New Lands

A Hypertext Edition of Charles Hoy Fort's Book

Edited and Annotated by Mr. X



PART TWO

CHAPTER FOUR




[116]

CHAPTER FOUR


UPON page 287, Popular Astronomy, Newcomb says that it is beyond all "moral probability" that unknown worlds should exist in such numbers as have been reported, and should be seen crossing the solar disc only by amateur observers and not by skilled astronomers.(1)

Most of our instances are reports by some of the best-known astronomers.

Newcomb says that for fifty years prior to his time of writing (edition of 1878) the sun had been studied by such men as Schwabe, Carrington, Secchi, and Spörer, and that they had never seen unknown bodies cross the sun —

Aug. 30, 1863 — an unknown body was seen by Spörer to cross the sun (Webb, Celestial Objects, p. 45).(2)

Sept. 1, 1859 — two star-like objects that were seen by Carrington to cross the sun (Monthly Notices, 20-13, 15, 88).(3)

Things that have crossed the sun, July 31, 1826, and May 26, 1828 — see Comptes Rendus, 83-623, and Webb's Celestial Objects, p. 40.(4) From Sept. 6 to Nov. 1, 1831, an unknown luminous object was seen every cloudless night, at Geneva, by Dr. Wartmann and his assistants (Comptes Rendus, 2-307).(5) It was reported from nowhere else. What all the other astronomers were doing, Sept.-Oct., 1831, is one of the mysteries that we shall not solve. An unknown, luminous object that was seen, from May 11 to May 14, 1835, by Cacciatore, the Sicilian astronomer (Amer. Jour. Sci., 31-158).(6) Two unknowns that according to Pastorff, crossed the sun, Nov. 1, 1836, and Feb. 16, 1837 (An. Sci. Disc., 1860-410) — De Vico's unknown, July 12, 1837, (Observatory, 2-424) — observation by De Cuppis, Oct. 2, 1839 (C.R., 83-314) — by Scott and Wray, last of June, 1847; by Schmidt, Oct. 11, 1847 (C.R., 83-623) — two dark bodies that were seen, Feb. 5, 1849, by Brown, of Deal (Rec. Sci., 1-138) — object watched by [116/117] Sidebotham, half an hour, March 12, 1849, crossing the sun, (C.R., 83-622) — Schmidt's unknown, Oct. 14, 1849 (Observatory, 3-137) — and an object that was watched, four nights in October, 1850, by James Ferguson, of the Washington Observatory.(7) Mr. Hind believed this object to be a Trans-Neptunian planet, and calculated for it a period of 1,600 years. Mr. Hind was a great astronomer, and he miscalculated magnificently: this floating island of space was not seen again (Smithson. Miscell. Cols., 20-20).(8)

About May 30, 1853 — a black point that was seen against the sun, by Jaennicke (Cosmos, 20-64).(9)

A procession — in the Rept. B.A., 1855-94, R.P. Greg says that, upon May 22, 1854, a friend of his saw, near Mercury, an object equal in size to the planet itself, and behind it an elongated object, and behind that something else, smaller and round.(10)

June 11, 1855 — a dark body of such size that it was seen, without telescopes, by Ritter and Schmidt, crossing the sun (Observatory, 3-137).(11) Sept. 12, 1857 — Ohrt's unknown world; seemed to be about the size of Mercury (C.R., 83-623) — Aug. 1, 1858 — unknown world reported by Wilson, of Manchester (Astro. Reg., 9-287).(12)

I am not listing all the unknowns of a period; perhaps the object reported by John H. Tice, of St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 15, 1859, should not be included; Mr. Tice was said not to be trustworthy — but who has any way of knowing?(13) However, I am listing enough of these observations to make me feel like a translated European of some centuries ago, relatively to a wider existence — lands that may be the San Salvadors, Greenlands, Madagascars, Cubas, Australias of extra-geography, all of them said to have crossed the sun, whereas the sun may have moved behind some of them —

