![Bear & Company
One Park Street
Rochester, Vermont 05767
www.BearandCompanyBooks.com
Bear & Company is a division of Inner Traditions International
Copyright © 2000, 2006 by Paul A. LaViolette
Originally published in 2000 by Starlane Publications as
The Talk of the Galaxy
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
LaViolette, Paul A.
[Talk of the galaxy]
Decoding the message of the pulsars: intelligent communication from the
galaxy / Paul A. LaViolette.
p. ern.
Originally published: The talk of the galaxy. Alexandria, VA : Starlane
Publications, ©2000.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-59143-062-3 (pbk.)
1. Life on other planets. 2. Interstellar communication. 3. Radio astronomy.
I. Title.
QB54.L38 2006
576.8'39-dc22
2006000293
Printed and bound in the United States by Lake Book Manufacturing
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Text design and layout by Rachel Goldenberg
This book was typeset in Sabon, with Charlemagne and Avenir as the display
typefaces
Diagrams are by Paul A. LaViolette unless otherwise noted
To send correspondence to the author of this book, mail a first-class letter
to the author c/o Inner Traditions. Bear & Company, One Park Street,
Rochester, VT 05767, and we will forward the communication.
CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
I
~
l
j,
t
f
1. THE PULSAR ENIGMA
Discovery
The Neutron Star Lighthouse Model
ETI Beacons?
2. A GALACTIC MESSAGE
The One-radian Marker
The Millisecond Pulsar Marker
The Eclipsing Binary Millisecond Pulsar
Other Eclipsing Binary Pulsars
I~
3. THE GALACTIC NE1WORK
Superluminal Space Travel
Spaceflight Navigation
Superluminal Communication
4. THE GALACTIC IMPERATIVE
Message in the Stars
Galactic Superwaves
5. SUPERWAVE WARNING BEACONS
The Crab and Vela Supernova Remnants
Pulsars Are Not Made in Supernova Explosions
Wave of Destruction
The King and Queen of Pulsars
Warning of an Impending Superwave?
Vll
IX
1
1
8
15
19
19
27
32
41
45
45
49
52
56
56
58
69
69
71
76
85
91](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1227143-250610122008-724d8304/85/Decoding-The-Message-Of-The-Pulsars-Intelligent-Communication-From-The-Galaxy-Paul-A-Laviolette-8-320.jpg)
![impossible, since each generation of men would have to begin de
novo, and be restricted to the results of its own experience. The
enforcement of such a doctrine would prevent, furthermore, the
acceptance of the truths of nature discovered by inventive genius or
developed by physical or chemical research, until such truths had
become matters of universal experience. Every man would then be
in the position of the incredulous citizen who, having been told that
a message had been sent by wire from Baltimore to Washington
announcing the nomination of James K. Polk for the presidency,
refused to believe in telegraphic messages until he could be at both
ends of the line at once. The art of telegraphy was a reality,
nevertheless, in spite of his incredulity and inexperience. The
American savages who first beheld the ships of Columbus are said to
have regarded them as huge birds from heaven and to have refused
to believe that they were boats, because, in their experience, they
had never seen such immense canoes with wings. Herodotus tells us
of some daring sailors who crept along the coast of Africa beyond
the limits usually visited at that time. They came back home with a
wonderful account of their trip and told the story that they had
actually reached a country where their shadows fell toward the
south at midday. They were not believed, and their report was
rejected with scorn and incredulity by the inhabitants of the
Mediterranean coasts, because their only experience was that a
man's shadow always pointed toward the north; and they did not
believe it possible that shadows could be cast otherwise. But the
report of the sailors was true, nevertheless.[27]
These simple illustrations teach us that beings other than ourselves
have had experiences which are not only different from any that we
have ever had, but are also either temporarily or permanently
beyond our comprehension. And the moral of this truth, when
applied to the statements of the Evangelists regarding miracles, is
that the fortunate subjects and witnesses of the miraculous powers
of Jesus might have had experiences which we have never had and
that we cannot now clearly comprehend.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1227143-250610122008-724d8304/85/Decoding-The-Message-Of-The-Pulsars-Intelligent-Communication-From-The-Galaxy-Paul-A-Laviolette-18-320.jpg)
![(5) In the fifth and last place, as to the coincidence of their
testimony with collateral circumstances.
