AN 1850 PREVIEW OF "WORLDS IN
COLLISION"
by CARL WITTKE
Professor of History and Dean of the
Graduate School,
Western Reserve University
Worlds in Collision, by Immanuel Velikovsky, is still on the
best seller lists. The book, written by
a Russian-born physician and
Bible student who explored the sciences
from medicine and law to
psychoanalysis in many European centers
of learning, continues to
be the storm center of one of the
liveliest controversies that has
ever shaken the scientific and
publishing world. Is the book, in
spite of the author's reported ten years
of laborious research, a
gigantic hoax on historians and
scientists, or is it to be accepted
as a serious challenge to Newton and
Darwin?
This extraordinary volume was hailed by
an unusual amount
of publicity in publications like Harper's
and Colliers; it was sum-
marized in the Reader's Digest in
advance of publication by the
author of The Greatest Story Ever
Told; and the science editor
of the New York Herald Tribune endorsed
it as a "magnificent
piece of scholarly research."
Clifton Fadiman, expert of "Informa-
tion, Please," concluded that the
book "may well turn out to be
as epochal" as the work of Newton
and Darwin. Despite such
fanfare, however, the Macmillan Company,
original publisher of
Velikovsky's treatise, relinquished its
publishing rights to Double-
day. One can only wonder what went on
behind closed doors during
the editorial conference that ended in
the transfer of a best seller
to a competitor, but it is generally
assumed that the extraordinary
decision was prompted by the pressure of
many distinguished Mac-
millan authors who resented having their
scholarly and scientific
books appear in such strange company.
The whole transaction, in-
cidentally, raises the issue of
censorship in a new form, and this
time in reverse, for in this case it was
not a profit-conscious cor-
poration which interfered with freedom
of expression, but a group
of scholars who apparently challenged a
publisher's right to print
either scientific facts or intellectual
rubbish. Presumably every book
1
2
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
should have its chance in the free
competition of the market place
of ideas where even fools must be
suffered gladly in order that
wise men may continue to be heard.
This brief paper makes no pretense of
reviewing Velikovsky's
amazing volume, but rather seeks to
point out that the author's
theme is a very old one, and to call
particular attention to a curious
little volume published in Columbus,
Ohio, just a century ago, which
suggests extraordinary resemblance to
the theories of Dr. Velikovsky
which have so recently shaken up the
scientists and been the "epi-
center of a literary earthquake."
Reviewers of Worlds in Collision, like
Waldemar Kaempffert
of the New York Times, Alfred
Kazin in the New Yorker, and Dr.
Edward U. Condon in the New
Republic, have made short shrift of
the book as "one of the most
remarkable farragoes ever concocted,"
and a piece of escapist literature for
this irresponsible and troubled
age,1 yet the Doubleday
company, present publisher of the contro-
versial volume, was able to fill a
whole page of the Times book
review section with favorable comments
rather carefully culled from
newspapers and periodicals from coast
to coast.2
Dr. Velikovsky's volume is impressive
to the eye, for it reveals
all the impedimenta of modern
scholarship. Its main thesis is that
physical upheavals of a global nature
have occurred in historic
times, caused by readily identifiable
extraterrestrial agents, and pre-
sumably might occur again. More
specifically, in 1500 B.C. and 1448
B.C., the gaseous tail of a comet,
erupted by Jupiter, collided with
the earth and produced terrific
cataclysms which the author believes
are documented in the folklore, sacred
books, and archaeological
data of ancient peoples in all corners
of the globe, and substantiated
by the findings of geology and
paleontology as well. The same
comet, years later, sideswiped Mars and
was gradually transformed
into the planet Venus, amid further
earth disturbances.
It is the author's contention that the
magnetic poles changed
places instantly due to a short circuit
between the earth and the
celestial visitor, and that as a result
the earth might have been set
1 See the New York Times Book Review,
April 2, 1950; the New Yorker, April
29, 1950; and the New Republic, April
24, 1950.
