THOTH -A Catastrophics Newsletter- VOL I, No. 19 July 16, 1997 EDITOR: Michael Armstrong PUBLISHER: Walter Radtke CONTENTS: PORTLAND SEMINAR REPORT.....Michael Armstrong VELIKOVSKY'S COMET VENUS(3)............David Talbott CHONDRITIC METEORITES..............Wal Thornhill MISSING UNIVERSE MASS..................Louis Hissink ----------------------------------------------- Quote of the day: What can be said about almost all men is that they have never demanded the answers to the deepest questions nor success at the highest level. MA -------------------------------------- UPDATE.......UPDATE....... UPDATE.......UPDATE.......UPDATE.......UPDATE The Seattle event (Sunday, July 20) is on, and we will be going with a workshop strategy and extending the workshop into the evening to accommodate the kind of interest we saw in Portland. The Seattle location is-- Ramada Inn, 2200 Fifth Avenue, in downtown Seattle The SEATTLE EVENT will begin at 8:30 A.M. and culminate in an evening discussion with participants to begin building a communications network, encouraging cross-pollination with other researchers and organizations. Registration will begin at 8:00 A.M. And we have reduced the cost to just $75 for the full day. Two themes will combine in one event: "Symbols of an Ancient Sky" reconstructs the extraordinary planetary environment giving rise to the great myths, rites, and symbols of ancient times. "The Electrical Solar System" challenges modern astronomy and science by looking at the true nature of interactions between the Sun, the planets, and our galactic environment. If you desire to attend the Seattle event, PLEASE DO NOT SEND A CHECK. JUST SHOW UP! We will register you at the room. What we promise you is some stunning new information and a most compelling story, together with a great opportunity to get to know other explorers, with whom you will certainly have plenty of common interests. THE NEXT WORKSHOP IN THE PORTLAND AREA WILL BE SUNDAY, JULY 27. The event will run from 8:30 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. Please email us at (kronia at teleport.com) for details. OR CALL US DIRECTLY TO SAVE TIME: 503-643-5863. At the Portland seminar this past weekend, the enthusiasm of participants was overwhelming, with one person after another asking to play some part in a continuing communications project. Though we are still formulating the concepts (with the help of some new contributors) our present plan is to sponsor a workshop in the Portland area at least twice a month, allowing prior participants to play a direct role in follow- up communications with others. ----------------------------------------- PORTLAND SEMINAR REPORT Michael Armstrong (mikamar at e-z.net) Portland Airport Sheraton. July 13. This was, without question, the most effective seminar I have seen. After introductions by science and technical writer Stephen Parsons, Dave Talbott presented Part One of his slides on "Symbols of an Ancient Sky," outlining the mythical themes, symbols, and iconography supporting the Saturn theory reconstruction. This was followed by about an hour-long slide show and lecture by Thornhill showing how plasma physics supports and predicts the mythological model. The balance of the day was filled by two more slide-lectures by Dave and an additional slide lecture by Wal, concluding with an hour-long interactive discussion with participants in the seminar. The combination of alternating lectures on the mythical themes and on the physics was very powerful and the audience responded with exceptional interest. Both Dave and Wal did a great job in their lectures as well as their answers to questions. Clearly, some incredible strides have been made in the presentation of a new model of planetary history. The consensus of participants was that we are in for one helluva an intellectual revolution. -------------------------------------- VELIKOVSKY'S COMET VENUS (3) David Talbott (dtalbott at teleport.com) [EDITOR'S NOTE: This continues Talbott's series of articles on the myth of the comet Venus.] SOUL-BIRD, WINGED STAR In connection with the departure of the god-king's heart- soul as a "plumed" or "burning" star, one notes that Mesoamerican traditions produced many variations on the underlying idea. One influential variant was the idea of the heart-soul sprouting wings and soaring away. "On the death of a great noble, his soul was thought of as taking flight like a bird or a butterfly. At such a time he was addressed by those attending: Awaken, it has reddened, dawn has set in. Already, the flame-colored cock has sung, the flame-colored swallow, already the flame-colored butterfly flies. The most popular form of the "soul-bird" appears to have been the quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala. My friend Phil Peters, who lived for several years among the Quiche Maya of the Guatemala lowlands, recounts the story of the famous hero, Tecúm-Umám, who lived at the time of the Spanish invasion. On the plains of Xelaju, the story goes, Tecúm-Umám was killed by Pedro de Alverado, of Cortez' army. "Then the quetzal bird that was in his headdress took flight, and since