Comment

The Cave of the Winds (Purucker)

Solar and Terrestrial Magnetism (Purucker)

Other Quotations (Purucker/Blavatsky)

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Introduction

An article entitled ‘The Hollow Globe. By M.L. Sherman.’ was published in The Theosophist, vol. 5, no. 10, July 1884, pp. 251-4. It is a review of The Hollow Globe; or the World’s Agitator and Reconciler. A treatise on the physical conformation of the earth, a book which, according to the title page, was ‘presented through the organism of M.L. Sherman, M.D., and written by Prof. Wm.F. Lyon’ (Chicago: Religio-Philosophical Publishing House, 1871 [Health Research reprint, 1971]; 2nd ed., 1876). The manner in which The Hollow Globe came to be written is explained in the Introduction to the book; the information channelled through Sherman was elaborated upon by Lyon.

The review article in The Theosophist is essentially a summary of the book, consisting largely of sentences and phrases lifted straight from the book itself. The main exception is the final paragraph, along with a few very brief comments here and there. The article is unsigned, implying that it was written by the editor of The Theosophist, H.P. Blavatsky (presumably in consultation with her adept teachers). The same issue of The Theosophist contains two other unsigned articles that are attributed to Blavatsky. Both of them are included in volume 6 of H.P. Blavatsky Collected Writings (pp. 239-48), compiled by Boris de Zirkoff, whereas ‘The Hollow Globe’ is not. In fact, with the exception of the hollow globe article, every major unsigned article in volume 5 of The Theosophist (Oct. 1883 - Sept. 1884) is attributed to Blavatsky and included in the Collected Writings. Moreover, with one minor exception, there are no articles in volume 5 of The Theosophist that are actually signed ‘H.P. Blavatsky’ or ‘H.P.B.’, though there are many notes signed ‘Ed.’ or ‘Editor’. The hollow globe article has previously been published as an appendix to The Hollow Earth by Dr Raymond Bernard (Health Research, 1977, pp. 134-42).

H.P. Blavatsky was not in India at the time the ‘hollow globe’ article appeared. She and H.S. Olcott sailed from India for Europe on 20 February 1884. Olcott returned to the Theosophical Society Headquarters at Adyar on 15 November 1884, and Blavatsky on 21 December 1884. A notice in the March 1884 issue of The Theosophist (p. 154) stated that during Blavatsky’s absence the journal would be conducted by T. Subba Row, who, like Blavatsky, was a chela of Master M, and that Blavatsky would continue to send her articles. However, management remained largely in the hands of Damodar K. Mavalankar, a chela of Mahatma KH; a notice in the September 1884 issue of the journal stated that Damodar ‘continues in charge of the Theosophist’ (p. 303). That Damodar sometimes received advice from KH on The Theosophist is shown by the following brief note, found annexed to an article which was later published in the magazine (Supplement, February, 1884, p. 30): ‘I want you to have this followed by Subram’s statement. You may take out something else from the Supplement’ (See Sven Eek, Dâmodar and the Pioneers of the Theosophical Movement, pp. 527-8).

KH made several (anonymous) contributions to The Theosophist himself, such as an article on matter and force in the September 1882 issue. In a letter to A.P. Sinnett (February 1883) he refers to a book on Buddhism that is full of fallacies and says: ‘I will have it slightly reviewed by Subba Row or H.P.B., furnishing them with notes myself’ (Mahatma Letters, p. 201).

The August 1884 issue of The Theosophist (p. 270) included a brief report looking back at the fifth year of the magazine’s existence. It stated: ‘The teachings of occultism which the MAHATMAS have recently given out, and some of which were written by themselves, during the last year, have attracted the attention of many of the leading thinkers of the West, from whom we have received appreciative and encouraging letters.’ This is most likely a reference to the ‘Replies to an English F.T.S.’, written by three adepts; the last of the Replies appeared in the October and November 1883 issues of the journal (see Collected Writings, 5:129-275).

The final paragraph of the hollow globe article begins:

The author’s views [i.e. the author of the Hollow Globe book] about the sun spots, of the invisible planets existing beyond the orbit of Uranus and of the world’s builders have recently been to some extent corroborated in some of the ‘Fragments of Occult Truth’ and other teachings given in the Theosophist, and they bear internal evidence of having been derived from the same source. Whether this view is correct or not, they show certainly a high grade of intelligence, and their conclusions are perfectly logical . . .

The reference here is probably to: (a) parts 4 and 5 of ‘Fragments of Occult Truth’, which were published in The Theosophist in October and November 1882 and were written by A.P. Sinnett on the basis of communications with masters M and KH (the first instalment appeared in Oct. 1881, and the eighth and final instalment in May 1883); (b) the first two answers forming part of the ‘Replies to an English F.T.S.’, published in September 1883. The hollow globe article could therefore have been written before Blavatsky’s departure for Europe.

The article certainly appears to support the basic thesis of the Hollow Globe book. However, as already stated, it is essentially a summary of the book, and the fact that it refrains from detailed comment should not be taken as an automatic endorsement of everything the book says. Leaving aside the proposed theory of the earth’s interior, the book contains certain statements that are clearly at variance with theosophical teachings. It is worth noting that the ‘Fragments of Occult Truth’, though based on the masters’ teachings, also contained errors and that they were left uncorrected at the time.

The hollow globe article did not give rise to any discussion in the pages of The Theosophist. It was however referred to in an article entitled ‘Earthquakes and volcanoes’, which appeared in the July 1885 issue of the magazine (pp. 245-6). It was written by ‘H.’ (probably Franz Hartmann). It is followed by a brief editorial comment, presumably written by Blavatsky, which appears on the surface to contradict the hollow globe article. It is not included in volume 6 of the Collected Writings. In fact, a great many editorial notes in volume 6 of The Theosophist are not included in the Collected Writings. At the time the article by H appeared, Blavatsky was no longer living in India. She sailed from India on 31 March 1885, accompanied by Hartmann, Mary Flynn, and Bawaji. They reached Naples, Italy, on 23 April, and then went to Torre del Greco, a place referred to in the article by H.

