The world's career : or, A journey with the world

Front matter

Class O,^

Book _^fcki^

Copyright^

Preface

With this, my first attempt to express thoughts of philosophical nature to the public by letter, after a stay here in the field of action sixty-seven }< r ears, weighing thoughts and ideas concerning that deeplying problem of how life to all the world may come and go, considering also that non-professional men may sometimes produce a worthy grain of philosophical aspect, and with kindest regards to former theories, I here review past opinions on the great subject, having that desire to add new thoughts, which may prove beneficial to future studies by coming generations, and may possibly create some relief and satisfaction to the present scholar in nature's unbounded field of action.

Commonly we have a desire to look back and forward to learn, with that conviction and desire I have come to the conclude:: to offer this little book of condensed review and liberal thoughts to readers to compare with former accepted theories.

if the reader thinks and weighs without prejudice he, may to some degree, find the keynote or

!*• ^,0(^1: thki; sprouts: c ; c::on, life and progress to all the

Chapter I

ay generations have already enjoyed the

privilege of reviewing nature's moving panorama,

:hey aimed to formulate thoughts and conclus-

concerning life and progress upon the surface

be world and within the universal space, which

it is instinctively our aim to weigh and gather as

e treasure to lay by as knowledge for future

generations.

As an ardent investigator in nature'- great held ition I shah cor to gain a decided posi-

and review past productions and future developments from the natural standpoint; there nature's k is openly laid before us and yet all appears mysteriously shrouded in deep secret to mortal beings, but the human race by its position at the head of all earthly creations is bound to learn, to lead, and to lift to higher developments. We become scholars in nature's unbounded field of production, one leads another to a better understanding of all our surroundings: errors and fantastic ideas are common in our research for truth, and yet all are natural results and a necessary stimulus to lead us on.

At the beginning of our research in the field of natural progress, we are confronted by the same obstructions as all other investigators ; we do not know at what point nature begins, neither are we in position to define or separate nature to space or limit ; we may say at once nature comprises all universal actions. We stand before a cavern deeper and deeper in space which will never be revealed to mortals of this earth. Theories supported earlier and the fruits of earlier imaginations may prove to be errors or may be misunderstood and therefore we shall not retire to peaceful rest, be silent and unconcerned because some wise man in his day has told things in a certain way. Progress in all directions must prevail, yet the thoughts and possible errors in the youthful days of the human race deserve respect and to be placed and honored as a foundation for future construction.

The human race may now look backward and forward, and it finds that the time of its existence is not long in comparison with the age of our world or other moving planets, but it enjoys its position and steadily advances, having the privilege of looking back and to the front far beyond our existence, where the field for our humble research is unlimited.

In my desire to extend my sight and thoughts to distant space I attempt to reach back to a period of time when our world was not yet in existence, and from there on I shall aim to trace out the world's progress. No' form to indicate the structure of a future world was then apparent, no earthly surface, no vegetation, no animal life or organized forms w T ere in existence, — this means a leap very far back indeed ; and how may things within the great universe have appeared then?

Undoubtedly, as great and mysterious as it appears to us today but our rising world had not attained form and body in that universal space.

Many others were there that had come into existence long before, so that the absence of our world material would not be noticed more than the absence of one individual from the great numbers on earth. When such a form or body is not yet in existence, how does nature begin to formulate life and body? Whether such forms are of large or small design, nature always begins with the formation of an egg; in vegetation, animal life, or the great bodies above in the universal space, the power of nature forms the egg or seed, which is an accumulation of mineral substance, under proper conditions without apparent aid from a preceding form. The power and conditions to formulate the egg by which worlds are produced exist within the universal space. I shall say here that I do not pretend to show how nature does the work, neither on the smaller scale in our earthly surroundings nor on the grander scale in the universal space: yet I feel confident in my assertion that our world has been formed by that fundamental act and common process, — the production of life and body from the form. It was composed and developed with the same ease and perfection which we see daily in production and within the animal kingdom, with the only apparent difference that one takes more time than the other, while in all cases favorable surroundings are required. With these conditions and the evidence from our surroundings I take it for granted that within the universe is the power free to produce such planetary eggs. The critic may say here, an egg will not produce without the intercourse of the same character, yet he may repeatedly see illustrations set before him, as I will w to the contrary by the minor production of nal life and by the continuous reproduction or seed by the various plant which stand in evidence by daily occurrence.

