From Earth Not a Globe Review, January 1895

By “ Zetetes”

A correspondent, interested in Zetetic Truth, asks me for “ Something

on Gravitation.” I propose, therefore, to give a few of my thoughts

thereon in the Earth Review, as others besides my missionary friend

may be interested in reading something on this subject.

But a difficulty meets one at the outset. How am I to write

“ something” about nothing? I cannot create, as some erroneously

suppose the world was made, out of nothing. Paul says the things which

are seen were not made out of “ phenomena,” or things which do appear ;

but he nowhere teaches that they came out of absolutely nothing, except

invisibility. Now, “ Gravitation ” has been created, not only out of

invisibility, but out of nothing, except the vain imaginations of astronomical

minds. I t was not “ discovered,” but invented; and I shall

proceed to prove that there is no such thing as the “ attraction of

Gravitation ” in God’s universe, and that the phenomena supposed to

countenance the theory are capable of other and more natural interpretations.

O f course, I speak of “ Gravitation ” in the astronomical sense

of a universal power in all bodies, celestial and terrestrial, to attract, or

pull one another together, with forces directly in proportion to their

masses, and inversely as the squares of their distances. So that terrestrial

attraction and phenomena will be seen to be only a small part of this

question of Universal Gravitation. The former we may explain by

weight and currents ; but the latter we utterly deny. Let us try, in the

first place, to realize what is meant by, and implied in the astronomical

theory of gravitation, and its

Universal Attraction

According to this idea, every body in the universe, however large or

small, has the power, by some means or other, to attract, or pull towards

itself, every other body in the universe, however near or distant. Yea,

not only is every body supposed to have this power, but the power is

said to be in actual operation every moment of time for ever. So that,

if I hold an apple in my hand, it is connected with, and pulling at all

the apples in the world ; all the pears and plums, all the trees, gardens,

walls, houses, all the stones, rocks, rivers, and mountains; yea, and every

separate drop of water in the ocean, and every grain of sand on the sea

shore. A n d these are a ll pulling at the apple. Yet it remains passively

on my hand, while I study gravitation, or decide whether I will eat the

apple now, or leave it for further experimentation. This apple ought

to dance about, or at least to show some symptoms of the awful internal

struggles going on within it. Perhaps it has learned the art of appearing

passive, an art which some astronomers seem to acquire, and to keep a

quiet and serene countenance, while internally tortured with ten thousand

doubts and pangs. Ten thousand ! Yea, ten thousand times ten

thousand gravitating cords or strings are pulling at it ! For we must

remember that sun, moon and stars, and supposed millions of millions

of “ other worlds than ours ” are each and all interested in that apple;

and they send out their innumerable long and filamentous fingers to

clutch it out of my open hand. Ye t it remains outwardly unmoved in

.serene and blushing passivity. 1 shall have to eat it, threads and all,

with whatever tentacles, or other attractive matter may be attached to

it! What a peril! But there is such an attractive force, either in the

apple, or in the natural taste God has given us for common fruit, as well,

as for common sense, that I take all risks and disappoint the sun and

stars. I am glad that Newton was led to muse over an apple falling to

the ground by its own weight, when the stalk was rotten. He would

have mused more had it “ fallen ” upwards.

But we, dear reader, can also muse over apples. While so musing, I

wonder why my apple makes no tremulous motion towards the moon,

which is rising as I write, especially as she is now between the two

“ ponderous and superior” planets. Mars and Jupiter, which are approaching

towards conjunction. Ye t through the varying positions and

relationships of the heavenly bodies, as they roll around the world and

my apple, it remained on the shelf twenty-four hours perfectly stationary,

as though no such tremendous forces were playing their mighty artillery

upon it. They may try from their various vantage grounds, east or west,

north or south, mid-heaven or sideways, yet the apple will not move.

Yet a breath would have caused it to roll. There is no proof for

Zetetics of universal attraction in this apple. But perhaps mine is

different from Newton’s. It will not bow to fair Luna as she pulls it

sideways, assisted by the two powerful giants, one on each side, attending

her like guards, much less will it attempt to rise towards the mighty sun

as he pulls with all his meridian power and glory. Its weight is the same

throughout the twenty-four hours. No ! friends. I must see an apple fall

upwards before I believe in solar gravitation.

But a superficial thinker may object that the reason bodies only fall

downwards to the earth is, because the earth being nearer than the sun,

its force of attraction is the greater of the two. Is it ? Let us take

another instance, which proves, not only that there is no such thing as

terrestrial gravitation, or attraction, but which shows that this supposed

power may be defied.