There are no direct references to the hollow earth in The Secret Doctrine, but what is said about the ‘first continent’ at the ‘north pole’ may certainly be of relevance. See Theosophy and the Seven Continents.

W.Q. Judge stayed in Europe for a while in early 1884, on his way to India. In May he spent three weeks with Blavatsky near Paris and helped her with the writing of The Secret Doctrine. Ernest Pelletier suggests that Judge might have written the hollow globe article himself, with Blavatsky’s endorsement, and then sent it to India (The Judge Case, Edmonton Theos. Soc., 2004, pt. 1, p. 321). Judge landed in Bombay on 15 July 1884, in the same month as the hollow globe article was published, and reached Adyar on 10 August, a month before the vindictive Mme Coulomb launched her public attack on Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society. He returned to New York in October 1884.

Judge certainly took an interest in the subject of the hollow earth. In The Ocean of Theosophy (1893) he writes that the adepts, our elder brothers,

investigate all things and beings; . . . they have made minute observations, through trained psychics among their own order, into the unseen realms of nature and of mind, recorded the observations and preserved the record; they have mastered the mysteries of sound and color through which alone the elemental beings behind the veil of matter can be communicated with, and thus can tell why the rain falls and what it falls for, whether the earth is hollow or not, what makes the wind to blow and light to shine, and . . . the meaning and the times of the cycles. (pp. 4-5)

An article entitled ‘Two spiritualistic prophecies’, which is attributed to Judge, was published in the December 1893 issue of The Path (vol. 8, pp. 279-80). The first prophecy mentions the hollow earth theory. Judge also wrote an article entitled ‘The skin of the earth’ (The Path, vol. 4, 1889, pp. 208-11), which speaks of caverns fathoms deep below the planet’s surface, and describes the invisible elemental beings, on and within the earth, which sustain the earth’s motions and are influenced by human thoughts.

Another overt reference to the hollow earth was made by G. de Purucker in a question and answer session in 1930 (Dialogues of G. de Purucker, 2:325-6). He explicitly states that the earth is not ‘hollow’ (but in what sense?; see Comment). Purucker’s remarks on the earth’s poles and the cave of the winds (Studies in Occult Philosophy, pp. 321-2) and on solar and terrestrial magnetism (Fountain-Source of Occultism, pp. 305-8) do not necessarily require a hollow earth but they are certainly of relevance to the subject. A few other quotations (mostly from Purucker), open to interpretation, are also given.

Clearly, theosophical references to the earth’s inner constitution and the hollow earth theory appear to be inconsistent – a mixture of hints and blinds which students are left to interpret as best they can.

For a study of the hollow earth theory, see Mysteries of the Inner Earth.

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THE HOLLOW GLOBE. By M.L. Sherman.

[The Theosophist, July 1884, pp. 251-4]

Leaving aside the question of the supposed origin of this book as a spirit communication (the ‘Spirit’ may have been an ‘Adept’), its central idea is that this globe of ours is constructed in the form of a hollow sphere, with a shell some thirty to forty miles in thickness, and that the interior surface, which is a beautiful world, in a more highly developed condition than the exterior, is accessible by a circuitous and spirally formed aperture, that may be found in the unexplored open Polar Sea, and this opening affords easy navigation by a broad and deep channel leading from one surface to the other, and that the largest ships or steamers may sail or steam either way, with as much facility, as they can pass through any other winding or somewhat crooked channel.

As the author has not seen himself the interior of this inner world, but depends in giving his details about the same on clairvoyant examinations, and as no Polar expedition has yet reached the pole, although some expeditions came very near to it, and there being apparently nothing to prevent them from reaching it, unless indeed it may have been the exercise of some occult power – the author of course cannot positively prove that the globe is hollow and inhabited, but he does this negatively by proving that it cannot be otherwise.

He first shows that every noted event in history has occurred in exact order, and in its proper time and place, in regular succession; so that it could not have possibly occurred sooner, nor longer delayed. Each event took place in exact accordance with man’s condition at the period of its occurrence. Gunpowder, steamships, printing presses, electric telegraphs were inventions born of the time when necessity called them into existence. When Catholic supremacy and intolerance overran all Western Europe, an obscure young sailor was deeply impressed with an idea that finally resulted in the discovery of what was termed a new world, new western countries became settled in proportion as old eastern countries became overpopulated, the ever surging tide of emigration has steadily rolled on in its onward course from Central Asia through the continent of Europe, then across the Atlantic to the Eastern shores of America, through the wilderness and across the desert plains and precipitous mountain ranges, until it finds itself opposed by the broad waters of the Pacific Ocean, with a densely populated country on the other side.

Emigration like revolutions never moves backward if it can no more reach forward to the West; it must spread to the North and South. The coming emigration to the North has already been foreshadowed by the purchase of the Russian Possessions in North America by the United States. Alaska seems to be the future halfway station between America and the North Pole, where the extensive steamship lines, which at no remote period will be established, will take in their supplies of coal. At the present rate of increase, in less than a hundred years from now, America will have a population of over 400 millions and a new territory must be found to accommodate them. Such a territory will be found by following the warm Kuro Siva current of the Pacific ocean through Behring’s Strait into the open Polar sea.

Having once penetrated the frigid belt, we find there an ocean of some 1,200 miles in diameter with a temperate climate. Man seems to be irresistibly attracted to it, for in spite of all the failures, caused mostly by serious blunders of scientific men, Polar expeditions will be continued, until we finally shall succeed in entering the charmed circle, which is bordered by a frozen zone of some ten degrees latitude, generally ranging from 70 to 80 degrees. Within this circle the climate cannot be dependent for its temperature to any considerable extent upon those causes that regulate the changes of the seasons south of the glacial belt, by which it is surrounded. For if dependent upon such, it would for ever remain locked in the frozen embrace of the vast fields of ice, that would accumulate from year to year and from age to age. Those great formations would have naturally encroached upon the temperate latitudes, thus extending their area and depth, until all the waters upon the face of the earth would have been attracted thither to swell the increasing glaciers of the Arctic regions, and all the solar and other influences operating in the temperate zones could not have prevented the catastrophe, had not the great presiding mind ordered it differently, by arranging this globe so that a temperate clime might also exist at this polar extreme. This makes the open Polar Sea a necessity, and it seems rather strange that navigators have never entered the same. Some of them declare that there was nothing in view to hinder, for, as far as their eyes or glasses would reach towards the North, all was open; no impediments in the way; but they did not go on. Some inexplicable reason prevented those parties from pursuing where the road lay open before them, and has prevented their successors from finding any open pathway, and the great geographical enigma of our globe still remains unsolved, waiting for a Columbus to solve it.

