Chapter XIII

 

 

“My dear Nadir, some Scientists, your contemporaries, as laborious as they are intelligent, have exposed interesting verities to their fellows; curiosity alone guides their work. Little distracted by conceit, their opinion is the result of a more reflective examination. There was a time when these Scientists were the ornament of your globe, and dissipated the false glamour of chimeras. For more than fifty centuries, stupid errors enshrouded in great words were the adornment of your philosophers—or, to put it better, there was no philosophy. Very little existed of the sublime knowledge that elevates humans above themselves, and penetrates them with a delightful sentiment.

“You know that your ancient astronomers believed that the sun revolved around the Earth, but that opinion, so powerfully accredited, having been submitted to the proof of a faithful calculation, entirely lost its credit. It was demonstrated, and very rigorously demonstrated, that, by reason of the distance to be covered, the sun could only make a circuit of your planet in 475 years—and that well-established demonstration provided the proof that it was the Earth that was rotating.

“After that discovery, your scientists judged, rightly, that the atmospheric pressure on all beings must be considerable, since human beings and other bodies not adherent to the Earth were not lifted up by that movement of rotation. Although they could not imagine what was the cause of that pressure of the atmosphere and that of the gravity of bodies, the consequences of their discoveries were nonetheless interesting. They observed that two stones equal in weight, released by two slings unequal in length, but whirled around with a similar movement, were displaced from their point of departure in inverse relation to the square of their distances from the center of the movement. That experiment naturally led them to posit as a principle that the higher bodies are elevate, the less they weigh. In fact, since the Earth rotates, it is therefore the case that the more distant bodies are from the center of the Earth, the faster they move through space. Then they have more centrifugal movement, and, in consequence, less weight-which is to say, less tendency toward the center of the Earth.

“After this observation, one of your ingenious scientists even calculated how much the weight that you call a pound on your globe would weigh on Saturn—and, indeed, it was sufficient for him to know the diameter of that planet to calculate the weight of a body at its surface, relative to the distance from the center.

“With the support of these principles, it was observed on your globe that the movement of a pendulum slowed down on the equator and that the movement accelerated toward the poles; now, as the isochronic movement of the pendulum depends on the law of gravity, one can draw the conclusion that, bodies weighing less on the equator and more toward the poles, the Earth must therefore be more elevated at the equator and flattened at the poles. Even if experiments had not confirmed that verity, there are certain reasonings whose force is, so to speak, that of a geometric proof. In sum, Nadir, believe without hesitation that the more elevated bodies are, the less they weigh.”

“However,” Nadir replied, “there is a victorious experiment in favor of the contrary theory. A balance was suspended at the top of a very high bell-tower. Beneath each pan of that balance was an iron wire that descended to some three feet above ground level, and which supported two other pans. The higher balance was loaded with equal weights, and the balance was equal. But after having brought the weight down from one of the higher balances and put it in one of the lower balances, instead of experiencing an increase in weight, there was, on the contrary, an appreciable diminution. It follows, therefore, that bodies, far from being heavier as they approach the center of the Earth, are, on the contrary, lighter... What? You’re laughing, Ormasis. Am I mistaken? Is that experiment not true?”

“Yes, my friend, but it proves nothing, except that there is often, close to ground level, more vapor than at a higher level. Consequently, the weight, floating in a more resistant fluid, appears lighter. Moreover, your scientists have already refuted that apparent objection. It is sufficient for it to be demonstrated that the Earth is rotating, and to reflect on the immutable laws of centrifugal forces, not to doubt for a moment that the more distant an object is from the center of the Earth, the less it weighs.

“Reflect also on this other observation. If, according to your theory, bodies becoming more distant from the Earth become heavier—which is to say that they increase their tendency to reunite with it, it would result that all the globes in nature would fall upon the Earth, and that it would become the center of a universal mass. But since, on the contrary, those other globes, far from uniting with the Earth, rotate on their own axes, and the bodies that are on their surfaces similarly tend to their own centers, your theory is unsustainable.”

“But after all,” Nadir replied. “I can maintain, personally that the Earth does not rotate. I can maintain that a body as light and subtle as the sun could traverse a great circle as easily as the Earth might travel a smaller one in the same lapse of time. I defy you to prove to me by your calculations that the law in question is physically impossible.”

“Those, my dear Nadir, are so many wasted words. Well, suppose for a moment that these ingenious calculations do not exist. It is by means of physical reasoning that I want to convince you. Yes, Nadir, it is physically impossible for the Earth to be a tranquil body. If the Earth did not rotate, there would be no mixtures of elements there, no compounds. Animals and vegetables would not exist. The Earth would not enclose in its bosom those various productions that only result from the mixture of elements. In fact, water, being much lighter than condensed earth, would never penetrate its bosom. Air, much lighter than water and earth, would always have floated over those two elements without mixing with them. Finally, light, that fluid so delicate, would never have penetrated anybody. Light can only penetrate into the Earth by virtue of a movement of rotation. Here is the invincible proof of it: I shall draw it from an experiment that is familiar to you. If one puts oil into a glass globe that already contains water, that oil, being lighter, remains constantly on the surface of the water so long as the globe is motionless, but as soon as the globe is rotated, the oil passes through the water, and penetrates to the center of the globe. You see, therefore, by means of this very simple experiment, that if the Earth did not have a rotational movement, water, air and light, being lighter than earth, would never have been mingled or combined with it.”

