The Square Pegs (32 page)

Symmes being reluctant to assemble his notes into book form, McBride assumed the responsibility. In 1826 the firm of Morgan, Lodge and Fisher, in Cincinnati, published a slender volume entitled
Symmes’ Theory of Concentric Spheres
, by James McBride. The disciple’s prose was less fanatic than the master’s:

“According to captain Symmes, the planet which has been designated the Earth, is composed of at least five hollow concentric spheres, with spaces between each, an atmosphere surrounding each; and habitable as well upon the concave as the convex surface. Each of these spheres are widely open at their poles… . Although the particular location of the places where the verges of the polar openings are believed to exist, may not have been ascertained with absolute certainty, yet they are believed to be nearly correct; their localities have been ascertained from appearances that exist in those regions; such as a belt or zone surrounding the globe where trees and other vegetation (except moss) do not grow; the tides of the ocean flowing in different directions, and appearing to meet; the existence of volcanoes; the
ground swells
in the sea being more frequent; the Aurora Borealis appearing to the southward… .”

In commenting upon this modest and restrained effort, the
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
noted: “The author undertakes to set forth the theory without asserting its truth, disclaiming scientific ability to pass upon it, inviting criticism, but requesting any who assert its fallacy to furnish some other rational and satisfactory explanation of the facts advanced.”

Another valuable disciple was the Union College student, P. Clark, who during 1826 and 1827 jotted notes on Symmes’s speeches, but who was of too conservative a cast to publish them at once. As a matter of fact, it was not until 1873 that Clark paid belated tribute to his idol with an article in the
Atlantic Monthly
entitled “The Symmes Theory of the Earth.” So constant was his faith, however, that even the passage of almost a half century (during which time many of Symmes’s contentions had been discredited) had not dulled his defense:

“Since this theory was promulgated by its author, enough has come to light to prove that he was correct in his views of the existence of a warmer climate at the north, and of an open polar sea. And it is believed that, if his theory had been fully made public long ago, much hardship, suffering, and expense would or might have been avoided in the futile attempts to find a passage through the bleak and desolate regions around Baffin’s Bay. That Behring’s Straits offer the best route into the arctic regions admits of little or no doubt, and an expedition for this purpose from the Pacific coast is well worth the consideration of the government.”

But if Symmes had his small coterie of partisans, as well as his larger following of adherents merely curious to see his eccentricity put to test, he also had his detractors. In fact and in fiction his ideas were disparaged and his person ridiculed. During 1820 the publishing house of J. Seymour, New York, issued a novel entitled
Symzonia; a Voyage of Discovery
, by Captain Adam Seaborn, obviously a pseudonym. This entertaining work of science fiction was a burlesque of Symmes, his theory, and his projected expedition. In the narrative, the author-narrator, inspired by Symmes, outfits an expedition to the polar regions, supposedly to hunt seal. Nearing the location of the “icy hoop” that leads into the interior world, the crew find the bones of a monster on an island. Before the crew can mutiny, the Captain allows his steamship to be drawn rapidly south by powerful currents. Soon they are inside the earth. A new continent stretches before them. The Captain names it Symzonia. In its metropolis the Captain and crew find an albino race of human beings, attired in snow-white garments and speaking a musical language. Symzonia, lit by two suns and two moons, is a socialist Utopia. The albino people, ruled by a Best Man, possess prosperity, gold, and advanced inventions, such as dirigibles armed with flame throwers that spew burning gas for a half mile and more. Eager to maintain their Utopia, the Symzonians force the Captain and his crew to return to the more avaricious outer world.

Most attacks on Symmes were more direct. In 1827 the
American Quarterly Review
dissected the hollow earth theory. “Captain Symmes not only believes the earth to be hollow,” said the periodical, “but that it is inhabited on the inner surface. If it be so, the inhabitants must be placed in a most unstable position.” The magazine deduced that men dwelling 150 miles inside the earth could weigh only eight ounces each on the average. Of course, “it would be one of the advantages of these inner men, that they might fly through the air, with great ease, by the aid of a lady’s fan.” Not only were Symmes’s ideas unscientific, but his efforts to finance an expedition “travelling, from place to place, and, like a second Peter the Hermit, zealously preaching up a crusade to this Holy Land” were absurdity itself. “We are gravely told, that, to judge by the size of the seals, and bears … which come from the interior of the globe, it must be better suited for animal life than the portion which has fallen to our lot, so that by emigrating to this land of promise, we may probably be relieved from many of the evils to which mankind are subjected here above… . However, we fear that this desirable change can never be effected, and that we must be content to finish the journey of life, in the less comfortable condition of outside passengers.” In conclusion, though Symmes “may be a gallant soldier and an estimable man,” he remains a “very unsound philosopher.”