Captain Parry in 1810 saw no visible signs of ice in the very highest latitude he reached; Wrangle in 1820, far to the north and east of Behring’s Straits, saw no appearance of ice, but for some strange reasons these navigators did not prosecute their explorations. Whalers and others insist on having seen the open Polar Sea, and the Kuro Siva and Gulf stream are positive proofs of its existence. Its temperate climate may be attributed to the longitudinal electro-magnetic currents, converging into a common focus at or near the pole and their entering the shell. These converging activities, passing through water or the more solid earth to the interior surface, must necessarily produce considerable heat, doubtless sufficient to prevent the freezing of the waters of the entire polar circle.

The defenders of the igneous theory of the interior of the earth describe the same as an immense bombshell, filled brimful with intensely molten lava, surrounded by a crust from twenty-five to sixty miles in thickness. In support of their views, they tell us of the increasing temperature as we go downwards into the earth, the igneous formation of granite, the supposed action of hot water upon the lower sedimentary rocks, the large extent of territory affected by earthquakes, the vast amount of lava thrown from volcanoes and the continuous activity of the same.

The prominent argument for the existence of this scientific hell has been the increase of temperature as we penetrate the earth, generally about one degree in fifty or sixty feet; but it has been found that in deep soundings of the ocean the water was colder as they approached the sea bottom. The ocean has given us access to a point 37,000 feet nearer this terrible imaginary furnace, but that tremendous depth failed to present any indications of increasing temperature. Lately an artesian well was sunk in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, to the depth of 3,843 1/2 feet, and by so doing the question of increasing temperature has been settled for ever. It not only did not support the theory of internal heat, but proved exactly the opposite and established the theory of internal cold. Instead of placing below our feet the most active and dangerous materials, that would be constantly making disturbance, the controlling intelligence has placed there the most inactive, that would lie still. It was found that at the boring of that well the heat increased until they had measured 3,209 feet, where the temperature was 107 degrees F. It then began to sink, and at 3,817 feet it showed a temperature of 106 degrees – and at 3,827 the thermometer fell to 105 degrees. At this rate we would arrive at a depth of about nine miles a temperature somewhat below zero, and doubtless still farther below we should find the foundations of this globe in that frozen negative condition that will induce them to lie still until all the great destined changes can take place upon and near the surface, that have been provided for in the vast programme of the world’s past and future history.

If we construct a sphere of eighty inches in diameter instead of 8,000 miles with a shell of four-tenths of an inch in thickness, we would have the relative proportions of the earth’s interior and its crust as given by our fire-philosophers. We may now place within the interior liquid fire at 7,000 degrees – which, says Prof. Hitchcock, is sufficient to melt all the materials of the rocks; and no intelligent person could be found, who would not arrive at the conclusion that the shell itself would soon become a liquid mass as its entire contents are only one thirty-fifth part of the fire within.

It is difficult to conceive of an idea more repugnant to our natures, or one more horrible to contemplate, than that the vast interior of our globe, which might easily have been fitted up so grandly and beautifully, and subserve the glorious purpose of producing and sustaining human intelligence, should have been so miserably ruined by being filled brimming full of incandescent lava.

We pass for the present to a consideration of the supposed igneous formation of the granite rocks, and come to that period where it is said that in consequence of great internal heat the earth’s surface produces a wonderful prolific growth of vegetation of gigantic proportions, such as enormous tree ferns, calamites, sigillaria and numerous varieties that have left their fossil remains on top of the Devonian and immediately below the coal formation. It appears that this immense flora was found upon the top of a very extensive formation, which is still above another of fossiliferous rocks that had been the residence of organic living beings for untold ages before this growth existed. Now the difficulty seems to be, not to produce the extensive growth of vegetation, but to obtain the amount of heat from the internal source that would transform these forests into bituminous and anthracite coal and still permit the existence of vegetable and animal life to continue. A heat, sufficient to produce even charcoal, would not be considered conducive to healthy growth of such life, and it is evident that many ages previous to the coal period these forms of life existed and flourished as all the paleozoic rocks testify. After the crust has so cooled down as to produce vegetable and animal life, it would be impossible many ages afterwards to get up a heat that would make the world a universal coalpit. The causes of the great coal fields that now supply our manufactories, steam engines and dwellings with fuel, must be looked for in some other direction, which the author explains, but which space does not permit us to examine.

Volcanoes are supposed to be vent holes or chimneys that reach from the surface to the great fire within, contrived for the purpose of safety valves that may permit any surplus gases or dangerous elements to escape. No one will deny that a globe of molten lava, that has an area of nearly 200,000,000 square miles, and a heat of over 7,000°F. and only enclosed by a frail crust of about forty miles in depth, would require at least all the open chimneys that are known to exist in the shape of active volcanoes upon the globe. But these active volcanoes are neither numerous nor regularly distributed, and the disturbed and explosive elements might some day be found unwilling to go very far out of the way to accommodate any portion of the outside world. A certain able but eccentric geologist tells us that a large portion of the active volcanoes have been extinguished by the sea running into the crater and extinguishing the fire, and, to show that he is serious, he intimates that there are men in New England who, for a suitable compensation, would undertake to construct a subterranean tunnel from the Mediterranean to Mount Vesuvius, to let in a stream of water of sufficient magnitude to quench that infernal monster. He thus resembles the incompetent engineer, sitting on the safety valve of his engine, to increase the pressure of steam, and if the igneous theory is correct, we may expect to see our globe torn to pieces at any time by some blundering scientist.

But fortunately we are not in such a precarious situation. There are other and better reasons to explain the causes of the existence of volcanoes and earthquakes. We are told that volcanoes belch forth volumes of dense smoke with lurid flames and ashes in enormous quantities, cinders, scoria and mud, steam, sand, lapilly, rocks of various dimensions, and lava; and it is somewhat remarkable that the lava is not very thoroughly melted. These materials must have come from reservoirs where they severally had an existence; they could not have been brought from any place where they did not exist, and we often see that when such reservoirs have become exhausted, the mountain is swallowed up in the vacancy thus produced. Moreover many of the substances thrown out are combustibles. Why have they not been consumed at a heat that may be 10,000°? Smoke and cinders are the result of the combustion of organic substances, and certainly no organic substance can have existed at a temperature that will melt granite rock. These substances must have been the results of evolution after granite was formed. Neither could there have be any water or mud. The force which throws out rocks at the distance of 6,000 feet above the summit of Cotapaxi, which is nearly 18,000 feet high, must necessarily be backed by something more permanent than a liquid globe of molten granite, as the explosive force in a volcano must act in the same manner as it does in a gun; it must have a solid resisting basis to receive the recoil. It is therefore clear that the origin of volcanoes must be looked for amongst the great fires that are kindled in cavities in the interior of earth’s crust, and such cavities have been discovered. But these cavities have a solid bottom, and far below them is the region of undisturbed repose. The causes of volcanoes can be found in the oil-bearing rocks, which, according to Prof. Denton, are of great thickness and vast extent, and some of the petroleum shales are so rich, that sixty gallons of oil may be distilled from a single ton.

As the igneous theory does not explain the existence of volcanoes, so does it not account for the phenomena of earthquakes. If earthquakes are caused by the quaking of an interior globe of molten lava, why do they not extend simultaneously all over the earth’s surface? How can they be limited in extent? Space forbids us to go into a detailed account of the supposed causes of earthquakes, given by various authors, and which, on account of their absurdity, are more amusing than instructive. Some say that vast cavities exist between the rolling fiery mass and the superincumbent crust, and, from some impending cause, large rocks weighing millions of tons, become detached and fall into the boiling flood below, where they sink to the centre because the specific gravity of solid granite rock is greater than that of a homogeneous molten mass of the same material. But if so, how could the solid granite crust ever have been formed, and would not in such a case the interior of the globe be solid, and the outside liquid fire? But without entering into the details of such absurdities, we find in the exterior shell sufficient inherent powers to explain all the superficial tremblings and vibrations that ever occurred, and when the electro-magnetic currents of our earth are better studied the causes of earthquakes will also be understood, just as the causes of thunder and lightning in the atmosphere are no longer unknown.

The author then proceeds to speak about the positive and negative, male and female, material and spiritual elements and forces. He shows that they pervade the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms of our world. He says that there exists another force, more powerful than electricity, which he calls Aura, and which we suppose to be identical with the Akasa of the Occultists. If it were not for a continuation of these forces, the revolutions of our world would cease and motion be changed into inactivity. We must keep in view that these counter elements diffuse themselves throughout all things, and have done so from all eternity. The forces which pre-existed and gave form to the accretions of materialized particles, being invisible to us, may be properly termed the spiritual essences (elementals) that exist in all forms of matter, through which they express themselves to our vision, and if such forces may exist separate and independent of the visible material forms, then it follows that such forms or aggregated atoms do not add to the original power of the pre-existing spiritualized forces. Thus all forms or aggregations of matter must have had a spiritual (elemental) essence, which acted as a preordinate cause for the production of form, and if so there must have been a spiritual essence or form to the globe we inhabit, containing all the forces that now exist in the structure; and the particles which compose our world have taken their respective places in accordance with these pre-existing forces, and these forces have been governed and directed by an intelligent power in a spiritual condition, exercising Will.

Magnetism and Electricity are the two great positive and negative powers in nature. They are contained in all substances and are evolved from the mineral kingdom. The original granite contains all that there is in the universe. Hence it will be difficult to find the dividing line between matter and force; for both are one and the same indivisible element (the positive and negative poles of one eternal principle). Aura is evidently an element that bears a very close relationship to the above named forces, and being far more sublimated in its character, it acts in various capacities, where the magnetic and electric fluids would be powerless. The latter act on a lower plane, but there are higher duties which call for more refined and etherealized powers, and it has long been understood that the human organization was pervaded by an element variously called nerve aura or odylic force, which occupies the brain and extends to the remotest corners of the physical body. This etherealized essence is the offspring of the Electro-magnetic fluid, and frequently displays its glories in the polar regions of this hemisphere and is known as the Aurora Borealis.

The author discusses these various forces and their correlations at length, and gradually introduces us into the realm of life. He shows that wherever effects have been produced, there must have been causes adequate to produce them. He shows that the law of eternal progress pervades all nature, and that in the course of ages our material globe will become more refined and be the fit abode for a superior race. He examines the nature of gravitation, and shows that it is only the feeble arm of those universal Electro-magnetic forces that pervade all nature. Gravity is no traveller, rushing from planet to planet, to draw heavenly bodies from their predestined courses. It is only an inferior force inherent in matter and a condition of the same, changed, counteracted and superseded by superior forces, as we see every day in the growth of plants and animals, the rising of vapour, etc. Each material aggregation and molecular organization has a pre-existing elemental form, and each elemental form has within itself the inherent forces to attract the grosser materials, by which it manifests itself to the eyes of men. Matter attracts matter, and a sympathetic cord exists between the orbs of space; but the powers which have been ascribed wrongly to gravitation belong to Electro-magnetic influences, and gravitation cannot exist until there is a mutual relationship established between two material bodies, one apparently exerting power over the other in consequence of superior size and density. The larger body attracts the smaller one, and there can be no particular geometrical centre of attraction with gravitation any more than with cohesion, but that force lies in the general direction of the largest accumulation of particles, as is proven by pendulum experiments in the vicinity of mountains. All ponderable substances will be held upon the surface of our globe, whether it may be a solid globe and have but one exterior surface, or a spherical shell with both convex and concave surfaces. If you are on the inner surface of the spherical shell of our globe, you are so far as gravity is concerned, as much upon the upper side as you would be upon the exterior of a solid globe. There can be found nothing attached to the geometrical centre of our globe, that should make it a central moving point, from which gravity should proceed, any more than there is to any other point in space. Neither can the supposed gravity of the Moon be the cause of the tides, as the author explains.

