets of evidence, although men of science may
draw diametrically opposed conclusions from certain facts. Earth’s record is
correct as to what happened, if we but read it aright.
8.
This earth on which we live is a nearly round ball of matter, approximately
8000 miles through, and about 25,000 miles in circumference. The ball is
slightly flattened at two places which coincide with the points of slowest
rotation, for the earth spinning around in space constantly maintains the same
axis, and the terminations or surface points of such axis we call the North and
the South Poles. Halfway between them we find the points which move the fastest
of all points on the earth’s surface, and these points or this line we call the
"equator." Since the earth rotates a little less than once in every
twenty-four hours, we can say roughly, that points on the equator are moving as
a result of that rotation, at the rate of one thousand miles per hour. There is
no rotation at the poles, so as we leave the equator and move toward the poles
the points where we are will have less and less rotation speed, until at the
exact pole it will cease entirely. Because rotation of any object develops
centrifugal force within the object rotated, there must be a force tending to
push any object away from the earth, and this force would be greatest at the
equator and diminish as the poles were approached. Then why does not any loose
object at the equator leave the earth and go into the clouds? That brings in
another law, -the law of attraction. We know that all matter has an attraction
for all other matter, proportionate to mass and distance, an attraction which
is not directly related to but seems to have some of the characteristics of
magnetic attraction. When the mass or weight of the earth attracts a mass of
other matter, say a human body, we call this gravity. And gravity has a greater
pull toward the center of the earth than centrifugal force has the push to get
us off the earth. However there is a noticeable difference in the weight of a
person at the equator, and at the poles. A person’s weight is the measure of
the pull of earth’s gravity less its push of centrifugal force.
9.
At the equator any object weighs about 1/200th less than it would at the poles,
due in part about 1/300th) to centrifugal force not present at the poles, and
partly (approximately (1/600th) to decrease gravity. But it would not be
necessary to increase the speed of rotation two hundred times for centrifugal
force to equal the centripetal (gravity) but only 17 times. The build-up of
kinetic energy is extremely rapid with the increase of velocity, as every one
knows who has driven a car. This accounts for so many auto accidents on curves.
10. The outer surface of the earth is composed of water over 78%
of its expanse. The 22% of the surface where the solid parts of earth project
above the water, we call land. But the water is merely a surface condition, for
the deepest places we know are the Mindanao Depths, off the Philippines, and
the Challenger Depths, near Guam. But these are a mere 6 1/2 miles 1 in depth,
or less than 1/20th of 1% of earth’s diameter. Under the sea we again encounter
solid matter. Since the solids of the earth are more than 99% of the bulk, why
should one of the minor substances (water) dominate 78% of its surface?
11. On the continents are generally a mile or more in depth,
deposits that yield relics of former life. These indicate that all the various
levels were at one time the surface of the earth, and that other matter has
covered up these surfaces, layer after layer, until we reach the present
surface. These deposits prove that life began with very small and humble
beginnings, that these beginnings passed away and new life, more complex,
appeared only to disappear in its turn, followed by still other forms, until we
reach the age of man.
12. But this was not the beginning of the earth, for under the
fossiliferous layers we find even more materials, both water-laid and igneous.
The water-laid was always deposited on the surface, while the igneous was
principally extruded through great cracks in the plastic or solidified
coverings, rather than as ash blown out of volcanoes or poured down from their
craters as molten lava.
13. These non-fossil-bearing series we term the
"Archean" or "Azoic." That is, there was a
"no-lie" period, either vegetable or animal. The rocks of this period
indicate that most of the material deposited was laid down layer after layer,
horizontal to earth’s surface. But today we often find it folded as if some
giant hand had decided to make an accordion of it. Some of these folds are
miles in extent, and erosion may have removed so much, that we often find the
top part of the fold gone and the sides many miles apart, as if a giant
bull-dozer had scooped out the area miles wide. It appears as if the folding
force came from the ocean beds, for the continental deposits found in the
interiors show less of the folding, and more rupture from beneath. This folding
produced great pressure and heat within the structures, resulting in much of
the deposits of this period being crystalline. As this often resulted in new
atomic alliances, we term this type of rock "metamorphosed."
14. Thus we find earth’s outer crust made up of sedimentary or
water-laid rock; igneous, or extruded (and usually molten) material from the
core; and metamorphosed. There are shades of gradation between these, such as
sand dunes, glacial drift, and those organically formed, such as coral, certain
other limestones, and diatomaceous earth. Nor should we overlook deposits by
petrification which, though not important in bulk, are important as guideposts.
15. In this outer crust, approximately 22 to 24 miles in depth,
limestones and silicones form the major portion. Underlying all the deposits
like a great enfolding blanket, is a deep layer of granite, except for a
portion of the bed of the Pacific Ocean, where it is absent. (See Para. 39).
Above this granite in all the ages are found both calcium (lime) and carbon in
some form. Some of the deposits of limestone are as much as three to four miles
in thickness. Calcium carbonate of which the lime deposits are principally
composed is seldom found in its pure state. However it is so found, for
instance, in the Carrara marble of Italy. It occurs in large beds throughout
the world in various strata mixed with other earth materials, principally
silica in the form of clay. It underlies practically the whole of the North
American continent, in one massive sheet.