2 New York Times Book Review, September 17, 1950.
A Preview of "Worlds in Collision" 3
spinning in reverse. Because of the
first cataclysm, the waters of
the Red Sea actually parted to let the
Israelites through, as related
in Exodus, and fifty-two years later,
during a second ruction, the
earth actually stopped rotating, and
the sun stood still, as Joshua
commanded. The author has similar
explanations for the plagues
of Egypt, the showers of blood and fire
that descended from heaven
as Jehovah tried to persuade Pharaoh to
let his people go; the
rain of meteorites, a mile in diameter
and heated to incandescence,
which killed the Canaanites apparently
without so much as touching
their opponents; burning forests,
boiling seas and tidal waves, and
the cloud by day and the pillar of fire
by night which the Jews
followed on their historic trek. From
the tail of the original comet
petroleum poured upon the earth,
followed, in the nick of time,
by manna and ambrosia, which dropped as
carbohydrates from the
sky. Dr. Velikovsky has ingenious
explanations for the canals on
Mars, the moon's craters and just what
happened on Mount Sinai.
His theories may be intended to
"de-supernaturalize" the ancient
legends. The author is fascinated and
deeply impressed by the
findings of modern physics, the quantum
theory, and the violent
changes which go on in the core of the
atom, and finds there the
prototype for what happens in the solar
system. Whatever his pur-
pose, his conclusions must come as a
boon to harassed fundamen-
talists, after many years of bitter
struggle against the attacks of the
rationalists.
First of all, it must be pointed out
that there was a vast litera-
ture on cometary superstitions before
Velikovsky found this thesis
so intriguing and convincing. The
"hairy stars" have been the subject
of fear and wonder throughout the ages.
Volumes have been written
on the effects of comets upon the lives
of men, and in them one may
follow the story of man's slow
development toward a more rational-
istic and scientific interpretation of
such phenomena.
In the Iliad there is a
reference to
. . . the red star, that from its
flaming lair
Shakes down diseases, pestilence and
war.
The comets of 480 B.C., 373 B.C., 307 A.D., and 392 A.D. left their
mark on the literature and folklore of
the ancients as portents of
4 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
war, earthquake, and other
catastrophes. Pliny, Vergil, Aristotle,
Seneca, Josephus, the Venerable Bede,
Thomas Aquinas, Martin
Luther, and many others, gave serious
thought to the meaning of
these heavenly visitors. In Odericus
Vitalis' Ecclesiastical History of
England and Normandy, there is a reference to 1066, the year of
the Norman conquest, when
... a fiery comet whirled,
Dreadful omen, round the world,3
and many other references to the influence
of comets on the life
of terrestrial man, and man's
speculations about it can be found
in the legends and epics of people
everywhere.
As an example of the many precursors of
Worlds in Collision,
a strange little volume published in
Columbus in 1850, may serve
as of special interest to Ohioans. It
is entitled The Origin of the
Globe, and its chief concern was to reconcile science, as
understood
a century ago, with the literal
acceptance of the Old Testament.
Its author was George Brewster; the
preface is dated February
1850; and the book was issued in that
year from the press of Scott
and Bascom, Columbus printers. It is so
rare today that even the
Library of Congress is without a copy.4
We know little about its
author, save that he once edited a
paper, and that he referred to
himself as the author of lectures on
education and a New Philosophy
of Matter, published in 1843, and that the volume under review
was originally prepared as a series of
lectures. Its full title reads
"Lectures on the Origin of the
Globe--A Universal Deluge--The
Destruction and Re-Formation of Our
Solar System, The Essential
Elements of Created Principles, and the
Electric Properties of Light,
Heat, etc."
Brewster's volume apparently resulted
from an argument which
the author had with a Swedenborgian
about Genesis. The strange
career, and the still stranger
publications, of Emanuel Swedenborg
3 See on this subject Howard Robinson, The
Great Comet of 1680--A Study in
the History of Rationalism (Northfield, Minn., 1916), and particularly Chapters
I and II.
