100 Brave Companions

This book has a chapter on that "hollow earth" stuff that McNeil once sent me some of his infernal computer "links" about. Eco includes a letter, dated April 10, 1818, from John Cleves Symmes "Of Ohio, late captain of infantry," who wrote to every member of Congress, "I declare the earth is hollow and habitable within... I pledge my life in support of this truth, and am ready to explore the hollow, if the world will aid and support me in this undertaking... I ask 100 brave companions, well equipped, to start from Siberia, in the fall season, with reindeers and sleighs, on the ice of the frozen sea. I engage we find a warm and rich land, stocked with thrifty vegetables and animals, if not men..."