16. In the Southwestern part of the United States almost on the
surface of the ground, will be found deposits of calcium in the form of gypsum,
which is used in making cement plaster. This form is readily soluble in water
and the greater the carbonic acid content of the water the faster it will
dissolve. This accounts for the great caverns, such as found at Carlsbad, N.M.,
that have been washed out of these deposits.
17. Within the deposited material we also find silica, sometimes
in the form of sandstone, sometimes as clay, slate, or shale. These deposits
are often thousands of feet in thickness, although some may be less than an
inch.
18. It is surprising to learn how few elements go into the make up
of this crust. Prof. F.W. Clarke as reported in "Analysis of Rocks"
Bulletin 168, U.S. Geological Survey, gives the following Figures as the
probably percentages.
ELEMENTS SYMBOL PERCENT
Oxygen O 47.02
Silicon Si 28.06
Aluminum
Al 8.16
Iron Fe
4.64
Calcium Ca 3.40
Magnesium Mg 2.62
Sodium Na 2.63
Potassium K 2.32
All Others 1.05
19. Below
the deposited material we find a more orderly arrangement, the beginning of the
core of the earth itself. It is not possible for a person to go down to the
core but by studying the broken and tilted structures which have permitted us
to see layers that were once at a much grater depth, and by various sounding
devices, we can reach a fairly accurate conclusion as to what is beneath us.
Beneath the granitic layer which was once part of the molten core but of
lighter material than the rest, comes a massive layer of basalt, volcanic
glass, melted and cooled silica, hardened on its upper but probably becoming
plastic in its lower portion. Below the plastic mass is more molten silica,
floating on other molten rock, predominately iron ores.
20.
Scientists have estimated that the pressure toward the center of the earth must
be in the vicinity of twenty million pounds to the square inch. Pressure, in
accordance with natural law, must produce heat, if it cannot produce motion.
The heat in the earth’s interior, unless the pressure is equalized due to the
liquid condition of the material, must be almost beyond conception. At any rate
we are assured that the bulk of the interior is all past the melting point of
earth materials. We know that after the first inequalities of the immediate
surface of the earth are overcome, on the average there is an increase of one
degree of temperature (Fahrenheit) for each 50 feet of descent. This must be
taken into consideration in all mining operations involving deep structures. At
this rate it would require only a depth of (212 x 50) 10,600 feet to reach the
boiling point of water, or (2000 x 50) about 20 miles to reach the melting
point of some rocks. And remember, the center of the earth is 4000 miles from
the surface.
21. It
would appear that early in earth’s history the continents were raised from the
general surface, and the areas that were later to become the beds of the seas
were depressed. Following this, although the sea bed might sink more and the
continents increase or decrease, their relative location remained fixed.
22. In
general we find the mountain ranges near the sea shores, and the mountain
systems of today are comparable to a great horse-shoe, one tip being the Cape
of Good Hope, and the other Tierra del Fuego. This does not however include
Antarctica or Australia, which have mountain systems of their own. On both of
these sub-continents, we find the mountain systems around the rim, and the
center more level. Australia has a low, arid central plain while Antarctica’s
central plain is at an altitude of approximately 9000 feet. (See Paragraph 148)
For many miles around the North Pole there are no great mountain ranges, or
even volcanic peaks to break the flatness of tundras. Immense glaciers have
scoured and creased the land for hundreds of miles below the pole itself. Some
of these glaciers were miles in thickness, but there were no mountains there
upon which they could have been formed, and now there is less snow fall at the
poles than in West Virginia.
23. In the
Antarctic immense glaciers have cut off the tops of granite mountains, and left
them like mesas. Everywhere is evidence of glaciation and yet during the 1946
expedition of the U.S. Navy to the Antarctic (Operation High-jump) when Rear
Admiral Cruzen visited Ross Island, where the ill-fated Scott’s expedition had
years before established a base camp, he found one of Scott’s sled dogs
standing on all four legs near the cabin. Although he had been standing in the
snow, frozen, where he had died thirty-five years before, he was not covered
with snow. (See paragraph 148)
24.
However, at Little America the same expedition found that snow had been added
to the surface there at the rate of three feet of ice a year since the previous
expedition. There much of the snow is blown in, and does not "fall"
as we are accustomed to see snow fall in the temperate zone.
25. The
Antarctic continent has never been fully surveyed and mapped, but from what is
known we find that on the Indian and Atlantic Ocean sides, at some points, the
land slopes gradually upward to the Polar Plateau, while at other places
mountain ranges and sheer bluffs rise up close to the water’s edge. On the
Pacific side are the more mountainous parts and here the indications are that
the surface at least is sedimentary in origin. The other parts are more
indicative of volcanic activity. In all directions the ice sheet has sent
glaciers gouging out great valleys all the way from the Polar Plateau to the
surrounding seas.
26.
Fossils indicate that in past periods the Antarctic enjoyed a climate
comparable to Southern California of today. The ice sheet has in recent years
extended much further out from the pole than at present. The ice is slowly
decreasing and receding which means that it is adding to the waters of the
seas, and this is also true in the north, but there more of the ice cap was
already in the water.
27.