Jan. 29, 1860 — unknown object, of planetary size, reported from London, by Russell and three other observers (Nature, 15-505).(14) Summer of 1860 — see Sci. Amer., 35-340, for an account, by Richard Covington, of an object, that without a telescope, he saw crossing the sun.(15) An unknown world, reported by Loomis, of Manchester, March 20, 1862 (Monthly Notices, 22-232) — a newspaper account of an object that was seen crossing the sun, [117/118] Feb. 12, 1864, [b]y Samuel Beswick, of New York (Astro. Reg., 2-161) — unknown that was seen March 8, 1865, at Constantinople (L'Ann. Sci., 1865-16) — unknown "cometic objects" that were seen, November 4, 9, and 18, 1865 (Monthly Notices, 26-242).(16)

Most of these unknowns were seen in the daytime. Several reflections arise. How can there be stationary regions over Irkutsk, Comrie, and Birmingham, and never obscure the stars — or never be seen to obscure the stars? A heresy that seems too radical for me is that they may be beyond nearby stars. A more reasonable idea is that if nightwatchmen and policemen and other persons who do stay awake nights, should be given telescopes, something might be found out. Something else that one thinks of is that, if so many unknowns have been seen crossing the sun, or crossed by the sun, others not so revealed must exist in great numbers, and that instead of being virtually blank, space must be archipelagoic.

Something that was seen at night; observer not an astronomer —

Nov. 6, 1866 — an account, in the London Times, Jan. 2, 1867, by Senor De Fonblanque, of the British Consulate, at Carthegena, U.S. Colombia, of a luminous object that moved in the sky.(17) "It was of the magnitude, color, and brilliance of a ship's red light, as seen at a distance of 200 yards." The object was visible three minutes, and then disappeared behind buildings. De Fonblanque went to an open space to look for it, but did not see it again.


Footnotes

1. Simon Newcomb. Popular Astronomy. 1st ed. London: Macmillan and Co., 1878, 287. 2d London ed. Macmillan and Co., 1883, 295.

2. Thomas William Webb. Celestial Objects. 4th ed. 1881. 6th ed., 1917. 4th ed., 45.

3. R.C. Carrington. "Description of a singular appearance seen in the Sun on September 1, 1859." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 20 (November 1859): 13-5. R. Hodgson. "On a curious appearance seen in the Sun." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 20 (November 1859): 15-6. C. Piazzi Smyth. "Suggestions connected with the Carrington-and-Hodgson solar phenomenon of 1st Sept. 1859." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 20 (January 1860): 88-91.

4. Urban Jean Joseph LeVerrier. "Examen des observations qu'on a présentées, à diverses époques, comme pouvant appartenir aux passages d'une planète intra-mercurielle (suite). Discussion et conclusions." Comptes Rendus, 83 (1876): 583-9, 621-4, 647-50, 719-23, at 621. Thomas William Webb. Celestial Objects. 4th ed. 1881. 6th ed., 1917.

5. "Lettre de M. Wartmann, de Genève, à M. Arago, sur un astre ayant l'aspect d'une étoile et qui cependant était doué d'un mouvement propre." Comptes Rendus, 2 (1836): 307-11. Wartmann mentions only one assistant, ("un excellent chercheur de Cauchoix.")

6. "Supposed new planet." American Journal of Science, s. 1, 31 (1837): 158-9. Cacciatore noted what he first believed was an eighth magnitude star on May 11, 1835; but, with his next observation, on May 14, 1835, its position had changed relative to another star, and he thought the object either a comet or planet beyond Uranus. Clouded skies prevented further observations until June 2, 1835; but, by then, the object had been lost. "Cacciatore's supposed planet of 1835." Nature, 18 (July 4, 1878): 261.

7. "New planets." Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1860, 409-11. "Search for Vulcan." Observatory, 2 (1878-79): 424. "Extrait d'une lettre du P. Ferrari à M. Mouchez, relativement à la planète intra-mercurielle." Comptes Rendus, 88 (March 3, 1879): 413. Urban Jean Joseph LeVerrier. "Examen des observations qu'on a présentées, à diverses époques, comme pouvant appartenir aux passages d'une planète intra-mercurielle (suite). Discussion et conclusions." Comptes Rendus, 83 (1876): 583-9, 621-4, 647-50, 719-23; at 622. E.J. Lowe. "Meteors, or falling stars." Recreative Science, 1 (1860): 130-8, at 138. E. Ledger. "Observations or supposed observations of the transits of intra-Mercurial planets or other bodies across the Sun's disk." Observatory, 3 (1879-80): 135-8, at 137.