4 My attention was directed to this book
by a brief notice in the Saturday
Night of Toronto, August 8, 1950, based on information from
Dr. P. W. Arkle
of the same city, who has a copy of
Brewster's volume. I have been able to locate
copies in the Crerar Library of Chicago
and in the library of Brown University.
A Preview of "Worlds in
Collision" 5
(1688-1772) continue to puzzle both
scientists and theologians.
Swedenborg was one of those
"universal" scholars more common
in earlier times than in this highly
specialized age. He knew some-
thing about practically all the
sciences and the ancient languages;
he built bridges and wrote poetry; and
above all he delved into the
mysterious realm of the subconscious,
until he was able to invade
the unseen world in mystic flights,
commute freely among the
planets, and interview the characters
of history from the Apostles
to Newton.5
We have no inkling of which one of the
great mystic's disciples
stirred Brewster to wrath and literary
activity, but we know specifi-
cally that his book was intended to refute
the Swendenborgians,
whom he accused of disclaiming
"the agency of the Almighty" in
the origination of the world, and
subtly denying, like other danger-
ous infidels, that the Flood actually
covered the whole earth, and
that the world was no older than 6,000
years. Brewster undertook
to defend "the authenticity and
literality of Genesis," and of the
Mosaic history of the beginnings of the
world, the Deluge and
Noah's Ark, and announced in the
preface that he would call on
science, particularly astronomy and
geology, reason, and the ancient
records and folklores of many people to
support his arguments.6
It was Brewster's contention that
worlds were perpetually being
created, and as perpetually
disappearing, in vapors and luminous,
nebulous masses in the sky, in
obedience to God's "Omnific Word."
When the Creator uttered his famous
command, "Let there be
light," the luminous star dust or
nebulae separated out from pre-
existing, unfashioned, chaotic matter,
became energized, and turned
into a light, which filled "the
deep," and permeated the darkness
with the floating nebulous masses of
luminous vapor. Eventually,
by abstracting the caloric from the
dark opaque material, God
started rotation of the earth on its
axis, which produced night and
day, though Brewster contends that in
the beginning the light was
so weak that the earth turned almost
imperceptibly slowly, thus
5 See Signe Toksvig, Emanuel
Swendenborg, Scientist and Mystic (New Haven,
1948).
6 For further details on the many points
at which biblical records and archae-
ological discoveries are in direct
contact, and references to the Deluge, see the scholarly
volume by Jack Finegan: Light From the Ancient Past,
The Archaeological Back-
ground of the Hebrew-Christian Religion (Princeton, 1946).
6 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
making it possible for the author to
reconcile the findings of
geologists in terms of geological ages,
with the "days" described
in Genesis. During the period of
extremely slow rotation, the
ancient oceans were in comparative
repose, and various geological
strata were formed by the influx of
sediment from rivers and coasts
into the quiet sea. Shells and corals
grew and were buried and
petrified in sediment, and geologists
ever since have described the
Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous
formations.
It was not until the fourth day that
the Creator finally con-
densed light into the focal intensity
of the sun. Thereupon the
planets, hitherto invisible, became
visible and started their revolu-
tions. Light became sufficiently
intense on the earth to produce
vegetation; birds, beasts, and fish
were created to replace earlier
forms of organic life, as evidenced by
fossils, which indicate that
"several successive changes
occurred in the progressive organization
of the earth," and on the sixth
day God crowned his work with man,
fashioned in his own image! Thus,
Brewster buttressed the Mosaic
account of the Creation with what he
knew of astronomy and
geology. In the process the days of
Genesis became ages and "the
order of creation" a "gradual
progression."
Having summarized the story of
creation, the author addressed
himself specifically to the task of
proving the authenticity of the
Noachian deluge, by "history,
astronomy, geology and reason."
What more Dr. Velikovsky will have to
say on this point will
have to await the publication of the
volume which he has promised
on this specific theme. But although he
has not considered the
Deluge in detail in Worlds in
Collision, it is not unfair to compare
Brewster's methods on this point with
Velikovsky's approach to
similar cataclysms.