Throughout the world minerals of various kinds are found in the deposits, the
Azoic beds being the ones with the greatest mineral wealth with decreasing
amounts as we approach the more recent periods. Recent discoveries have proven
the existence of one of the greatest iron ore deposits in the world in the
Azoic beds of Canada. This discovery convinced our Congress that the St.
Lawrence seaway was a necessity. We all know of the great deposits of coal in
Alaska, where the veins are often twice as thick as those of the average
Pennsylvanian deposit, but did you know that this same condition exists in the
Antarctic as well? Shackelton’s expedition reported finding within 400 miles of
the south Pole, a vein of coal one hundred miles long and as thick as forty
feet in places. Rear Admiral Byrd reported that on one of his expeditions he
saw in the Queen Maude Range a deposit "with enough coal to supply the
whole world." Explorers have brought back evidence that important deposits
of gold, silver, copper, iron, molybdenum, oil, and even uranium are there.
Antartica
Yields High Grade of Coal
WASHINGTON—[UPI]—Scientists
are mining "dirty diamonds" in Antartica.
Dirty
diamonds are coal—a hard, high grade coal something like anthracite. Like
diamonds, this kind of coal is created out of carbon under pressure.
Conceivably,
scientists say, it could lure the first industrial enterprises to the frozen continent.
According
to the National Science Foundation, five geologists from Ohio State University
have been digging for something never before in the Antarctic—coal that has
never been exposed to the severe weathering action of the elements.
The geologists
are digging into a coal seam on a ridge of the central Horlick Mountains 350
miles from the South Pole. Hard coal, proof that vegetation once grew
luxuriously in the now ice-buried continent, was first discovered in Antarctica
54 years ago.
But all the
samples have come from very near the surface and none from the pristine deeper
layers. To find out just what grade of coal lies under the continent,
scientists must dig up some unweathered samples for analysis.
The five
geologists braved zero temperatures and wind gusts up to 70 miles an hour to
work what they called their "dirty diamond mine." They already have
obtained the deepest coal samples ever found in the Antarctic.—Oakland Tribune,
Thurs., Feb. 22, 1962
28. As we
go from the poles toward the equator we find the coal deposits have a tendency
to lessen thickness, until between the "tropics" there are no coal
deposits. But in all geologic ages we find some form of carbon, although in
Prof. Clarke’s tabulation its total bulk only entitles it to be included in
"all others."
29. In the
Atlantic Ocean lies a great canyon averaging about 300 feet deep and two miles
in width. Its known length is over 900 miles. It lies over 500 miles from our
Atlantic Coast, running in a general north and south direction.
30. In the
Pacific during the late war intensive soundings were made. A surprising number
of flat topped mountains with the tops about one mile under the present surface
of the sea, were found. A similar condition was found in the Gulf of Alaska,
where one of these under sea mountains was found with a flat top five miles
across, and 857 fathoms (almost exactly one mile) under the surface.
31. Now
all these apparently unrelated facts are very definitely inter-related, and all
the questions which these facts raise should have a reasonable answer. They
must all fit into the same general plan, and all must be the logical result of
the outworking of natural law. We will find many more related facts of great
interest. But now let us reverse the usual order of story telling and give the
solution first, and then fit facts into that solution in corroboration.
__________
1See
Reader’s Digest, page 134, May 1960. Challenger Depth measured at 35,800 feet.
CHAPTER 2
SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM
32. A good place to begin would be at the beginning, but just
where is the beginning? As we look backward into the past we realize that we
can know nothing of the beginning, for it is hidden in the infinite time of
eternity. Therefore we must select a beginning.
33. Prof. Millikan’s theory of the cosmic ray, and the subsequent
research by Prof. Picard under the auspices of the National Geographic Society
and the Bell System, have given us a fairly firm foundation on which to build.
It enables us to reason back to the time when all the matter now composing the
earth was in the simple form of power as cosmic rays. We are convinced that
there is perhaps as much as 300 times more radiant energy throughout the universe
existing in the form of cosmic rays than in all other forms of radiant energy
combined. These rays under several conditions will cease traveling and become
atoms of hydrogen, the simplest form of matter. It is probable that 90% of all
the material in the visible universe?stars, nebulae, etc., ?is still in the
form of hydrogen. From hydrogen by the addition of neutrons, we know that all
the elements can be formed, and neutrons are present in the cosmic rays. From
the elements thousands of variations and combinations can be made.
34. An atom of hydrogen is composed of one proton as a nucleus,
and one electron circling about the nucleus. If the nucleus picks up one more
proton plus two neutrons with one more circling electron the atom has become
helium. The proton is the particle of positive electric charge in the cosmic
ray, or in any atom. The neutron, absent in hydrogen, is the negative electric
charge and, attracted to the proton, assists in forming the nucleus of every
other atom. The electron is a relatively lighter particle of negative charge
and circles at varying distances from the nucleus of the atoms which comprise
the 92 elements found in the earth, and the four additional ones created by
man.
35. Very possibly the cosmic ray energies first were converted to
hydrogen, and then this great mass of hydrogen compacted from mass attraction,
producing heat both from the pressure of the mass and atomic re-action, would
act as an atomic pile. From this re-action would come the product on of all the
various elements. Each element would be most strongly attracted by atoms of the
same element. Thus titanium attracts titanium, iron attracts iron, silica would
seek its mate in other atoms of silica. But not alone like to like, for some
atoms are especially prone to see compatible elements. Thus carbon will unite
with calcium to make calcium-carbonates (limestone), hydrogen and oxygen form
water, and so on through an infinite variety of combinations. And such unions
would have taken place in this suggested hydrogen mass.
