2017 Reprint of 1899 Second Edition. Modern flat Earth hypotheses originated with the English writer Samuel Rowbotham (1816–1884).  Based on conclusions derived from the Bedford Level experiment, Rowbotham published Zetetic Astronomy. He later expanded into a book Earth Not a Globe, proposing the Earth is a flat disc centered at the North Pole and bounded along its southern edge by a wall of ice, Antarctica, with the Sun and Moon 3,000 miles and the "cosmos" 3,100 miles above Earth. He also published a leaflet titled "The Inconsistency of Modern Astronomy and its Opposition to the Scriptures!!", which argued that the Bible, alongside our senses, supported the idea that the earth was flat and immovable and this essential truth should not be set aside for a system based solely on human conjecture. Rowbotham and followers like T. Winship [Rectangle] gained attention in debates with leading scientists such as Alfred Russel Wallace.  Rowbotham created a Zetetic Society in England and New York, shipping over a thousand copies of Zetetic Astronomy.
