Samuel Rowbotham

Samuel Birley Rowbotham (AKA Parallax) (1816 – 1884), was a medical doctor and English inventor and writer who wrote Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not a Globe, based on his decade-long scientific studies of the earth, published a 16-page pamphlet (1849), which he later expanded into a 430 page book (1881) expounding his views. According to Rowbotham's scientific method, which he called Zetetic Astronomy, the earth is a flat disk centered at the North Pole and bounded along its southern edge by a wall of ice, with the sun, moon, planets, and stars only a few thousand miles above the surface of the earth.

Rowbotham and his followers gained notoriety by engaging in raucous public debates with leading scientists of the day. One such clash, involving the prominent naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, led to several lawsuits for fraud and libel.

After Rowbotham's death, his thousands of followers established the Universal Zetetic Society, published a magazine entitled The Earth Not a Globe Review and remained active well into the early part of the 20th century.

Obituary

The American Association for the Advancement of Science lists him as Dr. Samuel Rowbotham in his 1885 obituary, as does the obit in Eng. Mechanic and World of Science. The Bookseller obituary confirms he was a practicing doctor of medicine as a "legitimate profession with great success".

Medical Career

Like other doctors and medical researchers at the time, Rowbotham studied and promoted phosphorous due to its apparent medical benefits.

Asthma

Rowbotham's work is cited in several medical texts:

From Consumption and Tuberculosis by John Francis Churchill, M.D., we see:

The above suggests that other medical professionals considered Rowbotham's work to be a 'medicinal fact upon record'.

In Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Thomas D. Mitchell, M.D., we find:

Phosphorous Medical Drinks

Dr. Rowbotham was a pioneer of the phosphate medical drink industry of the 1800's, which offered phosphorous and phosphate-based medical drinks which were reputed to be beneficial for a number of health ailments.

Advertisements

(Souce)

Competitors

Dr. Birley had a number of competitors in the phosphate medical drink industry, including Coca-Cola. Carbonated drinks were commonly thought to be healthy by the medical profession at the time. Coca-Cola was sold as a patent medicine. Both it and Dr.Pepper were started by pharmacists. Indeed, Dr. Rowbotham preceded them in history.

Coca-Cola's advertisement looks very similar to the above Birley's Phosphorous advertisement claims of "Feeds the Brain" and "Strengthen the Nerves".

Phosphorous Medical Research

Throughout the 1800's Phosphorous was closely studied by the medical community for its medicinal benefits.

Neuralgia

From a medical article: Phosphorous in the Treatment of Nerualgia in Transactions of the American Neurological Association, Volume 1:

A list of cases appears here

Cholera

Phosphorous has also been used to treat Cholera, producing success in even "advanced stages of Cholara, usually seen as hopeless". From Materia Medica and Therapeutics on p.649 we see:

Fevers, Delerium, Tremors

In Materia Medica and Therapeutics Dr. Mitchell relays the following accounts:

Overdose Risk

Phosphorous research by the medical community were possibly discontinued because of its poisonous effects when abused:

From the Materia Medica and Therapeutics section titled Phospherous A Poison we see: