To: List Members
From: Dean
Re: Etidorhpa Descriptions
Etidorhpa seems like a fantastic work of fiction about cavern worlds
and the
hollow earth. But I think that the book depicts very real phenomena, if
not an
absolutely true story.
The physics of our surface world may not apply in the depths of the
cavern
worlds. As the frequency of the
penetrating radiation changes with depth, the gravity-inducing
frequency will be left behind, creating stratas of weightlessness, as depicted
in the book Etidorhpa:
CHAPTER XXI.
MY WEIGHT IS DISAPPEARING.
We halted suddenly, for we came unexpectedly to the edge of a
precipice,
twenty feet at least in depth.
" Let us jump down," said my guide.
" That would be dangerous," I answered; " can not we descend at some
point
where it is not so deep?"
" No; the chasm stretches for miles across our path, and at this
point we
will meet with the least difficulty; besides, there is no danger. The
specific gravity of our bodies is now so little that we could jump
twice
that distance with impunity."
" I can not comprehend you; we are in the flesh, our bodies are
possessed of
weight, the concussion will be violent."
" You reason again from the condition of your former life, and, as
usual,
are mistaken; there will be little shock, for, as I have said, our
bodies
are comparatively light now. Have you forgotten that your motion is
continuously accelerated, and that without perceptible exertion you
move
rapidly? This is partly because of the loss of weight. Your weight
would now
be only about fifty pounds if tested by a spring balance."
I stood incredulous.
" You trifle with me; I weigh over one hundred and fifty pounds; how
have I
lost weight ? It is true that I have noticed the ease with which we
have
recently progressed on our journey, especially the latter part of it,
but I
attribute this, in part, to the fact that our course is down an
incline, and
also to the vitalizing power of this cavern air."
" This explains part of the matter," he said; " it answered at the
time, and
I stated a fact; but were it not that you are really consuming a
comparatively small amount of energy, you
would long before this have been completely exhausted. You have been
gaining
strength for some hours; have really been
growing younger. Your wrinkled face has become more smooth, and your
voice
is again natural. You were prematurely aged by your brothers on the
surface
of the earth, in order that when you pass the line of gravity, you
might be
vigorous and enjoying manhood again. Had this aging process not been
accomplished you would now have become as a child in many respects."
He halted before me. " Jump up," he said. I promptly obeyed the
unexpected
command, and sprung upward with sufficient force to carry me, as I
supposed,
six inches from the earth; however I bounded upward fully six feet.
My look
of surprise as I gently alighted, for there was no concussion on my
return,
seemed lost on my guide, and he quietly said:
" If you can leap six feet upward without any excessive exertion, or
return
shock, cannot you jump twenty feet down? Look!"
And he leaped lightly over the precipice and stood unharmed on the
stoney
floor below.
Even then I hesitated, observing which, he cried:
" Hang by your hands from the edge then, and drop."
I did so, and the fourteen feet of fall seemed to affect me as though
I had
become as light as a cork. I fluttered to the earth as a leaf would
fall,
and leaned against the precipice in surprise meditation.
" Others have been through your experience," He remarked, " and I
therefore
can overlook your incredulity; but experiences such as you now meet,
remove
distrust. Doing is believing."
He smilied benignantly.
I pondered, revolving in my mind the fact that persons had in mental
abstraction, passed through unusual experiences in
ignorance of conditions about them, until their attention had been
called to
the seen and yet unnoticed surroundings, and they had then beheld the
facts
plainly. The puzzle picture stares the eye and impresses the retina,
but is
devoid of character until the hidden form is developed in the mind,
and then
that form is always prominent to the eye. My remarkably light step,
now that
my attention had been directed thereto, was constantly in my mind,
and I
found myself suddenly possessed of the strength of a man, but with the
weight of an infant. I raised my feet without an effort; they seemed
destitute of weight; I leaped about, tumbled, and rolled over and
over on
the smooth stone floor without injury. It appeared that I had become
the
airy similitude of my former self, my material substance having
wasted away
without a corresponding impairment of strength.