THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 635 



have existed in a cold region, for it was clothed with a heavy 

 coat of long hair, but, on the other hand, being an herbaceous 

 animal, or, certainly a vegetable feeder, it could hardly have sus- 

 tained life in a cold region, no more than the elephant and rhi- 

 noceros, which we know do not exist beyond the tropics. These 

 wonder* only increase the appetite for exploration, since in them 

 we discover what very pigmies we are in knowledge, and how 

 little are the wonders of nature comprehended in our short grasp 

 of intellect. 



HISTORY OF THE SYMMES THEORY OF THE EARTH ; OR, A WORLD 

 WITHIN A WORLD. 



OWING to the interest in this subject, revived by the recent 

 discoveries of the Greely expedition, we present here a history 

 of the Sy mines theory. 



Capt. John Cleves Symmes, author of the startling theory of 

 concentric spheres, was born in New Jersey about 1780, and died 

 at Hamilton, Ohio, in 1829. He received a good common Eng- 

 lish education, which he afterward greatly improved by reading 

 books of travels and explorations. In 1802 he entered the United 

 States Army as ensign, and served until after the. close of the 

 war with Great Britain in 1812, being promoted in the meanwhile, 

 for gallantry and good conduct, to the office of captain. Some 

 time after the close of the war he resigned his commission and 

 retired to private life, devoting most of his time until his death 

 to the study of his pet theory. According to this theory the 

 earth is globular, hollow, and open at the poles. Tne diameter 

 of the northern opening is about two thousand miles, or four 

 thousand miles from outside to outsjlde. The south opening is 

 somewhat larger. The planes of these openings are parallel to 

 each other, but form an angle of 12 with the equator, so that 

 the highest part of the north plane is directly opposite the lowest 

 part of the south plane. The shell of the earth is about one 

 thousand miles thick, and the edges of the shell at the openings 

 are called verges, and measure, from the regular concavity within 

 to the regular convexity without, about fifteen hundred miles. 

 The explorers who furnish facts for the support of this theory 