Brewster, like Velikovsky, gives great
weight to tradition, and
supports his argument for "the
truth of the Noachian Deluge"
with references to the worldwide
catastrophe found in the fables
and mythologies of many peoples. He
quotes Josephus, Plato,
Plutarch, Lucian, Hieronymus, and many
others; he cites the folk-
lore of American Indians, Persians,
South Americans, and Asiatics,
and finds many parallel accounts of the
building of vessels like
A Preview of "Worlds in
Collision" 7
Noah's Ark, and emphasis on arks and
ships, in the mysteries of
many primitive peoples.
Brewster's scientific explanation of
the cause of this aquatic
phenomenon is more important however,
for he contends that an
outside agent was the "natural
cause" of the Deluge. The force
that suddenly dragged the earth from
its earlier position and
changed its polarity by at least 231/2
degrees, was a comet appearing
in 2300 B.C., the date
Brewster fixes for the Flood. In that year God
called again on a celestial visitor to
perform his commands. After
the manner of the argument in Worlds
in Collision, the comet came
in contact with one of the earth's
poles and pitched it suddenly into
a new position. As a result, the land
was submerged under water
which came pouring over the earth, and
the comet's vapor filled
the atmosphere with rain for forty days
and forty nights. When
the Deluge finally ended, and Noah
emerged from the Ark, the
change in the earth's poles had caused
such extreme variations in
temperature and seasons, and produced
so many new diseases, "a
standing memorial of God's displeasure
against sin," that men no
longer reached the ripe old age of
Methuselah, or even the hundred
years which had been a common
experience, but ended their life
span with the short generation allotted
to modern man. Although
Brewster refers to geological drifts
caused by glacio-aqueous action,
he insists that the real explanation
for the cataclysmic changes re-
corded in the folklore of many peoples
is to be found in the sudden
rush of great currents of water from
north to south, during the
Deluge, when the poles were so suddenly
tilted out of their old
positions. From fossil remains and
boulders of the geologists, he
proves that plant and animal life once
characteristic of equatorial
regions, was pushed northward, in one
great thrust, by the gigantic
force of the Flood, when the comet
struck the earth's south pole,
and completely reversed the two
hemispheres.
Like Velikovsky, Brewster was
fascinated with the electro-
magnetic forces operating in the
universe. Speculative minds in all
ages have been baffled and intrigued by
the miracles of electricity ever
since this mysterious force was
discovered by the first ancients who
applied friction to amber and marveled
about its curious powers.
8
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Brewster wrote in 1850, without the
benefit of modern physics, and
when electricity was the greatest
marvel of God's creation. He
explained light and heat in terms of
electricity, the former as heat
condensed and the latter as light in
diffusion. Reverently, he wrote
of the mysterious creative power of the
electrical current which
"quickens and invigorates the
sluggish pulsations of nature . . .
works all the countless myriads of
chemical changes, clothes the
cheek with the blush of health . . .
dresses the forest in its foliage
. . . leaps out from the dark foldings
of the stormclouds . . . and
blasts everything it touches," and
"in the trail of the comet . . .
makes the nations pale with
forebodings."
Velikovsky's volume, and such
predecessors as Brewster's
Origin of the Globe, are in agreement on one point, namely, that
much of what has happened in the long
history of man goes back,
basically, to global catastrophes over
which he had no control and
which, profoundly, altered every form
of life on this planet, and
always left enough survivors to tell
the tale! The conclusion follows
that if there have been cometary and
planetary collisions in the
past it is not unreasonable to expect
similar cataclysms in the
future. Velikovsky suggests the
possibility of further cosmic dis-
turbances, and even flirts with the
idea of the end of the world;
Brewster specifically concludes his
reflections by endorsing the
prophecies of Isaiah and Saint Peter
that our system will again be
reduced to its original elements by a
mighty conflagration, which
will prove to be "a grand
spectacle to astronomers of other worlds"
and will reveal "Our God in
grandeur and our world on fire." He
believes that after the holocaust has
destroyed all God's earlier
handiwork, Omnipotence will re-form the
world into that "new
heaven and new earth" which the
Scriptures promise the faithful.
