Trial of William Carpenter, One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is not a Globe (Baltimore, August 1885; Project Gutenberg 55387), plus the Library of Congress reading list

SUMMARYTrial of William Carpenter, One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is not a Globe (Baltimore, August 1885; Project Gutenberg #55387), plus the Library of Congress reading list (Nov 4, 2026).
THE BOOK (Record): printed by Carpenter at 71 Chew St., Baltimore; the introduction honors Rowbotham ("Parallax," died Dec 23, 1884). Read: the full list of 100 proofs (the first 100,000 of about 120,000 characters, through proof 100; the closing pages not reviewed).
SORTED: testable observations (about 35: water and canals 2, 3, 40, 41, 51, 67, 90; sightlines 5, 7, 36, 63; horizon 1, 30, 35, 64; motion 42–44, 49, 54, 73, 80; sky 37–39, 57, 59, 71, 81; southern distances 16, 52, 53, 78; rivers 4, 85; date line 100); arguments about astronomers' wording and diagrams (about 40: 18–24, 45–48, 58, 60, 61, 65, 68–70, 74–76, 83, 89, 91–99); compass and chart geometry (about 15: 8–15, 22, 27, 62, 79, 84); scripture and purpose (17, 20, 50, 77).
THE TEN STRONGEST, each with a test anyone can run: (1) #63 a telescope "restores" a hull-down ship: zoom on a ship leaving Clearwater after the hull is gone; if the hull returns, Carpenter wins this one. (2) #16/#78 the far south is "too big" for a globe: check nonstop flight times Santiago–Sydney, Johannesburg–Perth, Santiago–Auckland; on a Gleason-style flat map these routes are much longer than the hours flown. (3) #71 the North Star seen far south of the equator: find any navigator's log or photo of Polaris from 10–20° south. (4) #2/#90 water is level: "level" water follows gravity's equal-pull surface; long-distance survey levelling (geodetic levelling) is the record to check. (5) #3/#40/#67 canals with no curve allowance: Suez has no locks because both seas are at about the same level; survey manuals for long canals and bridges (the Verrazzano towers are farther apart at the top) are the receipts. (6) #42–44 cannon shots show no motion: long-range artillery tables (the WWI Paris Gun) did correct for the Earth's turning; check them. (7) #73 pendulum "failures": Foucault pendulums turn at a rate set by latitude (about 169° a day at Tampa's 28°); watch one at a science museum. (8) #57 eclipses with sun and moon both visible (the selenelion): Record; refraction lifts both; check how many minutes it lasts. (9) #5/#7/#36 lights seen too far away: record the weather (cold water, inversions) on the days of each sighting. (10) #59 noon shadows point opposite ways north and south of the tropics: Record, and it fits both models; Eratosthenes used it.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS LIST, sorted: advocates (Rowbotham 1849 and 1865; Carpenter 1885; Collamore 1924; DeFord's A Reparation, Universal Gravitation a Universal Fake, Fortean Society reprint 1931; Voliva in Zion, Illinois, 1870–1942) and historians or critics (Martin Gardner, Fads and Fallacies, 1957; Schadewald, Worlds of Their Own, 2008; Garwood, Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea, 2008; Wallace's own memoir My Life, 1905, on the Hampden wager; Louise Bishop, "Myth of the Flat Earth," 2008). The LoC guide itself takes a side ("pseudoscientific"): a hostile witness under Rule 3, but its bibliography is still a good map of the primary books.
STATUS: each of the ten is now a live test, not a settled point; run #63 and #16 first, they decide the most.