36. As the elements formed, the denser would begin to seek the
center of the great whirling, seething, mass and thus the iron core of the
earth would begin to assume its final place, the elements and combinations
having the greatest affinity for iron accompanying the iron when they could
attach themselves to it. Then the lighter of the elements must find their place
toward the outside and the greater velocity of the whirling mass the more this
would be true.
37. Since the events leading up to the establishment of earth’s
core, and the bringing of some order out of the chaotic amorphous mass of earth
materials left no record which we can read today, we cannot be too certain as
to the means employed, but the suggested method at least serves to bring us up
to a beginning where we do have a fairly detailed record if we can but read it
correctly, and interpret what we read in harmony with natural law. So this
brings us to the period when the earth had formed its core of matter, a ball
with an approximate diameter of 8000 miles.
38. That core is made up of molten iron ores, with molten basalt
(silica) on the surface. All the rest of the material which would eventually
make up the 22 to 24 miles of deposits which have been made on this base (with
the exception of such molten material as has been extruded from the core) was
not at that time either on the surface nor in the earth, and therefore must
have been above it. As the core cooled and contracted, the lighter elements of
the core beneath the basalt came under great pressure, and fractures in the
basalt permitted the escape of these lighter elements in the form of granite,
which wrapped itself like a great blanket around the earth.
39. It is interesting here to ask why a large area of the Pacific
Ocean bed lacks that granitic covering. We are inclined to the view that the
covering was once there1, but was torn loose from its bed while there was as
yet no water there, and the granite had not cooled. We know what that the
earth’s satellite?the moon?has a specific gravity approximately commensurate
with granite, and it could well be that the great tides produced by the sun on
a level molten mass was the agent of causation. Owing to the great attraction
of the other materials still around the earth, the moon would not have moved
out from the earth as far as it is at present, but would have assumed the
position of a secondary moving around its primary at too great a speed to be
drawn back to earth but held by that force from moving completely out of its
control.
40. As the melting point of rock ranges between 2000 degrees
Fahrenheit to twice that much, it must have been in that range of temperature
on the surface of the earth with increasing heat toward the center until the
maximum was reached. Water not under pressure cannot be heated beyond 212
degrees, but if confined the temperature may increase until the water turns to
vapor exerting tremendous pressure in all directions. As steam it will expand if
possible 1645 times or roughly one cubic inch becomes one cubic foot.
Consequently if there had been any water within the molten mass, it would have
expanded and being lighter than the molten rock would have risen to the surface
and escaped into the atmosphere. But as we have already seen, the water of the
earth would not have been at the surface of the core but among the farthest out
of the lighter elements above the core, except where it was holding other
elements in solution, increasing its specific gravity, and thus being drawn
closer to the surface.
41. Viewing the tremendous heat produced by the molten earth?(some
conception of what that heat must have been is given us by the heat radiations
of a thermo-nuclear explo-sion)?we can see that all moisture would be converted
to vapor as fast as atomic action produced it. This would also be true of other
substances. Practically every element or combination of elements can be reduced
to vapor (gas) by the application of sufficient heat, and caused to expand,
many of them to an even greater degree than water. Therefore we see that the
requirement of law is that those elements which eventually made up the crust of
the earth, would have been converted to gas, and would later have condensed to
solid matter in earth’s atmosphere.
42. During the early part of this century, scientists studying
earthquake vibrations found that at varying depths in the earth the waves were
reflected as if striking a solid substance. One of these points of reflection
is approximately 1800 miles below the surface, and gave rise to the theory that
the earth had already reached a state of solidity. However we can account for
these points of discontinuity which roughly occur at 290, 620, and 1800 miles
in depth, by noticing that the various elements or combination of elements
would be arranged with the lightest toward the outside. As the waves reached
the surface of a denser layer some of the vibration waves would be deflected
regardless of whether the material of which that layer was composed were molten
or solid.
43. For example, in telephoning by radio from the Pacific Coast to
Hawaii, the radio waves are directed at a point miles above the earth to a
layer of ionized particles that cannot even be seen, called the "Heavyside
Layer." This layer moves up and down during the day, but technicians can
make us of it to accurately "bounce" the waves to their proper
destination. Hence science swings back again to the law that points out that
pressures which do not produce motion, produce heat, and the heat so produced
is proportionate to the pressure?the law of "conservation of energy."
Scientific minds seem to have a predilection to forget proven facts which are
common-place if some new fact comes up which can be explained by some new and
different theory. Sometimes we find those theories to be strangely
unscientific.