Neither this type of criticism nor his repudiation by Congress disheartened Symmes. Determined as ever to explore the interior, he appeared as principal speaker at a benefit rally staged in the Cincinnati Theatre in Cincinnati during 1824. Though the rally was well attended, the curiosity of his audience did not open its pocketbooks. For lack of funds the expedition was deferred. But in 1825 Symmes learned that the Russian government, so receptive to his original circular, was preparing an expedition to northeastern Siberia. Only three years before, another expedition, under a Russian navy captain named Fabian Bellingshausen, had made the first discoveries of land south of the Antarctic Circle, and this had now encouraged the Tsar to support an exploration of the Arctic. Because the destination of the new Russian expedition sounded reasonably close to his northern “verge,” Symmes hastened to write its powerful leader, Count Romanozov, offering his services. The Russians, still impressed by his knowledge of the polar wastes, accepted his offer. Though excited by the high position offered him, Symmes was forced to withdraw at the eleventh hour. He did not have funds to cover his fare to St. Petersburg.

He would never have a similar opportunity to prove his theory, though it is thought that one of his disciples succeeded in making the grand effort months after Symmes’s death. This disciple, Jeremiah N. Reynolds, a graduate of Ohio University, had been attracted to Symmes’s theory during the earlier lectures. In 1828, when Symmes filled lecture engagements in Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Canada, Reynolds accompanied him on part of the tour. Some time before they reached Canada, Reynolds took off on his own, paraphrased his teacher’s lectures in many public appearances, and quickly raised a considerable sum of money. Then he went to Washington, and, through the good offices of Secretary of the Navy Samuel L. Southard, convinced President John Quincy Adams that a ship should be requisitioned to survey the South Pole and investigate Symmes’s ideas. Adams apparently approved the plan, but before it could be executed, he was out of the White House and Andrew Jackson was in. Jackson considered the project nonsense and canceled it.

At this dark moment a wealthy New York physician named Watson, his mind filled with concentric circles, offered private financing. In October 1829 the brig
Annawan
, with Captain N. B. Palmer in charge, and the brig
Seraph
, under the command of Captain B. Pendleton, sailed out of New York harbor for the South Pole. Jeremiah N. Reynolds, aboard the
Annawan
as senior scientist, was the lone Symzonian to accompany the expedition. While the publicized purpose of the expedition was discovery, the announcements failed to mention what the explorers expected to discover. John W. Peck, who investigated the effort eighty years later, had no doubts: “It seems to me probable that the sending out of the private south polar exploring expedition of the ‘Seraph and Annawan’ was for the purpose of testing Symmes’ theory either incidentally or primarily.”

There were eventually numerous reports on the findings and adventures of the expedition, no two of them agreeing. According to the most popular account, the vessels made a landing at latitude 82 degrees south, but the foot party lost its way and was rescued from starvation in the nick of time. A rebellious crew then forced the ships to head for home, mutinied off Chile, put Reynolds ashore, and went on to seek more profitable discoveries in piracy. Less spectacular accounts omit the suffering landing-party, though they mention a minor rebellion off Chile which was quickly suppressed. One account goes so far as to say that the J. N. Reynolds aboard the Annawan was not Symmes’s follower, Jeremiah N., but a more conservative scientist named John N. All histories of the unlucky expedition agree on one point: the southern opening was not found, and the earth’s interior was not visited.

Symmes was not to witness this fiasco. During his strenuous lecture tour of Canada in the winter of 1828, he had fallen seriously ill. He returned to the comforts of Hamilton, Ohio, where he died on May 29, 1829, aged forty-nine, and was buried with full military honors. His theory had greater longevity.

