Common Read 2013

Title

Common Read 2013

Description

Materials associated with MASC's Common Read exhibit titled "Outrageous Hypotheses".
Diagram of a hollow Earth
This diagram illustrates Thomas Burnet's theory that the lack of sufficient surface water to account for Noah's flood could be explained if the Earth were hollow.
Diagram of solar orbit over a flat earth
This diagram illustrates how the sun illuminates the Earth in Samuel Rowbotham's model of a flat Earth. The book that contains this drawing was published in 1881, well after the vast majority of Western civilization dismissed the notion. Rowbotham…
Panotti from Nuremberg Chronicles
This illustration shows a member of a race of people called the Panotti. They were initially described by Pliny the Elder in his Historia Naturalis as living in the islands off Scythia.
Nose worm
This page features two etchings illustrating worms supposedly extracted from a person's nose. The example on the bottom of the page is noteworthy for its depiction of a smiling, horned organism that can invade human nasal passages.
A general map of the discoveries of Admiral de Fonte & others
In 1708 a London magazine, The Monthly Miscellany, published a letter signed by Admiral Bartholomew de Fonte. He claimed to have crossed North American from the Pacific to Hudson Bay through the legendary northwest passage. Joseph-Nicholas de l'Isle…
Plaque dedicated to J. Harlen Bretz
This plaque dedicated to J. Harlen Bretz for his work in explaining the topography of Eastern Washington is located outside the Dry Falls Visitor Center.
Reconnassaince Topographic and Geologic Map of Grand Coulee Washington
This map was in The Grand Coulee by Bretz to illustrate his belief that the coulees in the region were created by a cataclysmic flood, as opposed to gradual processes, such as glaciation or wind erosion. The pink areas on the map illustrate a series…
Panorama of the Dry Falls System
This photograph of the Dry Falls system in Washington State illustrates the sort of gouging that Bretz felt could only be caused by a catastrophic flood.
Map outlining Gravity Plan
This map taken from a 1925 brochure illustrates the series of tunnels and dams designed to channel water from the Pend Oreille River to the Columbia Basin. By maintaining a path that moved water downhill, the Gravity Plan proposed to irrigate the…
Lister Gave First Push to Columbia Project
This cartoon presents the story of the Grand Coulee Dam from conception to the eventual decision by the United States Congress to fund construction of the dam. This narrative emphasizes the role of advocates of the Gravity Plan, like Governor Ernest…
"Big Shots" Pledge Support to Columbia Basin Project
This photograph from the Spokane Chronicle features members of the Colmbia River Development League, including James O'Sullivan, Rufus Woods, and Senator C. C. Dill. The Columbia River Development League formed in support of a dam built at Grand…
Photograph of Bretz expedition from Intermountain Motorist
This page from an article titled "Red Hot Coulees" and inlcudes a photograph of J. Harlen Bretz leading a field trip to explain his theory to a group of geologists and journalists. The article was printed in the September 1928 issue of Intermountain…
Portrait of Osmar Waller
This portrait of Osmar Waller was taken when Waller was Vice-President of Washington State College. Waller taught mathematics and civil engineering at WSC and was Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Waller was also a proponent of the Gravity…
Theory of the Earth title page
This is the title page from William Whitson's Theory of the Earth. In it, he attempts to explain the deluge described in the book of Noah as the result of a comet passing near Earth.
Charts illustrating a geocentric universe
This chart from William Derham's Astro-theology displays a model of the geocentric universe, including the orbit of the planets, the stars, and the "coclum empyreum," which was essentially heaven. In this model, as in all geocentric models, Earth is…
Chart depicting geocentric universe
This chart printed in a Dutch book on astronomy depicts a geocentric universe, with the Earth at its center and the planets, sun, and stars orbiting around the Earth. In this chart, Mercury and Venus orbit around the sun, which would help explain…
Title page for A Treatise of the Great Antidote of Van Helmont, Paracelsus, and Croillius
This title page is from a pamphlet published in 1671 that describes how to create an elixir that promises long life and claims to have a "restoring nature even at the point of death...effectively removing away the seeds of all diseases."
Satellite photograph of Scablands
This satellite photograph from 1973 shows the braided pathways of the Channeled Scablands. While aerial photography helped illustrate Bretz's theory that a giant flood formed the Scablands, satellite images such as this provided a broader overhead…
Engraving of Noah's Ark with unicorns
In this depiction of Noah's Ark from 1681, several pairs of animals are shown boarding Noah's Ark, including a pair of unicorns near the front of the line.
A new map of North America : shewing its principal divisions, chief cities, townes, rivers, mountains, &c.
This map of North America by British cartographer Edward Wells depicts California as an island. This misrepresentation was based on accounts from the voyages of Hernando Cortes.
Blemmye from Nuremberg Chronicles
This illustration shows a member of a race of people called the Blemmye. They were initially described by Pliny the Elder in his Historia Naturalis as in Nubia.
Tropical animals from Nieuhof’s Remarkable Voyages
This engraving depicts a number of animals from the Asian tropics, including an elephant and a "sucoterio," which is likely a misinterpretation of a Sumatran rhinoceros.
This is likely a depiction of a babirusa, which is native to Indonesia. Here it is presented in a slender, dog-like posture. In the natural world, the babirusa more closely resembles a boar.
Being Wrong cover
This is the cover for Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, by Kathryn Schulz. This book is the 2013-2014 WSU Common Reading.
This interview was recorded during the opening of the Outrageous Hypotheses exhibit at WSU MASC. In it, Mark O'English describes the materials in the exhibit about Samuel Rowbottam's Zetetic flat earch theory and what he finds interesting about it.…
This interview segment was recorded during the opening of the Outrageous Hypotheses exhibit at WSU MASC. The exhibit was based on Being Wrong, the 2013-2014 Common Read. Trevor Bond describes his favorite object in the exhibit, the Nuremberg…