that tragic occasion, the quetzal no longer sings." What is crucial in any study hoping to comprehend such ideas is the ability of the celestial reference--the mythical archetype--to give meaning to the symbol. In the Vienna Codex, or Vindobonensis, the planet Venus is depicted with wing-like appendages. Can the "wings" of Venus--said to represent Venus' "radiance" or "greatest brilliancy"-be separated from the global myth of Venus as the soul-bird? Though we cannot here stop and review the countless parallels in other lands, we would be remiss if we failed to observe that the avian flight of the heart-soul is a world- wide theme. The earliest instances will be found in Mesopotamia and Egypt, where the Venus goddesses Inanna, Ishtar, Isis and Hathor (to name only the most prominent instances) all represent the "soul" in the form of a bird taking flight. Thus, the great god-kings, whose heart-souls are the star Venus, customarily depart in the form of a dove, partridge, or swallow, virtually universal symbols of Venus, of transformation, and of the departing "soul". (The reader will find many examples in the remaining installments.) Are these widely dispersed recollections of Venus as soul-bird different from the universal myth declaring that the great king's or chief's soul appeared in the sky as a comet? Though the issue will not be resolved in a few paragraphs, cross referencing will suggest potentially fruitful lines of inquiry. It is certainly of interest, for example, that the Babylonians employed the phrase "winged star" for the comet. Additionally, as we will see, it is when Venus as soul-bird spreads its wings that the cometary images are most emphatic. FEATHERED SERPENT In our brief list of comet glyphs cited earlier we have also listed the cosmic serpent or dragon, and in Mexico this fascinating theme proves to be crucial. Once the researcher has learned that Mesoamerican stargazers considered a comet to be the ascending heart-soul of a great chief, he can no longer ignore the full range of related symbols: the planet Venus, the rising heart-soul of Quetzalcoatl, is not just portrayed as an ember-like star (= comet), not just depicted as a star with quetzal-tail ( = comet), but is said to have taken the form of a great cosmic serpent (= comet both in Mexico and in the universal language of comets). The name Quetzalcoatl itself is simply a combination of two Nahuatl terms--that for the quetzal-bird, known for its long brilliant turquoise tail, and the serpent or coatl." Thus two of our listed five most common comet glyphs are brought together in the name of the god. And the combined hieroglyphs clearly have a long history. The earliest known version of the plumed serpent pre-dates the Aztecs by many centuries, appearing on monuments of the Formative Olmecs. Conceptually, the avian serpent reached significantly beyond Aztec culture. The Maya name for the same god, Kulkulkan, carries an equivalent meaning, as does the Quiché figure, Gucumatz. The same figure appears to have entered Zuni ritual as the plumed serpent Kolowisi and Hopi ritual as the plumed serpent Palulukong. Though the figure of Quetzalcoatl is complex and appears to combine originally distinct traditions, the identification of the spiraling serpent itself (the transformed heart-soul) with Venus has survived even into modern times. Some of the Tzotzil groups, for example, still describe Venus as "the Big Serpent" (Mukta Ch'on.) Among the Chichimec tribes, Venus is still remembered as the "Serpent Cloud." Is it significant, then, that Aztec manuscripts depict a comet as a fiery serpent or dragon-like creature descending from the stars? The priest-astronomers knew the comet as "the star serpent." In his exploration of comet symbolism, Peter Lancaster Brown observed that the natives of Mexico represented comets "by the plumed serpent depicted in various forms." But what does this say about the acknowledged identification of the plumed serpent with the planet Venus, the ascending heart-soul of Quetzalcoatl? "It seems very likely that the white and bearded god who appeared in the east associated with the Quetzalcoatl (Serpent God) legends of pre-Columbian Middle America relates to the apparitions of spectacular comets in the morning sky and not to the planet Venus," Brown writes. Here again we see an author attempting to rationalize a clearly stated Venus-comet connection, offering his own explanation. But in this instance the "explanation" involves nothing less than a rewriting of the Aztec religion: for the identity of the transformed heart-soul of Quetzalcoatl as the planet Venus was an unshakable tenet of the myths and rites. With respect to the Mesoamerican celestial serpents and dragons, there is also the issue of attached streamers that often look more like long-flowing, spiraling locks of hair than like feathers. This unique feature is particularly significant since the disheveled "mane" of the celestial serpent-dragon is a worldwide motif. And yet, remembering that pre-Columbian astronomy depicted the comet as both a celestial serpent and a "mane-star," should it surprise us that the serpentine