44. It was while the earth was still in a molten condition,
although the surface may have reached a state of plasticity, that the rotation
of the earth is positively known to have been operating. A molten earth
spinning on fixed axis would tend to bulge outward at the fastest moving
portion, the equator, and to flatten the ends of the axis, the poles. The
diameter of the equator is 7926.677 miles where the axis is 7899.988 miles, a
difference of 26.689 miles. After the earth had solidified its crust, this
spinning motion would not have had so much effect, so we are assured that the
points of the axis were fixed while the earth was still molten, and since they
are still in the center of the flattened areas, we are also assured that they
have never been changed. This fact may make some difficulty for the theorist
who accounts for the changes in climate at the poles from semi-tropic to frigid
and back to semi-tropic, by the simple device of moving the poles down to the
equator for a time and then moving them back. But natural law says that once
the body of the earth was set in motion, spinning on its own axis, it must
continue to do so until opposed by sufficient outside force to halt its motion
and start it again with a different axis. One such theory suggests that a
planet moving close by exerted the force necessary to this theory, but if such
a planet had moved close by and exerted more force or pull on one part of the
earth than another, it might have resulted in changing the "pointing"
of the axis, as regards points in space, but not the position of the axis in
the mass.
45. When the surface of the earth was molten, and that surface now
generally lies many miles below the present surface, neither water nor any of
the substances later added to earth’s crust were on that surface, and therefore
must have been above the earth. The entire mass above the surface must have
turned with the earth and at the same rate of rotation, just as the atmosphere
of today. There are some scientists that claim that at that period the earth
revolved at a much faster rate than at present, probably completing a
revolution every four hours. Mathematically there is much weight of evidence to
support this though, and it certainly would be of very great assistance in
proving the theory we are here advancing, if we were to take this figure for
our calculations. But, although we may believe the estimate a sound one, we
will not claim any greater speed than the present known rate of one revolution
a day, actually 86,164 second.
46. Most geologists are agreed that much of the material of the
crust of the earth must have been in suspension in the atmosphere at the time
of this igneous period. Some recent writers have ignored this logical
conclusion and have all of earth’s materials including water out of the
atmosphere at the beginning of this period. They explain that since the surface
of the earth was so hot the water could not possibly have been there, it much
have been inside the earth, for it certainly was somewhere. But we will accept
the more general view since it agrees with natural law. It is true that the
water could not have remained on the surface, since had it fallen there it
would have immediately been flung back into space as vapor, and taken with it
any material soluble in water, it might have assimilated.
47. In canvassing the various estimates and appraisals of the
depth of the vaporous canopy we find that a depth approximately 200,000 miles
to be a general conception. Our own calculations based on present deposits and
their respective gas expansions lead us to believe that it was somewhat under
this figure. For our calculations let us take only half that amount. This would
give us a diameter of twice 100,000 miles, plus the diameter of the earth, a
total of 208,000 miles, or a circumference of 653,553. At the equator then this
circumference was traveling at a speed in excess of 27,000 miles per hour. But
we have already noted that any mass traveling at 17,000 miles per hour would be
free from gravity and over that speed would be thrown away from the earth
moving outward until the centrifugal force and gravity were equal.
(Note: If mathematics bore you just skip over to paragraph 53 and
go on from there.)
48. For a demonstration of this we will let "g"
represent the force of gravity at the equator that is exerted on any matter,
expressed as the distance a body will fall in one second. But the entire force of
gravity is greater than that since there is the centrifugal force also, so that
the entire force of gravity is greater than "g" by the amount of
centrifugal force. Then let "c" be the chord of an arc over which the
earth’s surface moves in one second. In this small space of time the difference
between the chord and the arc would be so infinitesimal that we may use the
length of the chord and the arc of the same, -as a straight line. Let
"D" be the diameter of the orbit of which "c" is the chord;
then
2
C
___
D
is the
centrifugal force, or that part of gravity overcome by the present rotation.
Then the whole force of gravity at the equator is
2
C
G +___
D.
But we
have noted that if the centrifugal and the centripetal (gravity) force were
equal, the body would neither fall nor rise, but would continue to travel in
its own orbit; in which case we would have
2
C
G =___
D.
It
requires 86,164 seconds for one revolution, so that the circumference of the
earth (diameter X 3.1416) divided by 86,164 would give us the distance traveled
by the earth’s surface in one second, or "c." But when gravity equals
the centrifugal force we have
2
C
G =___
D,
or
2
GD = C,
or
______________
C = \/ GD
Then as
many times as "c" will divide the whole circumference, there will be
that many seconds in one revolution. Thus we have "D" divided by
"c" multiplied by pi, or the equivalent of this, the square root of
"gD" and we arrive at the equation
D x 3.1416
X =———————————————
______________
\/ GD
when
"X" equals the time of rotation of the earth’s surface to make
gravity and centrifugal force equal. The diameter of the earth is 7,925 miles
(approximately) and we reduce this figure to feet by multiplying by 5,280, and
find the circumference by multiplying that figure by pi (3.1416). The distance
that a body falls at the equator in one second is 16.076 feet, at least that
seems to be the accepted figure. Now substituting figures in our equation we
have
7925 x 5280 x 3.1416
X =——————————————————————
_____________________________________
\/ 16.076 x 7925 x 5280
or X =
5,069 seconds, or about 1/17th of the time of the present rate of rotation, or
expressing it in other words, the speed would be 17 times greater than the
present rate.
49. But it
will be noted that this figure does not take into consideration one factor,
namely that attraction lessens by the square of the distance, so that moving
out from the earth’s surface the pull of gravity would lessen the farther out
in space that matter would move. The farther away from earth’s surface any
matter moved the greater would be the velocity of rotation, the greater the
centrifugal force, and the less the pull of gravity.