Here the historian may well bow out to
the theologian and
the scientist. The historian's
interest, besides describing the contents
of such books as Velikovsky's and
Brewster's as bits of intellectual
history, is in the curious fact that a
Russian savant could create
such a commotion by his display of
erudition on what is after all
a very ancient theme, on which many
books have been written in
the age-old attempt to reconcile
Science and Scripture. There is
nothing particularly significant about
the coincidence that a hundred
A Preview of "Worlds in
Collision" 9
years ago a little volume published in
Columbus, Ohio, advanced
theories similar to those which have so
recently roiled the scientists
and poured many dollars of the reading
public into the coffers of
two publishing houses. For centuries,
treatises on the Old Testament
and Revelations, and attempts to
reconcile their poetry and prophe-
cies with modern science, have filled a
large place in man's restless
desire to fathom and explain the
eternal mysteries. Comets and
celestial interlopers in human affairs
have been a source of man's
uneasiness about his place in the
Creation since the beginning of
his recorded history, and in recent
times, several scholars have
treated the importance of cometary
superstitions in man's efforts to
find a meaning for the human enterprise
and the destiny of man.
Books like Brewster's and Velikovsky's
give significant clues
to man's intellectual history, as he
has struggled through the ages
with the concepts of supernaturalism,
rationalism, and humanism.
In 1850, Brewster's Origin of the
Globe attracted little attention.
A hundred years later, Velikovsky's Worlds
in Collision became a
leader in the book trade for
non-fiction books.7 Is this a sign of
intellectual progress or retrogression?
Is it evidence of man's frus-
trations and helplessness in a confused
and sorely troubled world?
Is it an indication of man's retreat
from reason and his desire to
shift personal responsibility for
history to global cataclysms, which
belong primarily in the realm of
theology? These and other ques-
tions come to mind as one ponders the
extraordinary popularity
of books of this nature, and each
reader must find his own explana-
tion for the phenomenon.
7For a still more recent example, see
Frank Scully, Behind the Flying Saucers
(New York, 1950) and the review by
Roland Gelatt, "In a Saucer from Venus," in
the Saturday Review of Literature, September
23, 1950.
AN 1850 PREVIEW OF "WORLDS IN
COLLISION"
by CARL WITTKE
Professor of History and Dean of the
Graduate School,
Western Reserve University
Worlds in Collision, by Immanuel Velikovsky, is still on the
best seller lists. The book, written by
a Russian-born physician and
Bible student who explored the sciences
from medicine and law to
psychoanalysis in many European centers
of learning, continues to
be the storm center of one of the
liveliest controversies that has
ever shaken the scientific and
publishing world. Is the book, in
spite of the author's reported ten years
of laborious research, a
gigantic hoax on historians and
scientists, or is it to be accepted
as a serious challenge to Newton and
Darwin?
This extraordinary volume was hailed by
an unusual amount
of publicity in publications like Harper's
and Colliers; it was sum-
marized in the Reader's Digest in
advance of publication by the
author of The Greatest Story Ever
Told; and the science editor
of the New York Herald Tribune endorsed
it as a "magnificent
piece of scholarly research."
Clifton Fadiman, expert of "Informa-
tion, Please," concluded that the
book "may well turn out to be
as epochal" as the work of Newton
and Darwin. Despite such
fanfare, however, the Macmillan Company,
original publisher of
Velikovsky's treatise, relinquished its
publishing rights to Double-
day. One can only wonder what went on
behind closed doors during
the editorial conference that ended in
the transfer of a best seller
to a competitor, but it is generally
assumed that the extraordinary
decision was prompted by the pressure of
many distinguished Mac-
millan authors who resented having their
scholarly and scientific
books appear in such strange company.
The whole transaction, in-
cidentally, raises the issue of
censorship in a new form, and this
time in reverse, for in this case it was
not a profit-conscious cor-
poration which interfered with freedom
of expression, but a group
of scholars who apparently challenged a
publisher's right to print
either scientific facts or intellectual
rubbish. Presumably every book
1