The author next enquires into the nature of the sun, and demonstrates that the sun cannot be a fiery mass of molten matter. He enquires into the sources of light and proves that the emanation theory is wrong, and that the theory of undulations can only hold good within the limits of our atmosphere. All these theories present innumerable difficulties, but when we fall back upon the development theory, we find a harmonious explanation. All globes must have commenced their career in a feeble, infantile condition, as regards light and heat, very gradually developing out of that condition to a more advanced state, and hence it is that all globes or planets in all their several situations, are receiving just the amount they need, and no more than will correspond with their several circumstances.

The development of their inherent powers are such as to modify the solar influences, and these solar influences are simply caused by the Electro-magnetic relations existing between these globes and the sun. In the sun we behold an unfolding of those inherent powers that we possess, and always have possessed in a latent condition, that will ultimately render us less dependent upon the great orb of day, because we are developing the same powers that exist in the sun in all their magnificence and glory. And if it is conceded that we have unfolded in any sense of the word, that we have travelled a portion of the journey from the electric condition of the new formed moon, to the resplendent magnetic glory of the full grown sun, what shall hinder us from accomplishing the entire distance and becoming like the sun entirely dependent upon our own resources for light and heat? There can be no doubt, but the wisdom and power, that contrived the machinery of the solar system, can ultimately furnish the means for lighting and warming each planet independently, because we have the very same elements that are contained in the sun.

Electricity is expressive of coldness and inactivity. Magnetism is a synonym of life, heat, and activity. When the negative element becomes permeated to any extent with the positive, it becomes subject to change and becomes progressive; for the positive and negative, being male and female, reproduce themselves or their likeness, and whenever the two elements come into contact, from that moment change and progress commence. So if worlds in an infantile condition are almost purely electric and negative, then there can be very little magnetic or positive element within them with which the great fountain and head of these powers can affinitize, in order to produce those activities and frictionizing processes, that result in heat and light. Hence we perceive that Mercury being younger and less developed, is, of course more electrical and has more of cold, darkness and inactivity, and less positive active elements to assimilate with those contained in the sun; but she has some advantage in point of distance, and that fact assists in modifying her light and heat to suit her condition, and the quantity and quality of light, as well as heat depends almost exclusively upon the conditions of the several planets.

The only reason why darkness arises upon that side of our earth which is opposite the sun, is simply because the positive active elements of magnetism and aura, &c., are not sufficiently elaborated to produce the necessary activities independently of the energizing influences of the powers contained in the sun; but in a billion or more years, when our orbit is extended beyond the one in which Jupiter now travels, and the annual revolution of the earth shall equal twelve of our years instead of one, the feeble light producing elements upon this globe shall be developed to that condition, in which they will possess the power to furnish the necessary illumination upon every side and in all latitudes. This is already the case with other higher developed planets. Uranus and Neptune, according to the conditions existing on earth, could experience a change of season only once in respectively 84 and 164 years, and these changes must therefore occur on those planets independent of solar influences.

If all the elements of light and heat exist upon our earth, and if it is shown by reasoning from analogies of nature, that the interior of the shell of our earth is in a more developed condition than the exterior, the question of lighting and warming the interior surface of this shell will find its natural solution. Furthermore, light and darkness as appreciable conditions upon our earth are rendered so to us by the peculiar character of the construction of our eyes and are only relative, and a future race in a higher state of development will be dependent on higher conditions which we cannot comprehend, because we have not experienced the same; while they may exist all the same in that beautiful world yet unexplored by mortal man.

Our entire physical organization is inherited from this earth; the earth is our parent, both male and female, father and mother, and there can exist nothing in our physical organisation that does not exist upon earth. We may therefore properly consider the earth in some sense of the word an animal organization of vast dimensions. She has functions analogous to the animal race, the same inherent powers of locomotion around her axis and another around the sun. We have a net-work of electric wires in our system, constituting our nervous system; the earth has Electro-magnetic currents travelling in all directions. We have a circulation of blood, and so has the earth a circulation of waters by rivers and tides, and the winds are active agents to assist in the continual change. There are currents in the ocean as well as in the interior of the earth. In the animal organization there are constant currents passing to and from the interior, through apertures prepared for that purpose, and the great parent must have an analogous organization, and be suppled with it in the interior, and the same elements and forces which exist here, must exist there. We generate the power by which we perform our movements within ourselves, and so does the earth; and she did not require the arm of an omnipotent being to start the machine by applying some peculiar kind of a force, that is not recognised within the realms of the natural universe, for the genius and wisdom, that could contrive and keep in operation a perpetual motion for so many long ages by natural causes, must have been abundantly competent to have brought to bear forces that would have started the machine within the range of natural causes also.

The interior surface of the earth, being in a more highly developed condition than the exterior, has become capable of generating its own light upon the same principle as the more developed planets, and the displays of aural light that are so frequently beheld emanating from the arctic circle, have thus far baffled all attempts of scientific minds to unfold their mysteries; while an aperture at the pole through which this light radiates to our exterior surface fully explains the phenomenon.

The author’s views about the sun spots, of the invisible planets existing beyond the orbit of Uranus and of the world’s builders have recently been to some extent corroborated in some of the ‘Fragments of Occult Truth’ and other teachings given in the Theosophist, and they bear internal evidence of having been derived from the same source. Whether this view is correct or not, they show certainly a high grade of intelligence, and their conclusions are perfectly logical; but, like other works of a similar character this book has appeared, before the world was wise enough to understand it, and it is therefore known and appreciated by only comparatively few. The author is now an old man but he still confidently expects (so we are told) to be one of the first ones to enter the interior of the earth through what is known as Cpt. Syme’s hole, and we hope he will do so, if not in his present incarnation, then in the next, as a member of the sixth race, forerunners of which have already made their appearance upon this, the exterior surface of our hollow globe.