50. The
effect then upon a mass of vapors around a revolving earth would be to throw
the outer vapors into rings above the equator and since the equatorial portion
was moving out in space the polar portion would flow toward the unoccupied space
to be in its turn thrown outward into the revolving belt or rings. This would
be true of all the mass down to the point where gravity was equal to
centrifugal force. Since centrifugal force lessens as we approach the poles
such of the vapors as remained in canopy formation would approach the earth
closer in polar regions, resulting in marked oblation, that is a polar
flattening of what otherwise would be a globular body. This would be remembered
particularly when we come to study the planets. During the igneous (Azoic)
period those vapors coming closer to the earth, and being drawn by gravity,
were still held off the surface by great heat, but as the earth cooled, and
these vapors were allowed to condense, the masses increased in weight and there
would be falls from the upper masses to the cooling surface. Undoubtedly at
first the water was changed to steam and returned to the atmosphere. Deluge
after deluge would follow from the enshrouding mass, and slowly the earth’s
surface became plastic, depressing under impact and accumulations here, with
resulting rises over there, and liquids flowing into the depressions. Slowly
the plastic condition firmed until the surface could support the further
deluges from aerial sources, and the water would remain to collect in the lower
depressions.
51. But
since our first mathematical problem did not take into consideration all
factors, perhaps we should use as method, well known to astronomers, to
ascertain at what height from the earth the vapor belts would become secondaries
revolving in their own orbit with the earth’s core as a primary. Kepler’s 2
Third Law is stated as "the squares of the periodic times of revolving
satellites are proportional to the cubes of their mean distance from the
primary around which they revolve." We have a satellite of earth on which
we can base our calculations. The mean radius of the moon’s orbit is
approximately 60 times the equatorial radius of earth, so if we take the cube
of 60, and divide it by the square of the time of its revolution, expressed in
seconds, that result must be equal to the cube of the orbital radius of a ring
of matter revolving about the earth and completing a revolution in the same
time period as the earth, divided by the square of the time of revolution,
expressed in seconds. The time of one lunation to another as a mean is 2,
360,608 seconds. Since lunation time varies from month to month due to
attraction from other planets, this can only be an approximate figure, just as
the figure 60 is a close approximation, but sufficiently close as not to
distort the final result. We have already noted that the rotation of the earth
is completed in 86,164 seconds. Letting "X" equal the distance that a
satellite will move in its own orbit, rotating at the present speed of the earth,
we have?
Or
X3 = 279.726264
———
————————
2 2
(86164) (2360608)
Or
3
X = 279.725264
Or
X = 6.54
52. 6 1/2
times the equatorial radius of the earth, which for convenience we will
consider as 4,000 miles, gives us 26,000 miles as the radius of the circle of
the revolving satellite, or in other words, at a distance of 22,000 miles from
the surface of the earth any matter revolving in the same time period as the
earth will be a satellite traveling in its own orbit. Anything at a less
distance would eventually be drawn to the earth by gravity as soon as the
repelling heat from the earth’s core would permit.
53. Here
we have two mathematical demonstrations that the earth did have revolving belts
about its core. Very evidently all of the vaporous mass above the surface was
not drawn into the rings or belts, but continued to cover the earth in dense
clouds as a canopy. In those clouds we would have found for example iron,
calcium, and carbon as some of the principal substances, besides whatever water
had been drawn to them and kept captive.
54. Do we
find iron scattered evenly through all the rock laid down in the first period?
If so, then our theory is disproved. The Ring and Canopy theory demands that in
harmony with the law of attraction of similar matter, and the known affinities
of some dis-similar substances, that a process of collection must have taken place
in the canopy, a surging and rotating mass of aqueous and gaseous vapors, and
that in cooling and condensing, they would have been precipitated at such a
time and place as the cooling earth would permit. Under the 22,000 mile limit,
this could have happened at any time or place, but we should find that these
precipitations aside from the water content were largely of one element or one
combination of elements. And this is exactly what we do find.
55. We
noted previously that one of earth’s largest deposits of iron ore is found in
Canada, in deposits of the first period, the Azoic. Similar beds, now partially
exhausted through mining, were found in the United States, but not of such
extent. Iron beds have been found in polar regions and in the tropics, in
various combinations, and generally these lie today where they were placed many
years ago, as they fell from the vaporous canopy around the earth. During the
Azoic, or lifeless period, after the earth cooled (for the Azoic would include
the igneous and cooling stages), carbon was deposited in a similar manner, a
very pure crystalized form as graphite, and another form, fuel carbon, as
anthracite coal. The graphite was deposited in Canada, the anthracite coal in
Norway. Great beds of carboniferous limestone, a combination of carbon and
calcium, were also laid down in this period. So far as we have been able to
determine, all these deposits were laid down with water, the bottom of the
layers, conforming to the top of the layers upon which they rested. However, we
have only had opportunity to study this period on land, not under sea, and on
the continents we find some of the strata of Azoic rocks, folded and distorted.
56. As the
water drained off into the lower places, causing them to sink still lower from
the additional weight on the plastic surface, so other places were forced to
rise, and here we have the beginning of continents.
