23. If astronomical works be searched through and through, there will not be found a single instance of a bold, unhesitating, or manly statement respecting a proof of the Earth's "rotundity." Proctor speaks of "proofs which serve to show ... that the Earth is not flat," and says that man "finds reason to think that the Earth is not flat," and speaks of certain matters being "explained by supposing" that the Earth is a globe; and says that people have "assured themselves that it is a globe;" but he says, also, that there is a "most complete proof that the Earth is a globe:" just as though anything in the world could possibly be wanted but a proof--a proof that proves and settles the whole question. This, however, all the money in the United States Treasury would not buy; and, unless the astronomers are all so rich that they don't want the cash, it is a sterling proof that the Earth is not a globe. 24. When a man speaks of a "most complete" thing amongst several other things which claim to be what that thing is, it is evident that they must fall short of something which the "most complete" thing possesses. And when it is known that the "most complete" thing is an entire failure, it is plain that the others, all and sundry, are worthless. Proctor's "most complete proof that the Earth is a globe" lies in what he calls "the fact" that distances from place to place agree with calculation. But, since the distance round the Earth at 45 "degrees" south of the equator is twice the distance it would be on a globe, it follows that what the greatest astronomer of the age calls "a fact" is NOT a fact; that his "most complete proof" is a most complete failure; and that he might as well have told us, at once, that he has NO PROOF to give us at all. Now, since, if the Earth be a globe, there would, necessarily, be piles of proofs of it all round us, it follows that when astronomers, with all their ingenuity, are utterly unable to point one out--to say nothing about picking one up--that they give us a proof that Earth is not a globe. 25. The surveyor's plans in relation to the laying of the first Atlantic Telegraph cable, show that in 1665 miles--from Valentia, Ireland, to St. John's, Newfoundland--the surface of the Atlantic Ocean is a LEVEL surface--not the astronomers' "level," either! The authoritative drawings, published at the time, are a standing evidence of the fact, and form a practical proof that Earth is not a globe. 26. If the Earth were a globe, it would, if we take Valentia to be the place of departure, curvate downwards, in the 1665 miles across the Atlantic to Newfoundland, according to the astronomers' own tables, more than three-hundred miles; but, as the surface of the Atlantic does not do so--the fact of its levelness having been clearly demonstrated by Telegraph Cable surveyors,--it follows that we have a grand proof that Earth is not a globe.