Four years after his passing, the twenty-four-year-old Edgar Allan Poe based his short story “Ms. Found in a Bottle” on Symmes’s theory. In this purportedly unfinished piece the hero is aboard a 400-ton vessel drawn toward the South Pole by strong currents, entering a whirlpool, and sinking into the earth’s interior “we are plunging madly within the grasp of the whirlpool and amid a roaring, and bellowing, and thundering of ocean and tempest, the ship is quivering oh God! and going down!” at the narrative’s conclusion. In “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfall” Poe described the North Pole as “becoming
not a little concave
” and in the “Narrative of A. Gordon Pym” he related the story of a voyage that was to have its destination in Symmes’s inner world.

In 1864 Jules Verne published his widely read novel,
Journey to the Center of the Earth
, which owed its inspiration to the theory of Sir John Leslie and the ideas advanced by Symmes. Instead of entering an opening at one of the poles, Verne’s Professor Von Hardwigg, his nephew, and a native guide lower themselves into the interior through the crater of an extinct volcano in Iceland known as Sneffels. Following a descending tunnel, they continue one hundred miles beneath the earth’s crust. Soon they stumble upon the mammoth cavern that is the inner world. There are clouds above and there is a sea below. Constructing a raft, they sail this sea, observing a subterranean world still in an earlier stage of evolution. There are mushrooms towering forty feet; there is a boiling volcanic island; there are skeletons of early man; there is an ugly fight to the death between a giant, lizardlike plesiosaurus and an aquatic ichthyosaurus. In an effort to leave the inner world, the fictional children of Symmes attempt to use dynamite to clear a tunnel. The explosion starts an earthquake, and they are erupted to freedom through the crater of the volcano Stromboli in Italy.

In 1868 Professor W. F. Lyons brought out his book
A Hollow Globe
, which supported Symmes’s theory of an interior earth, but did not mention Symmes by name. In 1878 one of Symmes’s ten children, Americus Vespucius Symmes, sought to rectify this omission. Americus’s filial tribute consisted of a collection of his father’s writings, notes, and clippings, all gathered between hard covers under the title
The Symmes’ Theory of Concentric Spheres
,
Demonstrating that the Earth Is Hollow, Habitable Within, and Widely Open About the Poles
, and published by Bradley and Gilbert, of Louisville. Though Americus credited full authorship to his father, and listed himself only as an editor, he did make one creative contribution to the volume. Symmes had contended that there was a civilization underground. Americus could not resist elaborating. This civilization, he said, was none other than that of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, who had been located by others in areas as diverse as Mexico and Atlantis. As to the general content of the book, Americus remained confident. “Reason, common sense, and all the analogies in the natural universe,” he concluded, “conspire to support and establish the theory.”

In 1920 appeared a book, an enlargement of an earlier publication, entitled
Journey to the Earth’s Interior
by Marshall B. Gardner, the employee of a corset company in Illinois. Though in his privately printed treatise Gardner spurned Symmes’s inner planets, dismissed the master’s researches as superficial, and regarded his predecessor as merely a “crank,” he was not averse to adopting most of Symmes’s original ideas. Gardner agreed that the earth could be entered at either pole, where there were openings 1,400 miles in width. Inside, beneath the 800-mile earth crust, but brilliantly illuminated by a single miniature sun, would be found a hollow world from which the Eskimos had ascended to the outer surface.

Beyond these literary monuments to his memory, only two tangible evidences of Symmes’s eccentricity remained. One was a small wooden globe that Symmes had employed in his lectures. This eventually found its way into the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. The other was a stone memorial erected by his son Americus in Hamilton, Ohio. The memorial, featuring a replica of Symmes’s hollow world, bore inscriptions on two sides. On one side was engraved a story of his heroism: “John Cleves Symmes joined the Army of the U.S. as an Ensign in the year 1802. He afterward rose to the rank of Captain and performed daring feats of Bravery in the Battles of Lundy’s Lane and Sortie from Fort Erie.” On the opposite side was engraved a recognition of his genius: “Capt. John Cleves Symmes was a Philosopher, and the originator of ‘Symmes Theory of Concentric Spheres and Polar voids.’ He contended that the Earth was hollow and habitable within.”