form of Venus possesses streamers suggestive of the flowing "hair" of countless celestial serpents and dragons in other lands? Since Venus was itself the "mane" or long-haired star in widely dispersed cultures, the underlying integrity is undeniable. In fact, no stretch at all is needed to establish the equation of flowing mane and serpent-dragon or chaos monster. The Aztec Tzonte-Mocque, identified with the planet Venus, and whose name Brasseur translated as "mane," was depicted as a dragon-like monster approaching the Earth in periods of eclipse or universal darkness. (As we will discover, every eclipse of the Sun and Moon became a symbol or reminder of the primeval cometary disaster and the arrival of the world-ending night). A counterpart of this chaos- or eclipse-demon is the Aztec Tzitzimitl, with "madly disheveled hair," descending upon a darkened world. This is, of course, precisely the image of the raging comet in numerous other lands. "A comet was supposed to be a tendril of the Great Mother's hair appearing in the sky as the world was slowly overshadowed by her twilight shadow of doomsday," writes the noted student of world mythology, Barbara Walker. But the interconnected comet glyphs attached to the chaos monsters range far beyond these instances. A symbolic counterpart of this streaming "hair" is the enigmatic, but frequently depicted beard of the Mesoamerican serpent- dragon. The Aztec Plumed Serpent, the Mayan Great Bearded Dragon and numerous counterparts of these celestial monsters are distinguished by flowing beards that are every bit as preposterous, on the face of it, as their streaming "manes". The reader will recall the celestial beard or bearded star in our short list of comet symbols, as a logical extension of the "long-haired star". (Thus the Greek _pogonias_, the beard-star, means "comet".) While a bearded serpent is a biological absurdity, the anomalous beard is immediately explained if the Venusian serpent is a long-haired star or comet. If the celestial beard did not mirror a comet-like form in the sky, then the bearded serpent is one more anomaly left unanswered, despite a consistent pattern that seems to cry out for recognition. To keep all of this in perspective it needs to be remembered that Quetzalcoatl--whose heart-soul became the plumed serpent--was himself the white and bearded god, with many counterparts spread across pre-Columbian America--one more anomaly to add to the equation. Thus Frank Waters, surprised at the prevalence of this unusual figure among the dark-skinned natives of the New World (typified by Quetzalcoatl and the Incan Viracocha), assures us the myth was "so common throughout all of pre-Columbian America that we can regard it as arising from a concept in the unconscious." A relationship with the planet Venus is clear, though not without wide-ranging interpretations by the specialists. According to Thompson, the Maya described Venus as being "very ugly with a heavy beard," and the Aztecs preserved a similar tradition: of Ehecatl, whom most authorities identify with Venus, it was said that "his beard was exceedingly long." Lastly, on the matter of the flowing hair, mane, or beard of the celestial serpent or dragon, I should like to register an opinion on one additional oddity--that of the Mesoamerican feline dragon. Here, too, we are dealing with an image begging for a comparative study, since the "outlandish" merging of cat, lion, jaguar, tiger, or lynx with a celestial serpent seems to have occurred in all major cultures. Since noticing the oddity in Mesoamerica, I have noted as well the general disinterest of the specialists in accounting for such an incongruous monster. A cat and a serpent? Here, nature itself provides not a clue as to how anyone (much less skywatchers around the world) could think of the one when confronted with the other. But an analysis of this mythic creature can be advanced dramatically by the Velikovskian methodology. What one looks for is an underlying shared attribute (not of the terrestrial symbols, which offer no shared attribute, but of the celestial reference inspiring the symbols), and in this instance there can be no doubt that it is the mane of the celestial feline figure and the twisting body or tail of the celestial serpent. While this is not the place to attempt a summary of evidence I shall present in future installments, I will simply mention the Egyptian instance of the goddess Tefnut, the Eye (= heart-soul) of the former sun god Ra. The Eye of Ra, on its departure, becomes the raging Uraeus serpent. But in the account of the goddess Tefnut as departing Eye, the raging goddess (serpent) is also depicted as a lion head with flaming, smoking mane. Of course it is not one instance, but the repeated instances of such motifs that will make the case secure. I register the supposition now to prepare the way for a comparative testt. XIUHCOATL Throughout Mesoamerica one will find numerous variations on the theme of the celestial serpent and just as many connections with the planet Venus. A particularly fascinating instance is the so-called "Fire Dragon" , whose name, translated literally, means