We must not, however, forget that there are two sides to a sphere, as
well as to a question, and that we must place on the opposite side to
the one we are dealing with, another equal pyramid with apex at the
centre and base at the surface, at a place diametrically opposite to
the first one, and that the tendency of the whole of this new pyramid
would be to draw the whole of the first one in towards the centre of
the sphere. But in the second, the law of attraction would have the
same action as in the first; the molecules of the matter contained in
it near the base would far exceed, in attractive force, those near the
apex, and would draw them outwards till the whole were concentrated
in a frustum of a pyramid, exactly the same as the one in the first
pyramid. And while the whole masses of matter in the two pyramids were
attracting each other at an average distance, say, for simplicity's
sake, of one-half the diameter of the sphere, the molecules in each
of them would be attracting each other from an average distance of
one-quarter the diameter of the sphere; their action would consequently
be four times more active, and they would concentrate into the frusta
as we have shown, before the two pyramids had time to draw each other
in to the centre. There would be then two frusta of pyramids attracting
each other _towards_ the centre with an empty space between them. Here
then we have two elements of a hollow sphere, one on each side of the
centre, and if we suppose the whole sphere to have been composed of
the requisite number of similar pyramids, set in pairs diametrically
opposite to each other, we see that the whole mass of the matter out of
which the earth was formed must have--by the mutual attractions of its
molecules--formed itself into a hollow sphere.
All that has been said must apply equally well whether we consider the
earth to have been in a gasiform state, or when by condensation and
consequent increase of temperature it had been brought into a molten
liquid condition. For up to that time it must have been a hollow
sphere, and we must either consider it to be so still, or conceive that
the opposite sides have continued to draw each other inwards till the
hollow was closed up; in which case, the greatest density would not be
at the centre, but at a distance therefrom corresponding to what has
been called the plane of attraction of the pyramid. That the opposite
sides have not yet met will be abundantly demonstrated by facts that
will meet us, if we try to find out what is the greatest density of the
earth at the region of greatest mass or attraction, wherever that may
be.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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