C^AFT. J QHn OlEVES StMMES.**—T l^ 
gentleman has excited some attention by / 
the singularity ot his notions, concerning V 
tlie structure of the earth. On Friday 
evening last, he delivered a lecture on 
the subject, in the lecture-room connected 
with the museum of the college, A large 
and respectable audience evinced the 
public curiosity. The arguments and il¬ 
lustrations, with which the lecturer en¬ 
tertained them, Were substantially the 
same as those, which he has from time to 
time communicated through the press. 
We have always considered the theory 
of Capt. Symtnes, as one of those extrava¬ 
gant and absurd speculations, into which 
an inquisitive enthusiasm frequently be¬ 
trays men of highly respectable under¬ 
standings, who exhibit as much solidity 
of judgment and soberness of views on 
other subjects, as the generality of their 
neighbors. We heard nothing in his 
lecture to change, but much to confirm 
this opinion. He complained of the treat¬ 
ment he had received ; and particularly 
of the ridicule, which has occasionally 
appeared in some of the newspapers; 
and we are not so sure, that he has no 
reason to complain. His respectability 
should have ensured him more serious 
1 argument and less derision. The absurdi¬ 
ty of his theory should have been clearly 
and unanswerably exposed, by those who 
thought proper to notice it. To do this, 
it was only necessary to refer to some 
of those effects, which must be produced 
by gravitation—a principle, which he ac¬ 
knowledges, and by which he undertakes 
to prove the correctness of his theory. 
If we suppose the world to be a single 
spherical shell of matter, possessing the 
principle of gravitation, which all matter 
13 known to possess, it may be mathemat¬ 
ically demonstrated, that a particle of 
matter situated in any part of the cavity, 
would be equally attracted in every di- 
| section, and have no weight at all, pro¬ 
dded the world were at rest. If placed 
at the centre, it is obvious, the attraction 
or the shell would be equal in every di¬ 
rection. If placed at any other point, 
between the centre and concave surface* 
or on that surface, the attraction would 
