m lectured there in
October 1864. It will readily be understood that, in a town where there
are so many naval men, his lectures were not altogether so successful as
they have sometimes been in small inland towns. Numbers of naval
officers, however, who were thoroughly well assured of the fact that the
earth is a globe, were not able to demolish the crafty arguments of
Parallax publicly, during the discussions which he challenged at the
close of each lecture. He was too skilled in that sort of evasion which
his assumed name (as interpreted by Liddell and Scott) suggests, to be
readily cornered. When an argument was used which he could not easily
meet, or seem to meet, he would say simply: 'Well, sir, you have now had
your fair share of the discussion; let some one else have his turn.' It
was stated in the newspapers that one of his audience was so wrathful
with the lecturer on account of these evasions, that he endeavoured to
strike Parallax with a knobbed stick at the close of the second lecture;
but probably there was no real foundation for the story.

Mr. Rowbotham did a very bold thing, however, at Plymouth. He undertook
to prove, by observations made with a telescope upon the Eddystone
Lighthouse from the Hoe and from the beach, that the surface of the
water is flat. From the beach usually only the lantern can be seen. From
the Hoe the whole of the lighthouse is visible under favourable
conditions. Duly on the morning appointed, Mr. Rowbotham appeared. From
the Hoe a telescope was directed towards the lighthouse, which was well
seen, the morning being calm and still, and tolerably clear. On
descending to the beach it was found that, instead of the whole lantern
being visible as usual, only half could be seen--a circumstance
doubtless due to the fact that the air's refractive power, which usually
diminishes the dip due to the earth's curvature by about one-sixth part,
was less efficient that morning than usual. The effect of the
peculiarity was manifestly unfavourable to Mr. Rowbotham's theory. The
curvature of the earth produced a greater difference than usual between
the appearance of a distant object as seen from a certain high station
and from a certain low station (though still the difference fell short
of that which would be shown if there were no air). But Parallax claimed
the peculiarity observable that morning as an argument in favour of his
flat earth. It is manifest, he said, that there is something wrong a