Evidence & Experiment Three-Bedford Level

In 1872 Samual Rowbotham (1816-1885) wrote in "Earth Not a Globe", a nice preface that you should read if you have time. It shows that he honestly reports what he sees and is unlikely to be a fraud.

Bedford Level Experiment

A round, globe-type Earth should have curved surfaces, especially of standing water. Some math can show that any "level" surface would drop off about 8 inches in the first mile. The second mile should put the water surface 2.7 feet below the horizontal line through the starting point. The third mile, 6 ft and by the sixth mile, 24 ft. Sam tested this on a very long, very straight canal called the Bedford Level.

Bedford Level (a canal): "The water is nearly stationary--often completely so, and throughout its entire length has no interruption from locks or water-gates of any kind; so that it is, in every respect, well adapted for ascertaining whether any or what amount of convexity really exists."

Sam waded into the water at Welch's Dam (which was really just a Ferry crossing with no dam at all) and held a telescope 8 inches over the surface while another man in a boat rowed away from him, all the way to Welney Bridge six miles away.

The boat had a flag that was 5 feet off the water surface.

The man in the boat was told to raise his oar to touch the top of the bridge when he got there.

Six miles away the boat should have been riding on a water surface that had dropped 24 feet. It should have been below the horizon when viewed from such a low position. Even the tip of the flag should have been 19 feet below the horizontal. Rowbotham points out that the scope would be pointing slightly downward, since the horizon of a curved Earth would be 8 inches lower after the first mile. Calculating this way the tip of the mast still should have been about 11 feet below the horizon.

Result: Sam reported that he could see the entire boat, flag and all, for the entire distance until the man touched the bridge with the oar. He also reported the summer weather was sunny and clear that afternoon. He even writes about the possibilites of refraction causing an illusion or mirage and points out evidence that makes such an event unlikely.

What does this mean? Remember that your point of view is from that time period. You have not seen Earth from space. No-one has flown in a plane. Write yout thoughts in your log.

NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION
scanned at sacred-texts.com, June 2005. Proofed and formatted by John Bruno Hare. This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was published prior to 1923. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose provided this notice of attribution is left intact in all copies.

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