In our courts of Justice we have also an example of the zetetic process. A prisoner is placed at the bar; evidence for and against him is advanced; it is carefully arranged and patiently considered; and only such a verdict given as could not in justice be avoided. Society would not tolerate any other procedure; it would brand with infamy whoever should assume a prisoner to be guilty, and prohibit all evidence but such as would corroborate the assumption. Yet such is the character of theoretical philosophy! The zetetic process is also the natural method of investigation; nature herself teaches it. Children invariably seek information by asking questions--by earnestly inquiring from those around them. Question after question in rapid and exciting succession will often proceed from a child, until the most profound in learning and philosophy will feel puzzled to reply. If then both nature and justice, as well as the common sense and practical experience of mankind demand, and will not be content with less or other than the zetetic process, why should it be ignored and violated by the learned in philosophy? Let the practice of theorising be cast aside as one fatal to the full development of truth; oppressive to the reasoning power; and in every sense inimical to the progress and permanent improvement of the human race. If then we adopt the zetetic process to ascertain the true figure and condition of the Earth, we shall find that instead of its being a globe, and moving in space, it is the directly contrary--A PLANE; without motion, and unaccompanied by anything in the Firmament analogous to itself. If the Earth is a globe, and 25,000 miles in circumference, the surface of all standing water must have a certain degree of convexity--every part must be an arc of a circle, curvating from the summit at the rate of 8 inches per mile multiplied by the square of the distance. That this may be sufficiently understood, the following quotation is given from the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, art. “Levelling.” “If a line which crosses the plumb-line at right angles be continued for any considerable length it will rise above the Earth’s surface (the Earth being globular); and this rising will be as the square of the distance to which the said right line is produced; that is to say, it is raised eight inches very nearly above the Earth’s surface at one mile’s distance; four times as much, or 32 inches, at the distance of two miles; nine times as much, or 72 inches, at the distance of three miles. This is owing to the globular figure of the Earth, and this rising is the difference between the true and apparent levels; the curve of the Earth being the true level, and the tangent to it the apparent level. So soon does the difference between the true and apparent levels become perceptible that it is necessary to make an allowance for it if the distance betwixt the two stations exceeds two chains. [Illustration: FIG. 1.]