But let us go back to the oceans, with their great depths and extended areas, and what do we find? It is this: Whether on the Equator or on the coasts of Greenland, in the tropics or frigid latitudes the same, that at the deepest sea soundings the temperature is near or below the freezing point, being literally liquid ice. These temperatures are at depths of five times as deep as anybody has bored or dug, and cover four-fifths of the Earth’s surface, and, instead of being hot, or even warm, are extremely cold. If the internal heat is as great as is claimed, it ought to be enough to set every drop of water in the oceans into a boiling condition inside of fifteen minutes, but there does not seem to be heat enough to warm the bottom of the kettle. It is assumed that the earth originated in a nebulous form, or an aggregation of small starry bodies, or something else which nobody has as yet explained clearly. It is evident that our Earth has come into its present form through a vast amount of time and changes, and is made up largely of liquids and plastic substances, which must have had an existence in its origin. There is little doubt but that all its composition has been revolving through space in some form for countless millions of years with its mixtures of liquid, gaseous and solid constituents. It does not need a long argument to demonstrate that bodies in such revolutions as the earth is making have a tendency, by centrifugal force, to throw the heavier elements to the outside, and as this seems to be a universal law in all scientific experiments by man, it seems reasonable to suppose the earth’s centrifugal forces are no exception in their results. Such being the case, leads at once to the supposition and probability that the Earth is a hollow globe, and not a solid mass, with points of actual poles at each end that can be explored. As water is, and has been in all history we know of, so large a part of the earth’s mass, the object of this writing is to show the wonderful influence it exerts in the world’s affairs, and the ample provision Nature has in store, and where it is stored, for man, and animals, and vegetation to bank on. But, in passing, it is just that a name for many recent years that has been a subject for ridicule should be noticed with profound respect for his wise and superior observations. This man for whom I wish to speak a word of commendation and admiration is Captain John Cleves Symmes, who I am prepared to allow the honor of first advancing the theory that the Earth is hollow, and has been held up as the authority for finding “Symmes’s Hole.” While the present writer had never seen or read any of his arguments for such a hole, the idea came originally, as if never thought of by my worthy predecessor. To avoid any charge of plagiarism, this topic will, therefore, be treated as if never before thought of.