57. When
the earth had cooled sufficiently to permit the deposition of all materials
under the 22,000 mile range, we would have had an immense accumulation of heavy
elements, and their associated water, on the surface of the earth; while above
the 22,000 mile range (or whatever the distance might have been to permit any
matter to become a satellite), the great belts of aqueous vapor and associated
elements would still be continuing their rotation, and they could not decline
to the earth as long as they remained at that height and at that speed. But
with the gradual clearing out of the vapors below, the lower ring would begin
to spread out in order to reach toward a point where the rotation was less
rapid. With the formation of this canopy, the sun again could not shine
directly on earth’s surface. As a matter of fact, these canopies may have
formed in such succession that the sun may never have been visible from earth
until many thousands of years had passed, and we have no proof to the contrary.
In any event, the thickness of the rings or belts, circling about the equator
would have protected the equatorial regions from the direct rays of the sun,
even if the direct rays had reached polar regions. Thus in the tropics and most
of the temperate zones of today, the suns rays would always have reached the
earth filtered through these rings even when there was no overshadowing canopy.
58.
Whenever a ring by declining toward the poles formed a canopy around the earth,
the heat from earth’s core would be retained under the canopy, and the heat
generated by the sun’s rays filtered through the canopy, would be spread fairly
evenly over the entire earth. The luminous rays would penetrate the canopy
until striking either the earth or earthly material they would be converted to
heat rays and the moisture in the canopy would absorb about thirty times more
heat than would dry air, and thus prevent its escape into stellar cold. From
this we would expect to find that the equatorial regions were more temperate
than now, while the poles would experience long periods of temperate to
sub-tropical climate. However, the canopy would continue to move its masses
toward the points of no rotation, until all the mass in the ring had lowered
and spread into the canopy. With the ring ceasing to feed the canopy and a
continuing movement of the mass toward the poles, the canopy must rupture near
the equator. When that happened the heat would no longer be held under the
canopy, the poles would become frigid, the vapors of the canopy in polar
regions would descend as snow and ice, toward the equatorial regions as rain.
The ice masses accumulating to great depth would move across the earth’s
surface as great plows, to grind down a hill here, leave an enormous terminal
moraine of conglomerate material there, or move gigantic boulders hundreds of
miles.
59. Since
we noted that under natural law the mass of the canopy would be moving toward
the poles, we would expect that much of the canopy would be precipitated in
polar regions, where the water content would fall as snow and ice, while in the
warmer regions it would fall as rain, if such heavy falls of water may be termed
"rain." But with this water content would also be present the various
other elements contained in the ring. This sediment together with the water
would bring an additional load upon the continents and the seas. The continents
would drain much of the water and probably some of the sediment into the seas
to augment the water accumulating there. The sea bottoms would be forced
downward by the increasing load, plastic material under the sea beds would be
moved under the continents, and continental shelves, thus up thrusting the
margins of the continents, particularly where previous ruptures had occurred,
and mountains were raised.
60. This
must have happened repeatedly in earth’s history, every time that a canopy or
segment of a canopy collapsed, until the last ring formed its canopy which in
its turn declined and came to earth, and there were no more right, no more
canopies, no more masses of water and earth material between the earth and the
sun. There are still gaseous canopies surrounding the earth, and without these
life as we know it would not be possible. These gases present somewhat the same
condition as we would have found in the
water and material canopies, that is the heavier are closer to earth’s surface,
the lighter ones are forced outward.
61. The
rocks tell us that water and other elements have been deposited from some other
place since the molten surface rock cooled, and the sum of their volume can be
measured with fair accuracy today. These elements and their combinations must
have been in suspension in the vaporous mass, and that mass much have formed
concentric rings, at least above the 22,000 mile height, and those rings must
have descended in the only manner possible, by declension as canopies, and
falling principally in polar regions as snow and ice, but also in the warmer
regions as rain. The presence of the canopies must have been accompanied by
temperate or sub-tropic weather in polar regions. The fall of canopies as snow
and ice any where in the world would have meant such an accumulation of ice
masses that such masses would move as glaciers away from the point of fall,
eroding and marking the landscape with the typical marks of glaciation. The
rest of the canopy that fell as rain would have sent the great deluges that,
washing away the soft deposits, swept out wide valleys, cut great canyons,
filled hollows as lakes, and rushed on down to the seas, where the augmented
waters once more depressed the sea bed, and raised the land surface. And this
hypothesis is based
solely on
immutable natural law, and since it is in complete agreement with the story
that the earth itself tells us, we find the confirmation all about us, this
must be the true solution to earth’s development.
62. Now
let us briefly examine a part of the voluminous record of evidence to see if
the heavens and the earth tell us the same story, for not on earth alone is
natural law operative, but throughout the heavens also.
__________
1 This
theory has been presented by several writers, and we have not determined who
first present it. Visitors on the moon have confirmed this.
2 Johannes
Kepler-1571-1630.
CHAPTER 3
RINGS AND CANOPIES IN THE HEAVENS
63. If the foregoing outline is the general plan of development of
this planet, and is based on natural law, then we should find some proof in our
own universe, in connection with other satellites of Helios (our sun) that
these laws are in operation there also. The order of the planets in nearness to
the sun is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and
Pluto.