“Now Nadir, reflect upon the essential consequences resulting from that experiment. One is that light is drawn by the movement of rotation toward the center of the Earth, which is one of the principal causes of the atmospheric pressure on all bodies .The velocity of its course compensates for the lightness of his mass. Do not be surprised any longer by the fact that the fall of bodies of air in hermetically sealed tubes, from which the air has been pumped, still exerts its pressure there and its tendency toward the center of the Earth. Do not be astonished any longer that rays of sunlight weary travelers. Do not be astonished any longer that the light of the sun slowing from the top of a chimney occasions smoke in an apartment; that effect proves the real pressure of a greater quantity of light.

“It is that pressure which, on striking the air, simultaneously prevents it from escaping upwards and occasions its reflux to the bottom of the chimney, in spite of the air current in the apartment, which forms a resistance. It is true that if that smoke does not find any issue for its reflux, then the percussion and repercussion of the light, in subdividing it, will eventually occasion its evaporation, and an evaporation all the more elevated because it has become lighter. It is thus that coarse vapors risen up from the Earth by night and precipitated by the first rays of the sun subsequently rise up again, in a state of division often insensible to your eyes, and fall again when the cold of the atmosphere has condensed them.”

“Oh, my friend,” exclaimed Nadir, rapturously, “you delight me with pleasure. What! It is with such simple reflections that I can solve problems that make our scientists go pale? Those laborious men have discovered that air weighs upon all the bodies of Nature. They have discovered that the Earth rotates, but have not reflected that it is precisely that movement of rotation that is the cause of the pressure of air and light—and yet they have seen, by decisive experiments, that the lightest bodies are those that tend more to the center of a rotating globe. The fall of bodies in the void makes them regard the origin of the gravity of bodies as something incomprehensible, because they see that the pressure of the air cannot have any effect on bodies placed in the void, but they have not reflected that light presses upon and penetrates all the vessels; that the light in question, by virtue of the movement of rotation, always tends toward the center of the Earth, and necessarily exercises a relative pressure upon all bodies; that that pressure must act equally upon different bodies placed in the void, because there is then less inferior resistance—which is to say, no repercussion of the air—that might cause bodies to fall unequally by virtue of their volume. That is why a ball of lead and a piece of paper fall in the void with the same promptitude.

“Finally, Ormasis, I now understand sensibly the origin of fermentations in sealed vessels. That intestinal movement is no longer an occult virtue for me. It is a natural consequence of the pressure of the light that penetrates and agitates all bodies. In fact, it is sufficient for me to know about that primary motor to reflect that agitated bodies, pressed one against another, can change form, weight, and, in consequence, taste; that the attenuated parts of these bodies can for emanations of different species; that these emanations can subsequently combine with other bodies. Finally, the principle of fermentations seems evident to me, the formation of phlogiston consequent on your precepts, and I have a better understanding of the play of light in all bodies.

“In reflecting further on the rotational movement of the globe, I understand how there can be light, air and phlogiston in the deepest cavities of the Earth, which I did not understand before. I understand that the rays of light that strike the Earth are reflected in varying degrees. I also understand that there is a large quantity of air repelled by the Earth that resists it, which also occasions its lateral pressure, and the light of these very varied reflections. I understand, finally, that the continuous impacts of air and light, by diversifying mixtures, occasion the changes that Nature makes manifest—which is to say, the successive compositions and decompositions of all beings.

“I presume,” Nadir continued, “that the sun never loses its substance, in spite of the opinion of one of our scientists.”

“My friend,” Ormasis replied, “although I hold that scientist in esteem and admire several of his discoveries, I do not recommend that you adopt all his ideas. He does not recommend it himself. What would the loss of the sun’s substance signify? Where would that loss go? What would become of it? Can you conceive that light might be annihilated, or even change its nature? In fact, it is not an element like composite bodies. How can one conceive of the metamorphosis of an element whose principles one does not now? However, it has been said that the sun would be reduced to nothing, if the comets that fall into the sphere in question from time to time did not repair its losses.13 See how ridiculous it is, then, to compare the sun to an ardent furnace, since one is obliged to suppose that a few faggots fall into it from time to time to maintain the fire. It is, furthermore, in accordance with this false idea that it is supposed that Mercury, the planet nearest to the sun must be an uninhabitable world and much denser than yours, since it has not been volatilized by the intense heat.

“Reflect then that, heat being only the light agitated by the rotatory movement of the globe, it results that the smaller a planet is, the less distance its surface travels, and the less heat there is there. Do not, then, be surprised that animals can subsist on a globe such as ours, which, being twenty-seven times smaller than yours, is no warmer, in spite of being closer to the sun, and yet is warm enough, by reason of the large quantity of light that it receives.”

Mirza made a sign to Nadir.

Ormasis perceived it. “Beautiful Mirza,” he said to her, “I admit that excessively long explanations also exercise a fatiguing pressure on the mind. I should not have obeyed Fatima’s orders. I confess to you, Ladies, that I dread boring you.”

“Not at all,” they replied, in chorus.

“In truth,” Mirza continued, “you would not believe the pleasure with which I listen to you, and the particular attention of my friend is proof of the same pleasure. It was in order not to interrupt you that I made the sign; I was reminding Nadir of the explanation I gave him yesterday—an explanation relative to your last observation. I was very glad to see how similar it was to yours. So Nadir, in spite of all his compliments, was a little jealous, and to avenge himself he ran to fetch a large book of figures, and the demonstrations that it was necessary to make to me caused me to lose my reason more than once...

“But Ormasis, you have just picked a quarrel with us. My dear Fatima, it is necessary to avenge ourselves. Listen to me. To prove to him that we have given him all our attention, let us raise terrible objections.”

“Gladly,” Fatima replied, “but you’re more learned than me; I leave that to you.”