Turquoise Dragon. Significantly, Xiuhcoatl was described as a "heavenly torch". "In mythology he becomes the fiery weapon hurled by the victorious sun at his enemies, the stars," writes Brundage. Perhaps there is more here than the reader will immediately recognize. A torch or flame in the sky, only a minor variation on the "smoking star," belongs to the universal comet myth--item three in our list of the five most common comet glyphs. Moreover, as I intend to demonstrate, one of the repeated themes in the myth of the prototypical comet is that it appears as a divine weapon hurled against rebelling powers. Consider the lines of Shakespeare, in Henry VI--I.I.1: Comets, importing change of times and states Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky And with them scourge the bad revolting stars. That have consented unto Henry's death. The motifs are: death of the king, celestial rebellion, and appearance of the comet as both a sign of world change (passing of world ages) and a weapon launched against the rebels. Similarly, the Aztec dragon Xiuhcoatl, the flaming serpent, appears as the "fire stick" wielded by the celestial hero Huitzilopochtli when the heavens were overrun by the demons of darkness. Was the comet-like Turquoise Dragon, then, linked to the planet Venus? "In Teotihuacan the dragon is plainly portrayed as an overarching sky motif, a path for stellar objects," writes Brundage. "He is a plumed rattlesnake [i.e., a counterpart of the plumed serpent of the Quetzalcoatl myth] ... He can be identified, from the quincunx (the five points that together form the emblem of the morning star) that adorns him, as the planet Venus." -------------------------------- FORMATION OF CHONDRITIC METEORITES Wal Thornhill (walt at netinfo.com.au) 'It is the thunderbolt that steers the Universe' - Heraclitus, c.500 BC Meteorites are important in the scheme of things because they are thought to be the Rosetta stones of the formation of the solar system. I don't believe that. Rather, I think they are a snapshot taken during the more catastrophic phases of the recent development of the solar system. In 1987 I published a paper which examined some of the puzzling features of the largest class of meteorites, the stony chondritic meteorites, or chondrites. Chondrites are so named because they contain chondrules or small spherules of olivine, enstatite or another of the meteoritic materials. The chondrules are embedded in a matrix of similar material. Current theories of their formation see them as products of the condensation of the solar nebula, very early in the history of the Solar System. Their irregular form, different sizes and evidently complex history create many problems for the nebular hypothesis. However, despite their wide range of composition and structure, there are regularities that suggest a common origin. PECULIAR FEATURES OF CHONDRITES The following puzzles must be answered by any theory of chondrite formation: 1. There are 4 identified concentric zones within the asteroid belt which yield 4 distinct types of chondritic meteorite. Each type has few, if any, components that are identical to those in other types. 2. Chondrites contain high melting-point inclusions (calcium- and aluminium-rich inclusions, or CAI's) which characteristically have thin shells or rims surrounding them. 3. All refractory components appear to have suffered some'flash' heating event of unknown origin and consequently show a complex and 'unearthly' chemistry and morphology. 4. The high and low temperature components of chondrites are well mixed, generally as separate entities. They have not grown from a refractory core outwards to a less refractory rim. The chemistry of the components is complementary and must have originated in a closed system. 5. The thickness of the CAI shells does not seem to vary much from one inclusion in a specimen to another. 6. Despite the often complex shape of the inclusions, the shells follow the surface faithfully with little variation in thickness. 7. The rare earth 'signature' of the CAI shells indicates that they have been formed from the body of the inclusion rather than being deposited from some external source. 8. The CAI shell is enriched up to 5 times in the refractory rare earths and have a europium/ytterbium (Eu/Yb) anomaly which indicates that the inclusions have been strongly heated and 80% of the surface layer sublimed away. 9. The heating was brief, <100 sec, as evidenced by the sharp inner edge to the CAI shells and the fact that CAI cores are largely unaffected by the heat pulse. The retention of volatiles in chondrules also indicates that the heating was of very short duration, measured in seconds. Therefore the zone of formation must have been highly localised. It could not have taken place in an extensive solar nebula. 10. The growth of the refractory components (CAI's) was interrupted while they were still at high temperature. 11. The temperature required to give the observed Eu/Yb anomaly in the CAI shells is 1500 degrees Centigrade, or more. 12. Since the most refractory components are found in the most distant chondrites from the Sun, solar radiation was evidently not the source of heat for their formation. 