Why should we doubt such ability in the great universe, when we positively have nothing to show to the contrary and such fundamental work is common in all cases without the knowledge of the producer, since nature demands only that the producer gather in suitable food by which the egg may be formed under the natural force.

Though the many searching parties of the past have aimed and labored hard to find the real beginning of the past condition of this little world of ours, they could never see or identify the early stages as an egg or seed form, because they would not make practical use of the searchlight that nature daily offers in her simple and common form of production, which may be profitably applied to the larger or universal bodies. The Indiar of old Asia, nevertheless, expressed some faint ideas of the egg form in the early days in connection with the creation stories, but the later and more advanced' people in science would not have it that way.

In the seventeenth century, however, the idea of a Nebular system sprang up, supported by Laplace, Herschel, Kant and others, and later by Darwin and the entire school of advanced science. In this Nebular system, they look at the sun only as the medium of production of planetary life or body ; they see the sun in a state of great action, revolving with powerful speed, dominating in her limited system as the central force, and throwing off portions of waste substance into distant space. These portions were supposed to remain then in a state of high temperature or rather form into an immense ball of heated or burning gas, which is said has formed the future world by cooling off.

ile our world was still in that heated condition.. and revolving also as the sun did, it had the same faculty as the sun by which, then, the world ball threw off her waste portions to distant space to form the moon; and so on until all the planets are arranged in moving positions.

Now, gentlemen, I cannot agree with you on that imaginary plan. I place the sun in a quiet position over her entrusted eggs, as I shall describe herein; not as a dead and lifeless body, of course, but as the hatching hen full of life. She may possibly shed and throw off feathers, or such material, but the feathers and shed material do not form into another body of similar character as you describe it in the Nebulae theory. The egg, being hatched, contains the stuff or the properties that will give form and life to the succeeding planetary bodies, — never the cast-off substance ; this is true to nature in the great planetary bodies in the universal space as well as among the little creatures crawling over the surface of the world, there is but one principle to all.

How r ever, a thinking gentleman and friend of the Nebular theory told me recently: "You must be wrong, because all the scientists in the world agree with the Nebular theory/' They, of course, have that privilege, yet they doubt its correctness to some extent, and I sincerely think they will not entertain that mistaken theory much longer, my friend, but they will finally make use of nature's direct and unfailing searchlight, "the egg form," and its natural course, as I shall aim to describe herein.

If we adopt nature's common course as a basis of learning from small and great productions, we shall not go far astray in our research for reliable information, and that much disputed question of how the world came to exist may then be clearly understood by mortals of this world. With this foregoing review and explanation I take it as a positive fact that our world is the natural product of a planetary egg. I could accept no other theory^ new or old.

All such productions as science not corresponding with nature's common course must cease to explain imaginary discoveries and retreat to the basis that nature exhibits daily in our surroundings ; the cooling off of our worldly planet to the present condition is unfounded ; however, the existence of unruly volcanoes gave rise to such theories in the geological school, but later on I shall attempt to show conclusively that we do not dwell or walk upon a hell or a burning interior by which we might prove that past burning condition, nature has a better and more practical way to make worlds, which I may explain herein with the well known egg form.

With this assumption of the common and natural theory, I now cast my eyes upon that newformed egg within the universal space, located in a systematic manner by the influence of the great sun ; all is there practically arranged, as nature does all things well and in systematic rotation.

I feel safe to make comparisons with the daily occurrence under our own observation of the conduct and proceedings relative to the hatching course within the animal kingdom, and I shall be especiallyfree to watch and compare the hatching process of the hen and the eggs entrusted to her as a familiar object from which to get daily instructions concerning the proceedings in planetary development.

Though our knowledge of the general arrangement of things above is limited, we are still far enough advanced to understand that a continual change of conditions exists which is undoubtedly for the same purpose as that shown daily in our earthly surroundings. The astronomer also knows that many planetary systems are widely scattered in the universal space, which is evidence that more than one hatching process is in operation.

However, we desire to look more carefully at die wonderful world egg before the hatching process is applied.