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Notes

‘Syme’s hole’ (last para.):

Captain John Cleves Symmes (1779-1829) believed that the earth’s interior was hollow and habitable, containing three solid concentric spheres, one within the other. He also believed that there were enormous holes at the poles: 4000 miles across at the north, and 6000 miles across at the south. Clearly holes of this magnitude are out of the question! There is no reference to Symmes in the Hollow Globe book.

The above article repeats, without comment, the following questionable ideas from Lyon & Sherman’s book:

the earth’s solid outer shell is only 30-40 miles thick (a shell this thin is highly improbable!);

there is an open (ice-free) polar sea (this has been disproven by polar exploration);

there is a spiral aperture in the north polar region providing a navigable entrance to the earth’s interior (a navigable entrance would have to be rather large, but no such opening has been found; is it being concealed by the ‘exercise of occult power’?);

the earth’s interior will be colonized very soon;

the moon is young (theosophically, it is the parent of the earth. In a later chapter of the book, it is said that a second moon is currently forming and will become visible within a hundred years. According to theosophy, another moon will indeed appear, but not until the seventh round);

Mercury is younger than the earth (theosophically, it is physically older, but spiritually younger);

in a billion years the earth’s orbit will extend beyond the current orbit of Jupiter (this will certainly not happen in the earth’s present embodiment).

The Hollow Earth book also echoes many fundamental theosophical ideas: the universe is infinite in space and time; all things are relative; spirit and matter are one; nothing comes from nothing or can be reduced to nothing; there is no such thing as chance; all material forms (including atoms) have indwelling spiritual entities; the notion of an infinite personal god is absurd; there are infinite hosts of finite spiritual intelligences, which pass through all forms, including a human stage; the planets were planned and constructed by high intelligences and world-builders; there are cycles of construction and dissolution.

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The Hollow Globe by M.L. Sherman & Wm.F. Lyon (1871, pp. 9-18)

INTRODUCTION.

The central idea contained in the following work and the one that most of these chapters are designed to substantiate is, that this globe is constructed in the form of a hollow sphere, with a shell some thirty to forty miles in thickness, and that the interior surface which is a beautiful world in a more highly developed condition that the exterior, is accessible by a circuitous and spirally formed aperture that may be found in the unexplored open Polar Sea, and this opening affords easy navigation, by a broad and deep channel leading from one surface to the other, and that the largest ships or steamers may sail or steam either way, with as much facility as they can pass through any other winding, or somewhat crooked channel. And we have endeavored to show as clearly as possible, that the physical formation of the globe is such as to be perfectly compatible with an outer and inner world, or two worlds instead of one, and it might be proper to present a brief sketch of the leading circumstances that have induced the production of this book and its presentation to the public.

About the middle of September, 1868, the writer of this work was standing at his desk in his own place of business, attending to some matter, when a strange gentleman made his appearance in the office, and introduced himself as Dr. M.L. Sherman. I told him to be seated, and in a few moments I would give him my attention. He seemed to scan me very closely, and finally among other things told me, You are the man that I have been searching after; the very man I was to find, and we have a large amount of business that we must transact together, but I am not fully prepared to state the nature of that business, for I do not seem to understand it myself. I replied very well, if it is to be so, I trust it will be satisfactory, or something to that effect, but his announcement did not make a vivid impression upon my mind, as in my experience I had heard things of a similar nature previously. However, the Doctor and myself formed an intimacy which has not been interrupted since, only by my absence of about seven months in the Eastern States, that occurred soon after our first introduction; and I have found him to be a very remarkable and peculiar personage, whose day and hour to be widely known to the world, has probably not yet fully come.

The numerous remarkable experiences of his life, since his connection with spiritualistic teachings and phenomena, would of themselves fill a volume, and are by no means admissible in this exceedingly brief sketch of an eventful career, but we note as prominent among them, that he was for a long time a public speaker, and spoke in a trance or unconscious condition, to the great dismay and astonishment of those who opposed, and the satisfaction and encouragement of those who coincided to some extent with his teachings. But in process of time he seemed to become so extremely radical, and announced in public, ideas so much in advance of his time, and he was withal constitutionally so firm, and somewhat harsh and severe in his language, that, as he says, his speech was confounded, or he was unable to give utterance to his thoughts in public, and of course he ceased lecturing. But there seemed to be another field opened before him, and like Paul and Swedenborg and many other seers, he was called upon to make his personal survey of some portion of the spirit realms, and at several different times, has been thrown into a semi-trance condition becoming partially unconscious of his earthly surroundings, and permitted to pass through the most vivid experiences that he was capable of appreciating in the spiritual spheres. These different seasons of trance, in which he partook of no earthly food or drink except a little vinegar, were from three to twelve days each, making over forty days in all, and for four days of this time he was to all appearance dead, so much so that a prominent physician of the town pronounced him dead to all intents, with the remark that they might use his head for a foot-ball if he ever breathed again upon the earth, and it required the utmost exertion of the friend at whose house he lay, who was a man of some influence, to keep the authorities from consigning him to a premature grave, thus adding another to the numerous human sacrifices that have been made in this manner by people ignorant of some of nature’s laws.

Yet, notwithstanding all the learned Doctor’s opinions and assertions, he did breathe again, and after lying twelve days in this comatose, apparently lifeless condition, without food of any kind, his spirit came back from its wanderings once more, took possession of the earthly tabernacle, and he lived to write a brief account of what he saw during his several trance conditions, and published to the world a small work of thirty-eight pages, entitled ‘My Experiences in Spiritual Phenomena,’ and to all appearance he seems likely to live for many years to come.

This work, in consequence of its strange and radical ideas, was not well received, even by those minds who supposed they had laid off the trammels of old orthodoxy, but most likely the day is not distant when this little book will be re-published, and properly appreciated by those who are attaining to a clearer perception of spiritual truths and philosophy, than was enjoyed twenty years since by the most enlightened persons.