13. The cooling period must be measured in minutes or hours. It should also be noted that the chondrules, which are glassy drops of silicate, show evidence of rapid chilling. Strangely, they are almost all non-spherical. 14. The inclusions are surrounded by a halo of very fine grained matrix material for several millimetres, then the chondrules and coarser, more volatile components that enclose that halo. 15. The core of the inclusion has an excess of heavy magnesium (Mg) isotopes, while the shell has normal Mg isotope ratios. 16. Many chondrules contain relict grains, indicating that they are not formed by condensation. Grains larger than 0.2mm are inconsistent with formation from interstellar dust which is believed to have a very small percentage of grains of such size. 17. The existence of compound chondrules is evidence for collisions between molten chondrules. Also some grains may have been incorporated into fully or partially molten chondrules by collision. I wrote at the time: "Currently there is no single theory that can account for these observations." Nothing has changed since my explanation in 1987 for the formation of meteorites, which was based on Eric Crew's theory of ejection of material from a planet by an intense electrical discharge (for example, on a small scale, the recently formed giant Valles Marineris canyon on Mars which removed 2 million cubic kilometers of its surface. It is not surprising therefore that we should find Martian meteorites on Earth). The arc of material leaving the parent body would be composed of ionised gases, liquids and solids ranging in size from microns up to asteroid or planetoid dimensions. Electric discharges would take place between the parent planet and the highly charged departing matter. These powerful plasma discharges would give rise to a number of effects, as follows. EXPECTED FEATURES DUE TO ELECTRIC DISCHARGE PHENOMENA 1. Heating would be most intense along the axis of the discharge, falling off with radial distance from the axis. This might explain some of the chemical differences between CAI's by varying degrees of vaporisation of precursor solids. Such differential heating would have the more refractory type A CAI's condensing and cooling last along the hot discharge axis and having inclusions of less refractory type B CAI's, which formed at lower temperatures and cooled earlier, further from the axis. The magnetic 'pinch' effect of the discharge would accelerate the type B CAI's radially inwards and thus cause implantation by collision of type B CAI's within type A, as has been discovered. The converse has not been seen. 2. At some distance from the discharge axis low melting point minerals would melt to form chondrules, trapping grains or partially melted solids. The consensus is that chondrules are formed by melting of preexisting solids. 3. Refractory particles would have their exterior surfaces evenly 'flash-heated' to temperatures of the order of thousands of degrees Celsius for the short period of the discharge, probably measured in seconds or minutes. 4. Volatile elements would be preferentially vaporised in the discharge channel and accelerated along the discharge axis, causing some refractory/non-refractory element zonation along the channel as well as radially. It is found that some chondrites are rich in volatiles while others are depleted in a complementary fashion. The gaseous 'blast' along the discharge channel would also deform cooling molten droplets. Chondrules are found almost without exception to be non-spherical. 5. On quenching of the discharge, cooling would follow rapidly, in minutes, giving rise to the sharp inner boundary between the refractory particle shell and its core. It is difficult to provide such rapid heating and cooling in an extended nebular cloud, as is widely believed to be the birthplace of meteorites. Also, when the discharge ceases the magnetic 'pinch effect' ceases, accompanied by an explosive fall in gas pressure leading to the observed interruption to growth of the CAI's while still at high temperature. 6. By the electric discharge mechanism all shells should be formed at the same instant, under fairly uniform, highly localised conditions, thus giving rise to shells of a thickness which does not vary much from one specimen to another. 7. The plasma discharge heating would be uniform over all exposed surfaces, unlike ballistic heating in a gas, and therefore the observation that the shells follow the complex surface features of the refractory inclusions may be explained. This effect is used in industry in plasma ovens to evenly modify the surface of complex shaped objects. 8. After the discharge has extinguished, the sub-micron particles will be electrically attracted to the charged larger particles, thus giving rise to the observed halo of very fine grained matrix material surrounding the inclusions. Electrostatic attraction between the very smallest particles during the discharge might also help explain the observation that the CAI formation mechanism discriminates against small bodies. 