Chapter II

When the egg has ripened for the hatching process it has its full growth, contains all the elements necessary for higher development of form, and is supplied with a protecting wall or shell ; in that complete condition we see the world egg in the planetary system, or rather we see it placed under the influence of the sun, which I aim to honor as the hatching hen in that great planetary system. That great sun above is not an idler, nor is she without purpose ; she is vested with a high duty and holds a position similar to that of the hen over the* eggs entrusted to her.

With such clear and familiar illustrations as wesee daily about us in the ever-repeated seed or egg: production with the direct aim of producing life and! form, we shall be able to watch and compare intelligently the course of our world egg in universal space. To avoid confusion hereafter in mentioning illustrations of seed or egg form, I shall point out that the animal egg and the vegetable seed have the same meaning and are for like purposes, and the seed is as applicable an illustration of the world egg as the example of the hen egg.

With such a clear light directed upon the subject of our discussion, it will be surprisingly easier to understand the relationships the beginning and end of the world's career, than with the assistance of our former speculation on the creation or formation of the earth could offer.

The contents or interior of the seed or egg are always shut up and hidden from our sight, but we may satisfy our curiosity — and open to our gaze that natural product. We find there nothing that would indicate the future possibilities, but later or t under favorable conditions, nature brings forth what we could not see or understand — the great results.

We could not lay open the world egg to see its contents, but we suppose that it is practically constructed, as is all of nature's work, we possibly would find the same arrangement that we do w r ithin the hen egg 9 but in this case we exercise patience, keep our eyes on the big world egg, and learn what nature brings forth on the larger scale.

How large the great world egg appeared when the sun commenced to act upon it, I can not positively say, but it seems reasonable to say that it must have been about as large as the globe is now, as I shall show later on that the world body is not yet entirely free from that original shell. The progress of the world only consumes or transforms the liquid portion of the egg into solid body form, as it does in the hatching process of the hen egg; however, we shall now review the little world egg from its first stages in the hatching process directed by the sun.

The composition of the egg shell was undoubt-

IS

edly of solid and clear crystal formation, so constructed as to enable the sun to penetrate inward to the center. We should understand also that the sun has the ability to penetrate through the clear and light substance to the dark substance beneath without losing light or power, no matter what the distance may be. Directly under the shell is located a tissue — like substance, or skin — also light in color, which in future development will constitute the atmosphere and covering of the rising plant. Further inward we find, or expect to find in quantity what we call the white of the egg in the animal egg y — a liquid substance, also clear, and within the world egg possibly then salty in its nature, which undoubtedly constitutes the element nourishing to life within the egg and later on to ocean life and becomes the promoter of life and transformation of solid substance. The central portion we should find of a dark mineral substance, doubtless within the world egg as well as the hen egg-

With such a formation the sun meets with no obstruction in sending her intense light freely to the central portion of the world egg, there to create fermentation and heat in the mineral substance as well as light to watch the process. As there is no standstill in nature's work we may then look for an interesting and wonderful development, and here learn to know the art of building a world in its true natural course.

The power of fermentation within the egg, and the proper elements are supplied ; nothing is lacking in due proportion to make a world, while the sunlight is ever ready to furnish the stimulus to fermentation. By this act of fermentation we learn that upon the dark mineral center the first action took place by which our earthly globe or world was formed, but now we want to learn also by. what process the great work was progressing.

In my research for truth in this matter I shall not reach out for fantastic ideas, but I shall aim to draw information from daily occurrences from " which all can learn and become wiser. The secret of how the solid world body came into existence is nearer than we commonly think. Did you ever stop to think why nature so richly and abundantly produces form and life, and then again constantly demands death and decay, in vegetation as well as in animal life? If life, and death, or transformation 'of substance could not be accepted as a direct aim \o build the great world body, then a complete crelatori without change of form would be in order for discussion, but all surroundings teach that this hustle and bustle in natur vs great field of operation is not aimless work. The deep-flowing act to life within nature's power is positively the principle by which nature prepares and produces material with which to build the world.

Let us stop and think for a moment. The great work begins at the center of the world egg, where the sun peeps down through an immense distance to create fermentation and heat. Fermentation always creates union of mineral substance, and such union meant the beginning of life, not of the future world directly, but of animal life which at that period appeared of the smallest size and of short duration. In the first stages of formation life and material of highly organized form were not required ; it was suited to its purpose, and yet was chemical union and life of the most primitive nature, which was the beginning of that w r onderful chain of earthly life and activity which encircles the entire world.

Men of thought and apprecation will stop here again to look nature's wonderful doings in the face and enjoy that simple and yet wonderful course which nature pursues in organizing a world within that enclosed world egg.

Life and death is nature's motto and deepest command.

Without interruption the great work goes oa: The sun sends her brilliant light to the center of operation where more new life, growth, and death are working in harmony for the purpose of furnishing more and more building material which is not cast away as a mere lump of earth without design or good purpose, but is at once properly sorted and located as required in the design of building a rid.

While I speak of fermentation and life within the world egg, it may be well to offer a few illustrations of every day occurrence, which may apply to the action within the world egg.

If you procure a ball of clear ice, no matter how large, with a dark mineral substance in the center, and allow it to hang freely exposed to the sun's rays, you will have the satisfaction of seeing the sunlight penetrate through the clear ice to the dark center of the globe, there creating heat and fermentation and dissolving the ice from the center outward. However thick the ice may be, if it is clear the outer portion will remain cold and firm, and in the meantime, if the dark center is a suitable mixture of mineral substances, life of some form will soon appear and develope as conditions permit. This you may call a miniature world egg y but I should not advise you to undertake to raise a future world, for many other little things are still necessary in making a world.

We may observe in other directions how easily nature may create life of short duration such as might be required in the first stages of the world's organization. For instance, to show the action of mineral substances in favorable conditions, your housekeeper may prepare to bake bread; she will mix flour, water, salt, and similar ingredients thoroughly uniting the substances, and subject the mixture to a certain degree of heat. Soon fermentation sets in and the chemical affinity, or attraction, begins to act in the way of expansion. At the appearance of life, the housekeeper quickly places the mixture in the heated oven, where the life and activity is destroyed in its first stages, and she will soon have the pleasure of receiving good, wholesome bread : but if she neglects to place the mixture or dough in the heated oven, she may be surprised to find an abundance of advanced life ready to walk away.

Again, if you expose water to the sun, fermentation soon sets in, and an abundance of life will inhabit the stagnant water. If you are in the habit of keeping applebutter or the like, please watch closely in the spring when the temperature rises and you may find the article in a fermenting condition full of action and life. The wise housekeeper will quickly heat it to the boiling point, which destroys the start of life, and she will be able again to offer good applebutter; otherwise, if the temperature increased, it might have been at liberty to walk away, Your cheese, too, is likely to walk out if the temperature is favorable. In fact, everything existing under favorable conditions is subject to fermentation and change of condition. The housekeeper, with others, generally declares that this or that is spoiled ; it is true that it is spoiled for one condition, but it is reserved and renewed for another. Fermentation is chemical love or attraction and, under such conditions, the mineral elements demand union, which lays the foundation for the future egg, be it large or small; if the conditions and surroundings are favorable the egg will mature and life will follow.

The act of laying the foundation for new life, as you may observe, requires no other factor or promoter than the simple chemical action under suitable conditions. This holds good within the largest and smallest combinations. These few hints may aid profitably in understanding clearly the possibility of producing animal life within the world egg by a process which is universal.

Chapter III

Again we return to that early condition within the world egg, armed with suggestive ideas how life came into existence in the interior by fermentation caused by the influence of the sun. By the natural course as herein described, the central portion will enlarge more aiid more by the demand for life, the sun gains a greater field of operation, and harmony in all directions brings forth the great results. As the body there forming advances in age and size, it is never confined to one thing or one condition ; the necessary change is soon effected and the required building material furnished by a higher grade of animal life by the common course in nature's work. As a natural consequence, the organic form w T ithin the shell will grow larger as the sun continues to send her light through the clear crystal shell upon it, life and the desire to live will be there also in harmony with ex

ditions, while death is always a positive gain to

the rising* world.

In time the tender organic body within the crystal shell spreads in size nearer to the confining walls and a portion of the liquid substance then is already consumed and converted into an organic world formed by the way of life and death.

