ey treat.

The book which originally led to Mr. Hampden's misfortunes, and has
misled not a few, ought to have deceived none. I have already mentioned
the statement on which Parallax (whose true name is Rowbotham) rested
his theory. Of course, if that statement had been true--if he had, with
his eye a few inches from the surface of the water of the Bedford Canal,
seen an object close to the surface six miles from him--there manifestly
would have been something wrong in the accepted theory about the earth's
rotundity. So, also, if a writer were to announce a new theory of
gravity, stating as the basis of his theory that a heavy missile which
he had thrown into the air had gone upwards on a serpentine course to
the moon, any one who accepted the statement would be logically bound to
admit at least that the fact described was inconsistent with the
accepted theory. But no one would accept such a statement; and no one
should have accepted Mr. Rowbotham's statement.

His statement was believed, however, and perhaps is still believed by
many. Twenty years ago De Morgan wrote that 'the founder of the zetetic
astronomy gained great praise from provincial newspapers for his
ingenuity in proving that the earth is a flat, surrounded by ice,' with
the north polar ice in the middle. 'Some of the journals rather incline
to this view; but the "Leicester Advertiser" thinks that the statement
"would seem to invalidate some of the most important conclusions of
modern astronomy;" while the "Norfolk Herald" is clear that "there must
be great error on one side or the other." ... The fact is worth noting
that from 1849-1857 arguments on the roundness or flatness of the earth
did itinerate. I have no doubt they did much good, for very few persons
have any distinct idea of the evidence for the rotundity of the earth.
The "Blackburn Standard" and "Preston Guardian" (December 12 and 16,
1849) unite in stating that the lecturer ran away from his second
lecture at Burnley, having been rather too hard pressed, at the end of
his first lecture, to explain why the large hull of a ship disappeared
before the masts. The persons present and waiting for the second
lecture assuaged their disappointment by concluding that the lecturer
had slipped off the ice edge of his flat disc, and that he would not be
seen again till he peeped up on the opposite side.' ... 'The zetetic
system,' proceeds De Morgan, 'still lives in lectures and books; as it
ought to do, f