Up to the 1st of January, 1870, I think we had obtained no clue whatever, to the meaning of the language made use of when he first entered my office, and introduced himself. About that time, however, we discovered the fact that he seemed to go under an influence when I came into his presence, and he and Mrs. Sherman who is remarkably mediumistic, began to see clairvoyantly many curious visions of symbols that were to us quite dark and mysterious, among which was one of a book, seen by him, sealed with five seals, three in front and one at each end. It appeared to be a large, finely bound volume, and it was presented me with instructions that I was to take the book, and unloose the seals thereof, all of which was Greek to us at the time. At other times large quantities of papers and pens with beautiful inkstands, and writing materials generally were brought and presented to me; and among many other things it was finally told us, that through the Doctor’s mediumship we were to obtain the general ideas, and that I, in my room, by the aid of my own impressional powers was to mold and fashion and weave them into a book, to be entitled the World’s Agitator and Reconciler, and in due time they began through the Doctor’s organism to teach concerning the nature of the book and its contents. However, the teachings were of such a character that we were very slow to receive them, and, in fact, it was a very tedious process upon their part to make us understand and comprehend their ideas. They came to us in such broken fragments, and apparently dark and mystified manner, but they urged me to commence writing, for it was no matter where and how I commenced, they would find a place in the book for my productions, and so I began about the middle of March, and was urged as nearly as may be, to finish the book by the first of November.

The whole affair has been extremely novel to us all, and I doubt not these pages may appear somewhat novel to the reader, if he will go through them with some little attention, he may arise from their perusal quite well convinced, at least, that old things are passing away, and that many things are becoming new. I have written these pages in an entirely normal condition, and perfectly unconscious of any influence, only there were times when I could not write a sentence, and felt very much averse to doing anything in connection with the book, and would get up and leave the room, almost involuntarily. At other times I would write with ease, quite generally commencing a sentence without knowing how it was to terminate. I have copied and to a certain extent, modified about half of the manuscript that was first written; the remainder is just about as it was presented. The different chapters or subjects, are by no means arranged as they were written, as some were partly finished, and laid aside, as there were times when I could write upon one subject and not upon another.

They informed us at the commencement that the teachings would come through the Doctor’s organism in an indirect manner, or in chips as they termed them, but they would be enabled by that mode of procedure to transfer the ideas to my organism, and thus enable me in my own study, to weave them into the web which they wished to produce to the world, at this period in its history. They remarked, the time had arrived to make these revealments, and they, (as they termed themselves the delegation) had searched the nations for the Key or Keys that would unlock to the world, the profound secrets contained in this book, and they had found the Keys hidden away in our organisms, and had watched our outgoings, and incomings, and made use of the means that would bring us together at the fixed time for the accomplishment of this purpose. I do not claim any large amount of credit for the authorship of this work, though much of the time it has been quite a severe tax upon all the mental energies that I possessed, and although the prominent ideas were given to us, yet they seemed to have passed through my organism in such a manner that it is quite difficult for me to determine from whence they came, and how I have been able to present them in this form.

We learned in process of time that the five seals of the book presented in the early stage of these proceedings, had allusion to prominent ideas, or facts conceding the physical globe upon which we dwell, and its various appertainings.

The first seal is supposed to allude to the great fact that this globe is a hollow or spherical shell with an interior as well as an exterior surface, and that it contains an inner concave as well as outer convex world, and that the inner is accessible by an extensive spirally formed aperture, provided with a deep and commodious channel suited to the purposes of navigation for the largest vessels that float, and that this aperture may be found in the unexplored open Polar Sea.

The opening of the second seal, is supposed to reveal the fact that this globe is a mechanical structure, in which is introduced the highest principles of the art, and that it is consequently, built by mechanics who are well versed in all the acquirements necessary to produce such a structure, and that to be built in accordance with correct principles, it must be formed from the least amount of material compatible with the needed strength, and hence it must be in the form of a shell, with an outer and an inner surface.

The third seal seems to open to our view, the fact that the mechanics who are competent to build a world, must have acquired their knowledge like all other intelligent beings, by experience and observation, and hence they must have necessarily passed through all possible conditions below them, in order to have attained the needed acquirements, or the wisdom and power that would be absolutely essential in the construction of a world; and further, that worlds are not created from nothing by a self constituted infinite being who has never passed through all this entire routine of experience, but sprang into existence without law or cause, with wisdom and power sufficient to produce all things from nothing by his own fiat, as the human mind is entirely incapable of conceiving the existence of any such being, within the boundaries of universal nature.

The fourth seal would seem to disclose to our view, a number of facts concerning the inherent powers contained in our globe, by which it performs its axial and orbital movements, and manufactures its interior light and warmth, and is destined to unfold to that higher and more independent and matured condition, that will ultimately enable it to take its proper place as a sun in the vast firmament.

And the fifth seal has allusion to human vision, and will be fully explained by a perusal of the chapter upon that subject.

When I rather reluctantly consented to commence the ostensible authorship of this book, I had determined that nothing should be introduced into its pages that would conflict in any manner with well settled scientific opinions, and I supposed I should spend a large portion of the summer, in the study of scientific works; but we were constantly admonished, that with regard to most of the subjects upon which I was to write, science was entirely at fault, and her votaries were wandering in a maze of darkness, and that all I needed was a general idea of their opinions upon matters that would be brought to light, so we could demolish them more effectually. That if scientific men had already arrived at truth concerning all these matters, it would be quite unnecessary to say more, as no one could be benefited by a vain repetition of what was already written, and well understood; and instead of being particularly enlightened by scientific theories already established, I have been compelled to adopt many directly in conflict with those entertained by the most eminent men of the present day. I have been also impelled to introduce an array of argument in support of the new ideas and theories, entirely novel to myself, but yet, arguments that in most cases seem to be astonishingly conclusive, and that will no doubt, stand the test of the most critical examination; and we have every reason to believe viewing the matter from our standpoint, that these pages will prove of no little interest to the public generally.