The wall or protecting shell is not there to remain, for the constant fermentation and heat produced under the crystal wall by the sun must finally affect the solid egg form: there is no standstill. and nothing so permanent that nature has no way to effect the necessary change. — The wall will give way. Later it will open in the middle like the hen egg in its similar hatching process. Here Ave may wonder what will be done with the crystal shell : will it disappear at once, or vanish away slowly, and what will be the real substance of the shell when it is no longer a solid egg form ?

As I have shown by the ice globe, the sun will commence at the center to heat and dissolve outward until all has vanished and is in liquid form, ready for consumption, and later we shall see that not all of the world shell has yet disappeared.

We will now go back and carefully watch the first opening of the world egg. The sun has done great work and effected a marked change by her hatching of the world egg.

From our ideas of the manner in which iife came into existence in the interior by the influence of the sun and of the consequent expansion of the world body, we see that the original egg form must give way, the solid egg become a thing of the past, and the secret of the inner working be laid open to the eye of the investigator. Under the middle zone, where the force of the sun was strongest, the coming world babe is nearest the shell, or surface, and there is gained a comparatively small portion of open space or ocean stretching its arms in different directions. This however, does not take place in so short a time as it aoes in the hen egg, but is governed by the same principle. To notice the slightest change, we would have to sit there a long time and grow very old ; but if we take into consideration the difference in size of the two eggs we might calculate very accurately how long it takes to reach that condition, and how much longer it will take to complete the hatching process of this world by the sun. However, progress is constant; the seven days of creation we talk of are long days, but everything goes on all right without our mistaken calculations.

A space of open ocean presents itself, and here I desire to invite all the older and later theorists and investigators, who set up theories independent of nature's teaching, and prove to them how far they are from the true condition of things in the formation of this growing world. This takes the investigators many thousand years back, but it takes them to the right spot. There they may look into the depth of the opening ocean, or rather through the parted ^gg shell, and be convinced of nature's common course in producing a world, and see how the material is produced by which the world is growing larger and larger.

Within the depth a yet tender infant world is developing on the same principle as that within the lien tgg during the hatching process; no stiff crust, no trees, no rocks, no coarse surface has yet been formed, but a soft and tender world form is in sight which is destined to grow larger and become powerful. How may such development be maintained? With that condition of open ocean we have the satisfaction of looking into the deep water, or rather into the liquid of the open tgg, and of seeing there the continuation of active life and death, changing in quality to suit all demands for material with which to- build.

We see there the busy ocean life unconcerned about the change of things, consuming water or liquid substance to build up body, then dying and giving its body as building material for the rising world. Under such condition progress and steady expansion of the growing world is noticeable, and convinces us that this is the only course by which our world is being built up.

The salty substance of the open ocean as it appears might also be of much interest to the investigator, as its purpose and origin may be traced. Undoubtedly the salty substance which constituted the white substance of the egg is now known as salt water, but originally, within the shell it was in a more condensed and solid form, about as we find it within the hen egg. Dissolved by the action of the sun it becomes the nourishing element for all life, within the egg, and remains such until all is consumed or transformed. The salt deposits within the earth have not made the ocean water salty, but, on the contrary, the salty ocean makes the salt deposits while the formation of land is going on.

The earliest opening of the shell undoubtedly appeared in narrow lines running in different directions from the middle of the egg form, making a marked impression upon the newcomer beneath. This may be of great interest to the investigator, and especially to the geologist who still teaches the gas and fire theory in regard to great upheavals, i firmly believe that the impressions of powerful action by the water under those narrow breaks upon the shell are today evidence and proof of my theory of the egg form, as I shall show.

The entire shell did not break or dissolve all at once, but it opened as naturally as the hen egg does when the little inhabitant is large enough to reach the outer walls, causing breaks and open spaces, or ocean. This event creates stronger action of the liquid in the direction of the open space, and the pressure upon that free space has the tendency of bringing the inner building material n in that direction, creating a high, wavy impres upon the advancing world body, which will naturally show a continuous range of elevations (mc tain ranges). These wavy ridges so formed come nearer and nearer to the surface of the water, while the sun, continually acting upon the newcomer, causes the water-plants to shoot up and enjoy the sunlight. Xow my friends geologist, and all other 'ists. do you not enjoy this kind of theory better than the gas or other worn out theories? I invite you all to join me in giving praise and credit to the common course of action where you see it naturally belongs, as nature in its common way is the great builder of this beautiful world.