…ofthe Earth That Almost Was.
"Back in 1818, some 500 heads of state, scientific societies, and universities got what could generously be called one of the more singular letters they'd ever received. The immediate giveaway, perhaps, was the attached document proving the sanity of the sender, an American eccentric named John Symmes.
"I declare the earth is hollow," Symmes began, "and habitable within; containing a number of solid concentrick [sic] spheres, one within the other, and that it is open at the poles 12 or 16 degrees; I pledge my life in support of this truth, and am ready to explore the hollow, if the world will support and aid me in the undertaking."
He added with aplomb: "I ask one hundred brave companions, well equipped, to start from Siberia in the fall season, with Reindeer and slays [sic], on the ice of the frozen sea: I engage we find a warm and rich land, stocked with thrifty vegetables and animals if not men, on reaching one degree north-ward of latitude 62; we will return in the succeeding spring."…"
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Amicalement
Armand