But let us see what small beginnings led to the change in men’s views in the past, and observe how similar they are to those operating now——" "What!" I interrupted, "do you mean to say that we have sailed through an opening at the pole, and are now in the interior of the earth?" "That is exactly it," answered Torrence. "I can’t comprehend such a thing. What is the diameter of this opening; and where is the North Pole?" "The North Pole has no existence except as an imaginary point in space, at least five hundred miles from the surface of the earth. The openings at the so-called poles are more than a thousand miles in diameter, admitting the light of the sun and holding it with a denser and more highly electrified atmosphere than our own, making perpetual daylight, for, as I have told you, when the sun crosses the line, its light is derived through the opening at the opposite pole. The frozen belt surrounding each of these openings mark the regions of the verge, and the distance across this ring is about fifteen hundred miles. "But the polar regions are declared to be slightly flattened." "That is because men have penetrated far enough into the verge to mark the change in the earth’s convexity, but not far enough to perceive that they had actually begun to enter the sphere itself. But I am coming to that presently. I wish to show you why certain men, in advance of their time, have believed that the earth was a hollow globe, luminous and desirable for man’s abode, as we now know it to be; and how, as in some of the greatest discoveries of the past these views have been based on the study of facts as we find them, and not upon theories, which distort facts to maintain themselves. About the year 1470, a Portuguese sailor by the name of Vicente found a piece of curiously carved wood more than a thousand miles to the west of Algarve, a province of southern Portugal. This relic was discovered after a westerly gale of long duration. It set the fellow thinking. It also set Christopher Columbus thinking. Another mariner, by the name of Correa had observed certain flotsam and jetsam under similar circumstances, and was impressed by the fact. Then there was the belief in the mysterious islands of St. Brandam; and nearly 8 thousand miles west of the Canaries was supposed to be the lost island of the Seven Cities, upon which theme you remember Irving’s charming story, ’The Adalantado of the Seven Cities.’ These and a few other facts led Columbus to stake his life and fortune in sailing into the unknown West for the new world. I now want to show you some of the reasons for believing in a hollow, habitable globe, and to ask if they are not equally as strong as those which guided Columbus." I was astounded, dazed, and stood trembling by the taffrail, while Torrence proceeded. *XVI.* * * * * *