Inner World, The

In presenting to the world some new ideas regarding the earth on which we live, it will not be improper to briefly summarize such information we possess as bears on the foundation of my theories. In so doing, I merely gather facts well demonstrated by scientists and generally accepted at this date as truths.

Matter exists in the form of ultimate molecules: that is to say, when matter is subdivided to the last degree, the final particles are called molecules.

When the forms of matter with which we are familiar are separated one kind from another, until a kind is found from which no other kind can be separated, it is called an element or entity. Each of the metals is an entity, other entities are salts, others gases. There are only about sixty-five elements of which the whole world is composed.

Whether each element is composed of molecules of a different shape to those of each other element is not known.

Each particle of matter is charged with two primary forces, attraction and repulsion, which not only act, in opposition, in the molecule itself but the forces belonging, to that molecule influences every other molecule to a degree established by known laws. The above containing sufficient known facts for me to commence the structure of my theories, I must warn the reader that what follows is not all orthodox; but in the development of my own ideas is necessarily associated with facts more or less accepted by scientists.

Attractive force exists in superabundance in the densest elements, and repulsive force in superabundance in the most volatile elements. Attraction condenses towards centres, aiming at absolute solidity at that point; repulsion, its opposite, radiates from centres, aiming at absolute vacuity there. The greatest density, therefore, cannot exist at the real centre of a mass, but in a globular outline approaching the centre in exact proportion to the specific gravity of the element of which it is composed. Under the influence of attraction, a mass assumes the form of a sphere, all its molecules pressing towards its centre. The density of a given object on the earth's surface increases as it is taken from the highest to the lowest altitudes, giving rise to the idea that at the centre of the earth it would reach its maximum weight, but there, the attraction, being counter-balanced in all directions, would obviously be nil.

It is well known that attraction and repulsion together not only play upon and between molecules, but upon and between masses, and is a principle that extends to the largest aggregations of matter, the planets, the solar system, the universe. In its terrestrial magnitude, therefore, attraction, drawing to centres, establishes the circumference of matter, while repulsion, driving matter from centre to circumference, makes of our Earth a hollow globe. The densest of matter, gold or platinum, scarcely compressible, in all probability consists of spherical molecules in which attraction has such overwhelming power and repulsion so little that there is hardly any internal space. It is the nature of each element to possess its own degree of attractive and repulsive force in proportion to its density -- the heavy metals being charged with attraction and the gases with repulsion in the greatest degree. Thus hydrogen gas, on being freed, is the most expansive of all elements, and its molecules assume great spheres (like the soap bubbles blown by children) of which the shell is the entity -- the matter -- surcharged from the centre by repulsive force, and the interior of the globe is absolute space, emptiness, nothing.