David Wardlaw Scott

David Wardlaw Scott was an early Flat Earth proponent, best known for his 1901 work Terra Firma: the Earth Not a Planet, Proved from Scripture, Reason, and Fact.

Quotes

  “ I confess that I cannot imagine how any human being, in his proper senses, can believe that the Sun is stationary when, with his own eyes, he sees it revolving around the heavens, nor how he can believe that the earth, on which he stands, is whirling with the speed of lightning around the Sun, when he feels not the slightest motion. ”
                  —David Wardlaw Scott, Terra Firma

  “ The distance between the Red Sea at Suez and the Mediterranean Sea is 100 statute miles, the datum line of the Canal being 26 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, and is continued horizontally the whole way from sea to sea, there not being a single lock on the Canal, the surface of the water being parallel with the datum line.

It is thus clear that there is no curvature or globularity for the whole hundred miles between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea; had there been, according to the Astronomic theory, the middle of the Canal would have been 1,666 feet higher than at either end, whereas the Canal is perfectly horizontal for the whole distance.

The Great Canal of China, said to be 700 miles in length, was made without regard to any allowance for supposed curvature, as the Chinese believe the earth to be a Stationary Plane.

I may also add that no allowance was made for it in the North Sea Canal, or in the Manchester Ship Canal, both recently constructed, thus clearly proving that there is no globularity in Earth or Sea, so that the world cannot possibly be a Planet. ”
                  —David Wardlaw Scott, Terra Firma