418 A Century of Science 



is not the only form assumed by wealth-seeking 

 crankery. In 1861 a Captain Roblin, of Nor 

 mandy, having ascertained to his own satisfaction, 

 from the prolonged study of the zodiac of Dende- 

 rah, the sites of sundry gold-mines, came forward 

 with proposals for a joint stock company to dig 

 and be rich. The labours of Herr Johannes von 

 Gumpach were of a more philanthropic turn. He 

 published in 1861 a pamphlet entitled &quot;A Mil 

 lion s Worth of Property and Five Hundred Lives 

 annually lost at Sea by the Theory of Gravitation. 

 A Letter on the True Figure of the Earth, ad 

 dressed to the Astronomer Royal.&quot; Next year 

 this pamphlet grew into a stout volume. It main 

 tained that a great many shipwrecks were occa 

 sioned by errors of navigation due to an erroneous 

 conception of the shape of the earth. Since New 

 ton s time, it has been supposed to be flattened at 

 the poles, whereas the amiable Gumpach calls upon 

 his fellow-creatures to take notice that it is elon 

 gated, and to mend their ways accordingly. 



The desire to prove great men wrong is one of 

 the crank s most frequent and powerful incentives. 

 The name of Newton is the greatest in the history 

 of science : how flattering to one s self it must be, 

 then, to prove him a fool ! In eccentric literature 

 the books against Newton are legion. Here is a 