It will not be very surprising, if in treating upon subjects of such vast magnitude as those introduced into this work, that an author so unprepared as myself, by an intimate acquaintance with the scientific works designed to throw light upon these matters, should frequently meet with almost insurmountable obstacles and impediments, that would seem to tower mountain high before him, and thus not only obscure his vision, but obstruct his pathway; but strange to say in every instance of this character, which have not been infrequent during the progress of this work, all the obstructions and difficulties have not only been removed, but they have invariably strengthened our arguments, and been but stepping stones upon which we could stand, and if possible take a broader and more extensive survey of the realms of nature, beholding more clearly and vividly, those harmonies and beauties that present themselves everywhere in the universe.

The book itself presents upon its face but few characteristics that came within the reach of my interior vision, when I consented to commence its authorship. In fact, I had but little idea concerning the matter, and it has been unfolded to my view during its progress, partly by the teachings given through the Doctor, and partly by the vivid impressions that seemed to be made upon my own organism, and I cannot exactly determine how far the work had progressed, when I became fully convinced that the views promulgated were substantial facts, and fully in accordance with the established principles existing in the universal realms, but I at length succumbed to what appeared to be my own reasoning, as the arguments introduced were beyond my reach, and demolished my preconceived theories, and I trust many individuals who carefully peruse this volume, will pass through a similar experience.

I seem to be deeply impressed with the idea that many of the thoughts that are briefly presented in this work, will be seized upon in the future by other minds and elaborated, so as to become of great utility to the human race, and I must be permitted to entertain the thought that the elucidation contained therein, concerning the great positive and negative forces existing in nature, will ultimate in their final introduction, and general application to mechanical purposes.

WM.F. LYON.

Sacramento, Nov. 1, 1870.

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EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES.

[The Theosophist, July 1885, pp. 245-6]

After a rest of some ten years, Vesuvius has again begun its activity. Several months ago the characteristic signs of an impending eruption began to manifest themselves, consisting in a bright flame emanating from the crater, which, especially at night, was visible at long distances, illuminating the clouds above the mountain with a roseate hue, until on the evening of the 1st of May, the molten lava rose to the edge of the crater and overflowing began to run down the mountain towards the side of Pompeii in two fiery streams. The phenomenon was accompanied by occasional slight shocks of earthquake and an almost continual subterranean noise, resembling the rumblings of the wheels of a heavy waggon on a paved street.

This renewed eruption again draws our attention to an investigation of the cause of such phenomena, and it may, perhaps, interest some of the readers of the Theosophist to examine into their causes and to see whether they could not be prevented from doing any serious damage in the same manner as the action of other elementary forces has been brought within human control.

In a review of a work entitled The Hollow Globe, which appeared in the Theosophist some time ago, it has been sufficiently demonstrated that the old theory, which seeks the cause of earthquakes and volcanoes in an imaginary liquid mass of molten granite, with which the interior of the globe was said to be filled, has no real foundation. It is therefore useless to discuss this theory any further; but there is still another theory that is more plausible and which seeks the cause of such phenomena in the existence of subterranean caves of immense extent, where some combustible material, such as coal, gas or petroleum, has become inflamed either by spontaneous combustion or has been ignited in some mysterious manner. This explanation leaves much to be desired from a scientific point of view; especially as any amount of carboniferous deposits, no matter how large in size, would undoubtedly be exhausted within a certain period of time; while we know that Vesuvius has been active for many centuries, and the great eruption that destroyed the city of Pompeii, occurred as far back as the 24th of August, A.D. 79.

We are therefore forced to abandon this theory as being applicable to an explanation of the general causes of earthquakes and volcanoes; moreover the earthquakes that often precede or accompany the eruption of a volcano, are spread over such a vast region as to preclude the idea of the existence of subterranean caves of corresponding dimensions. The earthquake of 1883 which accompanied the destruction of a part of the Island of Java, was felt not only at Singapore and Hong-kong, but the wave extended even beyond San Francisco. Such extensive caves would indeed be a perpetual terror to humanity, not much less than the exploded theory which made of the earth a hollow shell, filled with liquid metal in a state of incandescence. But why should we hesitate to ascribe all such phenomena to the action of electricity, which is abundantly adequate to explain them?

It is not long since an advanced thinker proposed a very rational theory of the cause of thunder, lightning and rain. He called the attention to the fact that as hydrogen gas is of the least specific gravity of all known gases, it must naturally rise to the surface of our atmosphere, and as there is a constant supply of hydrogen formed by the decomposition of organic substances, it is very probable that the outermost layer of our atmosphere consists of a layer of hydrogen, which at the place of contact with the more concentric layers of oxygen, forms, as every chemist knows, an explosive compound. If the electric tension between the two layers reaches a certain degree (in consequence of the friction caused by the revolution of the earth or otherwise) an explosion follows, the hydrogen combines with the oxygen and descends in the form of rain, hail or snow.

In a similar manner earthquakes may be explained. It is a known fact that electric currents exist in the interior of the earth, as well as in the atmosphere, and it is also a known fact, that certain materials in the earth are good conductors for electricity, while other materials are non-conductors. This need not be demonstrated, as every telegraph operator knows that he cannot telegraph from one city to another unless the ends of his wire are connected with the earth. It is furthermore known, that if a strong current of electricity meets with a certain amount of resistance caused by a bad conductor, heat and even incandescence, sufficient to melt minerals, follows. Let us now suppose, that a strong current of electricity passing through the earth along a vein of mineral, or some other conducting material, meets with the resistance offered by a body whose capacity for conducting is less, it naturally follows that great heat is developed, the surrounding material becomes incandescent or melts, the earth crust expands and cracks, the water from the surface penetrates to the depths, is decomposed into oxygen and hydrogen by the action of the electricity and in other places ruined by explosion, the gases find vent through the crater of the volcano and the lava follows, propelled by the hydraulic pressure resting upon it.

But if this theory is true, and the known fact, that the water-wells at Torre del Greco and Rezzia become dry on such occasions, supports our theory; then it does not seem to be impossible that the consequences of earthquakes could be rendered comparatively harmless in the same manner as the effect of lightning can be modified by artificial means.

If instead of sending lightning rods up to a sufficient height, we would send them down to a sufficient depth to act as conductors for any superabundant accumulation of electric energy,