176 PROCEEDINGS OF THE OHIO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



improbable that it brought Ohio science in the very beginning 

 into great but most undesirable notoriety. As far as can be 

 ascertained John Cleves Symmes, who invented and exploited the 

 theory that the earth consisted of seven concentric spheres with 

 large openings at each pole for the admission of sunlight, gave 

 no other evidences of an unbalanced mind. Nephew and name- 

 sake of the famous jurist who founded the city of Cincinnati, 

 he was himself distinguished as an officer in the army during the 

 war of 1812. At the age of thirty-eight years he made public 

 his singular hypothesis regarding the structure of the earth, call- 

 ing at the same time for one hundred volunteers to accompany 

 •him on an expedition, starting from Siberia with reindeer and 

 sledge in search of the opening to the first shell. On the inner 

 concave surface of this he engaged to find a warm and rich 

 land, stocked with vegetables and animals of known and un- 

 known variety, including man. While in general this doctrine 

 was received with ridicule there were numerous converts among 

 people usually thought to be intelligent. Capt. Symmes died in 

 1829, but an ardent disciple named Reynolds continued the 

 propaganda and was successful in receiving financial support. 

 With his backer and convert, a Dr. Watson of New York, he 

 sailed in the autumn of 1829 for the southern gate to- Sym- 

 zonia or Symmes's Hole (as it was variously called, accord- 

 ing to the state of mind of the speaker or writer) which they 

 fully expected to find, in accordance wi^th the theory in latitude 

 82° South. After many privations and adventurous escapes the 

 expedition was admitted to be a failure and the explorers turned 

 their faces homeward. At Valparaiso, Chili, their seamen 

 mutinied, put them ashore and sailed ofif on a voyage of piracy. 

 Some years later Reynold reached New York and afterwards 

 met with success in exploring the earth through the more prom- 

 ising method of organizing mining companies. 



As Symmes's principal argument in support of his theory 

 was that a solid earth inhabited only on the outside was an 

 unpardonable waste of matter and space, he may be regarded 

 as the unrecognized forerunner of our modern economy and effi- 

 ciency expert. 



