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375
The Book of the Damned
·
Charles Fort
236
What
I
emphasize
here
is
that
our
damned
data
are
observations
by
astronomers
of
the
highest
standing,
excommunicated
by
astronomers
of
similar
standing--but
backed
up
by
the
dominant
spirit
of
their
era--to
which
all
minds
had
to
equilibrate
or
be
negligible,
unheard,
submerged.
It
would
seem
sometimes,
in
this
book,
as
if
our
revolts
were
against
the
dogmatisms
and
pontifications
of
single
scientists
of
eminence.
This
is
only
a
convenience,
because
it
seems
necessary
to
personify.
If
we
look
over
Philosophical
Transactions,
or
the
publications
of
the
Royal
Astronomical
Society,
for
instance,
we
see
that
Herschel,
for
instance,
was
as
powerless
as
any
boy
stargazer,
to
enforce
acceptance
of
any
observation
of
his
that
did
not
harmonize
with
the
system
that
was
growing
up
as
independently
of
him
and
all
other
astronomers,
as
a
phase
in
the
development
of
an
embryo
compels
all
cells
to
take
on
appearances
concordantly
with
the
design
and
the
predetermined
progress
and
schedule
of
the
whole.
Visitors
to
Venus:
Evans,
Ways
of
the
Planets,
p.
140:
That,
in
1645,
a
body
large
enough
to
look
like
a
satellite
was
seen
near
Venus.
Four
times
in
the
first
half
of
the
18th
century,
a
similar
observation
was
reported.
The
last
report
occurred
in
1767.
A
large
body
has
been
seen--seven
times,
according
to
Science
Gossip,
1886-178--near
Venus.
At
least
one
astronomer,
Houzeau,
accepted
these
observations
and
named
the--world,
planet,
super-construction--"Neith."
His
views
are
mentioned
"in
passing,
but
without
endorsement,"
in
the
Trans.
N.Y.
Acad.,
5-249.
Houzeau
or
someone
writing
for
the
magazine-section
of
a
Sunday
newspaper--outer
darkness
for
both
alike.
A
new
satellite
in
this
solar
system
might
be
a
little
disturbing--though
the
formulas
of
Laplace,
which
were
considered
final
in
his
day,
have
survived
the
admittance
of
five
or
six
hundred
bodies
not
included
in
those
formulas--a
satellite
to
Venus
might
be
a
little
disturbing,
but
would
be
explained--but
a
large
body
approaching
a
planet--staying
awhile--going
away--coming
back
some
other
time--anchoring,
as
it
were--
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