9. The magnetic pinch effect of the discharge will cause the dispersed material and gases to accelerate radially inward towards the axis of the discharge, so that after the discharge is quenched there will be collisions of inrushing molten chondrules with the radial gaseous blast (thunderclap) giving rise to the formation of compound chondrules and grain inclusions. This also fits the observation that regions of chondrule formation were homogeneous over small distances. The thunderclap will cause volatiles to be included in some meteorite precursors. The meteoritic bodies may then be formed by agglomeration, near the spent discharge axis, of the various meteorite components; chondrules, refractory inclusions, volatiles, matrix material, etc. The mixing would be chaotic, with probable collision-induced splintering giving rise to the observed irregular forms of chondrites. This mechanism explains the mixing of high and low temperature components in chondrites as separate entities. 10. It is expected that some evidence of the electric discharge and its magnetic field would be found in remanent magnetism of some meteoritic components. It has been shown that carbonaceous chondrites and ureilites had surprisingly large ancient magnetic field intensities. 11. Such giant electric discharges would probably be of sufficient power to cause nucleosynthesis, transmutation of elements and the formation of isotopes and radionuclides. The chondrule evidence strongly suggests their origin in an unspecified energetic event, definitely not pre-Solar System, and Tom van Flandern confirms that "the presence of isotopic anomalies in carbonaceous meteorites implies the action of nuclear processes, not just chemical ones." The observed anomaly of isotopic composition of the shells of refractory inclusions when compared with the core might be explained by ion implantation of transmuted atoms. More importantly, meteorites exhibit many other isotopic anomalies, chief among them being the appearance of isotopes of xenon and iodine which are known to be the decay products of relatively short-lived, heavy, radioactive parents. This poses problems for the conventional view in that it requires the formation of meteorites shortly after a stellar nucleosynthesis event, possibly as remnant of a supernova. Yet neither tektites nor meteorites have been found in any ancient geological formation, which suggests that most surviving meteorites are relatively quite young. Also, it has been found that the quantities of spallation-produced neon-21 in irradiated grains from some meteorites exceed that plausibly attributable to either galactic or present- day solar cosmic ray irradiation, and associated solar wind neon seems to be underabundant. 12. The electric discharge mechanism would render radiogenic dating meaningless. It would further obviate the need to have chondritic components formed millions of years apart and 'parked' before somehow being brought together to form the final chondrule. 13. It should be noted in the case of chondrule formation that lightning within a solar nebula has been proposed as a plausible mechanism, but the argument betrays a lack of understanding of plasma discharges. The electric discharge theory does away with the problematic formation of bodies from a solar nebula and introduces a new evolutionary picture, with the birth of objects from the size of stars right down to meteors by electrical parturition. This is consistent with the fact that the non-volatile components of chondrites have approximately solar proportions. 14. The astronomer, Tom van Flandern has proposed the formation of comets, meteorites, asteroids and tektites from the explosion of a larger former planet in the Solar System by some unknown mechanism. He shows how many anomalies in the characteristics of our solar system may be simply explained by such an event. The stratification of chondritic types within the asteroid belt certainly indicates at least four separate events in that region of the Solar System. The differences in composition of meteorites from those regions may be diagnostic of the parent bodies. It should be remembered that all of the giant planets have ephemeral ring systems, which by this theory are indicative of past expulsion of matter. Saturn's rings would appear to be the most recent. UPDATE In the October, 1993 issue of Sky & Telescope there was a report headlined "Primordial Lightning? in which evidence is provided for powerful electromagnetic surges ripping through the solar system as it was forming. Disregarding the once-upon-a-time paradigm paralysis, the meteorites show selective melting of small flecks of dark minerals inside a more transparent silicate exterior. Laboratory tests suggested that very powerful lightning discharges could have created the observed effects ----------------------------------- MISSING UNIVERSE MASS Louis Hissink There is something amiss in the universe: the astronomical community asserts that 90% of the universe's mass, from gravitational calculations, is missing! Well, this is probably so, not because the universe is short of mass but because the human created "law", the cosmological model, is probably the result of a shortage of grey cells in the astronomical disciplines; or this law is at best incomplete, or at worst....wrong. Consequently I suggest that our understanding of gravity must be incomplete since the massy problem of missing mass is totally based on this fundamental assumption. There are, however, what could only be described as significant departures from this theory in practical situations, since at the atomic scale gravity effects are ignored on the basis that electrical forces, such as those of protons, are 1039 times greater in magnitude than the assumed gravitational attraction between the same protons. At the other end of the scale, gravity effects between galaxies and larger structures are also ignored, as mentioned by S.W. Carey in his book, Theories of the Universe, when discussing implications of the Hubble expansion. To these exceptions to the law of gravitation we can now add the more recent data of Peratt, (in Lerner, p.232) where the computer generated shapes of galaxies created by the simulation of various cosmic-plasma models also ignored the effect of gravitation. Peratt managed to closely model most of the known galaxy shapes, suggesting that his empiricism is on track, unlike that of orthodox astronomy and cosmology which assert that physical reality is in error, in preference to their elegant mathematical models based on gravitational theories. Interestingly the current cosmological gravitational model has many similarities with the doctrine of Papal infallibility, a source of unassailable authority not based in empirical fact but from divine inspiration, and in our, more prosaic case, mathematical elegance. And has all this any relevance to geology ? Yes, much, and let me recount some comments by Lyall Watson in one of his recent books, "Dreams of Dragons"; Watson devoted one chapter to the "Wonder of Water", and amongst other interesting facts mentioned the effect small variations in temperature have on water, and its interesting effect on the operation of gravity in a fluvial environment. He mentions that in the early 1920's a young Austrian forester, Viktor Schauberger, had a startling experience one cold night in the forest, when he literally saw almost head- sized stones begin to move in a circular path in a mountain stream. "..The stone was egg-shaped and in the next instant was on the surface, where it appeared to float, lit by the full moon. It was followed by a second and a third, until nearly all the stones of the same shape were on the top, while other more angular ones remained below and did not move", (Watson, p.127.) As Watson states, Schauberger did not imagine this, as the phenomenon is known as cycloid or hyperbolic space curve motion, and easily demonstrated in the laboratory. (Schauberger's discovery later formed the basis of a commercially successful sluicing system to transport forest logs; but read Watson's book for more details if you find this fact problematical.) ------------------------------------ Natural Catastrophes during Bronze Age Civilisations: Archaeological, Geological and Astronomical Perspectives. A conference at Fitzwilliam College. Cambridge. 11th-13th July 1997 I am pleased to announce that abstracts for each speaker are now on-line at: http://www.knowledge.co.uk/xxx/cat/sis/cambconf.htm Ian Tresman, Publicity Officer, Editor/Compiler SIS Internet Digest Society for Interdisciplinary Studies (SIS) 9 Ashdown Drive, Borehamwood, Herts. WD6 4LZ. United Kingdom. Tel: +44 181 953 7722. Fax: 905 1879. email sis at knowledge.co.uk World Wide Web: http://www.knowledge.co.uk/xxx/cat/sis/ Above items submitted by Ian Tresman ----------------------------------------------- PLEASE VISIT THE KRONIA COMMUNICATIONS WEBSITE-- http://www.kronia.com/~kronia/ Other suggested Web site URL's for more information about Catastrophics: http://www.ames.net/aeon/ http://www.knowledge.co.uk/xxx/cat/sis/ http://www.flash.net/~cjransom/ http://www.knowledge.co.uk/xxx/cat/velikovskian/ http://www.access.digex.net/~medved/Catastrophism.html http://www.grazian-archive.com/ http://www.tcel.com/~mike/paper.html http://nt.e-z.net/mikamar/default.html ----------------------------------------------- The THOTH electronic newsletter is an outgrowth of scientific and scholarly discussions in the emerging field of astral catastrophics. Our initial focus will be on a reconstruction of ancient astral myths and symbols in relation to a new theory of planetary history. Serious readers must allow some time for these radically different ideas to be fleshed out and for the relevant background to be developed. The general tenor of the ideas and information presented in THOTH is supported by the editor and publisher, but there will always be plenty of room for differences of interpretation. We welcome your comments and responses. New readers are referred to earlier installments in issues of THOTH posted on the Kronia website listed above. Go to the THOTH page and click on the image titled "Thoth: the Egyptian God of Knowledge" to access the back issues. Michael Armstrong Mikamar Publishing mikamar at e-z.net.