8. "151st Meeting. December 7, 1878." Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington, 3 (1878-80): 20-1. Included within: Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 20 (1881): 20-1. C.H.F. Peters. "Investigation of the evidence of a supposed trans-Neptunian planet in the Washington observations of 1850." And, "Letter from Admiral John Rodgers, Superintendent of Naval Observatory at Washington." Astronomische Nachrichten, n.2240 c.113-6. Ferguson's alleged planet was discussed earlier in Part 1, ch. 2.

9. "Point noir et rond sur le soleil." Cosmos: Revue Encyclopedic, 20 (January 17, 1862): 64. The date of Jaennicke's observation was on August 30, 1853, not in May.

10. Baden Powell "Report on observations of luminous meteors, 1854-55." Annual Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1855, 79-100, at 94.

11. E. Ledger. "Observations or supposed observations of the transits of intra-Mercurial planets or other bodies across the Sun's disk." Observatory, 3 (1879-80): 135-8, at 137.

12. Urban Jean Joseph LeVerrier. "Examen des observations qu'on a présentées, à diverses époques, comme pouvant appartenir aux passages d'une planète intra-mercurielle (suite). Discussion et conclusions." Comptes Rendus, 83 (1876): 583-9, 621-4, 647-50, 719-23; at 623. For Ohrt's original report: "Vermischte nachrichten." Astronomische Nachrichten, no. 1269, 333-4. William F. Denning. "The total eclipse in December next." Astronomical Register, 9, 286-7, at 287.

13. Tice provides a detailed summary of how the planet that he claimed to have seen transit the sun, on September 15, 1859, was calculated to have an orbital period of 23.02 days, (at a time when Leverrier was alterring Vulcan's orbital period from 42.2 days to 28.00774 days); and, Tice claimed its size to be "at least equal to that of Uranus," and to have observed it with his family in June of 1876. John H. Tice. "The supposed planet Vulcan." Scientific American, n.s., 35 (December 16, 1876): 389. "The inter-Mercurial planet." Scientific American, n.s. 35 (October 21, 1876): 257. However, Proctor points out that, to make Lescarbault's observation on March 26, 1859, conform with his system of weather prediction and his alleged observation on September 15, 1859, Tice failed to note "a certain number of revolutions, plus one half, were required, unless Vulcan were to be seen through the sun," (or, when Vulcan was in superior conjunction with the sun, rather than inferior conjunction). "From the day when he made this mistake `Professor' Tice, as he was called, began to lose ground even with the exceedingly ignorant persons who, until then, had put faith in him." Richard Anthony Proctor. Old and New Astronomy. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1892, 425.

14. F.A.R. Russell. "An Intra-Mercurial planet." Nature, 14 (October 5, 1876): 505.

15. Richard Covington. "The supposed planet Vulcan." Scientific American, n.s., 35 (November 25, 1876): 340-1.

16. John R. Hind. "Note on a dark, circular spot upon the Sun's disk, with rapid motion, as observed by W. Lummis, Esq., of Manchester, 1862, March 20." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 22 (April 1862): 232. The name of the observer was W. Lummis, (not Loomis). "Lescarbault's planet(?)." Astronomical Register, 2, 161. "La planète intramercurielle." Année Scientifique et Industrielle, 10 (1865): 16-7. This observation was made by Coumbary. C.G. Talmage. "On a probable observation of Biela's comet." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 26 (April 1866): 241-2. James Buckingham. "Supposed observation of Biela's comet." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 26 (May 1866): 271-2.

17. A. De G. De Fonblanque. "Meteor." London Times, January 2, 1867, p.11 c.5. The city is now Cartagena, Columbia. Correct quote: "...magnitude, colour, and brilliancy of a ship's red light...."




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