64. It is difficult to learn much from Mercury. It lies too near
the sun, and as viewed from the earth, is so close to the sun that we do not
even know definitely how often it revolves on its axis, if at all. No definite
markings are visible, and experiments with heat measuring devices know as
thermo-couples, appear to indicate that the same side faces the sun at all
times. Apparently it is so small and so close to the sun that it cannot hold an
atmosphere, if it ever had one.
65. Venus is in better view, and yet no one, not even with the
most powerful telescope, has ever seen the planet. That is because it is
"cloud-wrapped," to borrow an expression general among astronomers.
The light of the sun shining on the "clouds" is reflected mulch
better than from the bare surface on Mercury, or for that matter, from our
moon. It is estimated that Venus reflects 60% of the light she receives, or
roughly about 10 times greater for a given surface than Mercury. Venus,
measured from one side to the other including these clouds, is slightly smaller
than the earth and of course weighs less, but its density is considerably less.
It is very probably that all of the planets are composed of much the same
materials, if not of the same proportions, as we have found nothing on earth
that is not also found in the sun, nor have we found anything in the other
planets that does not have a corresponding item on earth. Therefore there
should be no great discrepancy in the densities of the various planets, unless
we are measuring their size, not by the diameter of the core, but including the
diameter of a canopy, similar to those which once surrounded our earth. Take
this case of Venus, which all astronomers agree is "cloud-wrapped."
Let us suppose for a moment that these "clouds," which have never in
the life of m an parted so that we might see the core of the planet, were the
outside of a canopy such as we have seen was around the earth. There might then
be a considerable space, weighing only a very negligible amount, between the
canopy and the core. The result would certainly be that its density (its weight
divided by its cubic contents), would be considerably less than the solid core
of the earth.
66. The rotation of Venus on its axis, at least the rotation of
the canopy, is sufficiently slow that there is only a very slight depression,
if any, at the poles. However, there is reason to believe that mineral or
sediment of some nature is present in the canopy as photographs with
ultra-violet light, at Mount Wilson observatory, indicated that dark bands were
present somewhat as in the surface of Jupiter. If this is a canopy rather than
water clouds (and the presence of water has not been definitely proven) we
would expect this condition, consistent with the ring and canopy theory, but if
these are pure water clouds as a number of astronomers have assumed, this
banding effect has no place.1
67. Mars, our next planet, and the nearest one to us on the far
side of the sun, has little or no atmosphere, unless it is a gas akin to our
carbon-dioxide, a substance familiar to us as "dry-ice," or when
added to our drinks at the soda fountain. Apparently it must have had an
atmosphere at some time as oxygen is locked in its crust, just as we have seen
was also true of the earth’s crust, but if so it has been absorbed along with
its water supply. Since this planet is not "cloud-wrapped," very
naturally its density closely approximates that of earth. But if it has no
water supply, what about its canals? That word was taken from an Italian word
meaning "lines" or markings, not "canals" in the English
sense. Determination of the exact nature of these lines still awaits more
definite information for they seem to be more apparent to small telescopes,
than to the larger ones. Perhaps the one at Palomar may give us more precise
information in the near future, but whatever may develop as to these markings,
it will not affect the theory here under discussion.
68. So we pass on to the next planet, the giant Jupiter. It
occupies a thousand two hundred times as much space as does the earth. But here
again we encounter a planet that is cloud wrapped. However, owing to its size,
and position away from the sun, we can make a much better study of Jupiter than
of Venus. We know that at its equator the matter on its surface makes a
complete revolution in 9.9 hours. Since the diameter from the outside of the
clouds to the other side is 86, 728 miles this outside envelope at the equator
is traveling at a rate of more than 27,000 miles per hour. But considering the
size and the weight of Jupiter we find that if there were not atmosphere, no
"firmament," its density would be only one fourth that of earth. If
all the weight were in a solid core with the same density as the earth, it
would occupy about 300 times more space than the earth, so there must be a very
considerable space between the actual core and the canopy we see. Since these
vapors are traveling at a rate of more than 7 1/2 miles per second, they must
be moving as independent satellites in their own orbit, and could not possibly
descend to the core until that speed slackens. But as we have reasoned of the
vapors of the earth, their speed must inevitably slacken as the mass moves
toward the polar regions of no rotation. Of this we should find some evidence,
and we do. The polar regions revolve at a much slower speed, actually taking
longer to complete a revolution than the vapors at the equator, although
traveling a much shorter course.
69. Now we know that if their speed should be increased by any
means whatever, and continue to increase, that these polar vapors would move
farther out from their primary, and also move toward the equator. Then since
they are now than the equator is it not reasonable to assume they have moved
away from the equator toward the poles, and are also moving closer to the core,
to which in time they must fall, carrying with them their calcium, carbon, and
silicates now mixed with the aqueous envelope? And will not these same elements
later become part and parcel of the rocky crust of Jupiter, when they have come
to rest? Then before these elements declined as a canopy they must have formed
a ring at the equator, and what we see now is the declension of that ring,
hiding the core from our sight, but eventually to break up and fall to the
surface of the core.
70. Does not this give a reasonable and logical solution to the "mystery" of Jupiter, as to how it can be composed of the same elements as the earth, yet only have one fourth its density? How part of the planet can revolve faster than another part? In fact, how could this be if the parts we see were not fluid, and unattached to the core? How account for the bands and spots if they are not the solid elements gathering together in the canopy? The black may w