This is the chief test of credibility in all those cases where the
witness, whose testimony has been reduced to writing, is dead,
absent, or insane. Under such circumstances it is impossible to apply
what may be termed personal tests on cross-examination; that is, to
develop the impeaching or corroborating features of bias, prejudice,
and personal demeanor to the same extent as when the witness is
still living and testifies orally. When a written narrative is all that we
have, its reliability can only be ascertained by a close inspection of
its parts, comparing them with each other, and then with collateral
and contemporaneous facts and circumstances. The value of this
test cannot be over-estimated, and Greenleaf has stated very fully
and concisely the basis upon which it rests. "Every event," he says,
"which actually transpires, has its appropriate relation and place in
the vast complication of circumstances of which the affairs of men
consist; it owes its origin to the events which have preceded it, is
intimately connected with all others which occur at the same time
and place, and often with those of remote regions, and in its turn
gives birth to numberless others which succeed. In all this almost
inconceivable contexture and seeming discord, there is perfect
harmony; and while the fact which really happened tallies exactly
with every other contemporaneous incident related to it in the
remotest degree, it is not possible for the wit of man to invent a
story, which, if closely compared with the actual occurrences of the
same time and place, may not be shown to be false."[28]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1227143-250610122008-724d8304/85/Decoding-The-Message-Of-The-Pulsars-Intelligent-Communication-From-The-Galaxy-Paul-A-Laviolette-19-320.jpg)
![But not only are the Gospels not contradicted by contemporaneous
writers; they are also not impeached or disproved by later scientific
research and historical investigation. And at this point we come to
make a direct application of the test of the coincidence of their
testimony with collateral and contemporaneous history. For this
purpose, as a matter of illustration, only facts in profane history
corroborative of the circumstances attending the trial and crucifixion
of the Master will be cited.
In the first place, the Evangelists tell us that Pontius Pilate sat in
judgment on the Christ. Both Josephus and Tacitus tell us that Pilate
was governor of Judea at that time.[29]
In John xviii. 31 we read: "Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him,
and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto
him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." From many
profane historians, ancient and modern, we learn that the power of
life and death had been taken from the Jews and vested in the
Roman governor.[30]
In John xix. 16, 17 occurs this passage: "And they took Jesus, and
led him away; and he, bearing his cross, went forth." This
corroborative sentence is found in Plutarch: "Every kind of
wickedness produces its own particular torment; just as every
malefactor, when he is brought forth to execution, carries his own
cross."[31]
In Matthew xxvii. 26 we read: "When he had scourged Jesus, he
delivered him to be crucified." That scourging was a preliminary to
crucifixion among the Romans is attested by many ancient writers,
among whom may be mentioned Josephus and Livy. The following
passages are taken from Josephus:
Whom, having first scourged with whips, he crucified.[32]
Being beaten, they were crucified opposite to the citadel.[33]
He was burned alive, having been first beaten.[34]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1227143-250610122008-724d8304/85/Decoding-The-Message-Of-The-Pulsars-Intelligent-Communication-From-The-Galaxy-Paul-A-Laviolette-23-320.jpg)
![From Livy, a single sentence will suffice:
All were led out, beaten with rods, and beheaded.[35]
In John xix. 19, 20 we read: "And Pilate wrote a title and put it on
the cross; and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin." That
it was a custom among the Romans to affix the accusation against
the criminal to the instrument of his punishment appears from
several ancient writers, among them Suetonius and Dion Cassius. In
Suetonius occurs this sentence: "He exposed the father of the family
to the dogs, with this title, 'A gladiator, impious in speech.'"[36] And
in Dion Cassius occurs the following: "Having led him through the
midst of the court or assembly, with a writing signifying the cause of
his death, and afterwards crucifying him."[37]
And finally, we read in John xix. 32: "Then came the soldiers and
brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with
him." By an edict of Constantine, the punishment of crucifixion was
abolished. Speaking in commendation of this edict, a celebrated
heathen writer mentions the circumstances of breaking the legs. "He
was pious to such a degree," says this writer, "that he was the first
to set aside that very ancient punishment, the cross, with the
breaking of legs."[38]
If we leave the narrow circle of facts attendant upon the trial and
crucifixion of Jesus with its corroborative features of contemporary
history, and consider the Gospel narratives as a whole, we shall find
that they are confirmed and corroborated by the facts and teachings
of universal history and experience. An examination of these
narratives will also reveal a divine element in them which furnishes
conclusive proof of their truthfulness and reliability. A discussion of
the divine or spiritual element in the Gospel histories would be
foreign to the purpose of this treatise. The closing pages of Part I
will be devoted to a consideration of the human element in the New
Testament narratives. This will be nothing more than an elaboration
of the fifth legal test of credibility mentioned by Starkie.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1227143-250610122008-724d8304/85/Decoding-The-Message-Of-The-Pulsars-Intelligent-Communication-From-The-Galaxy-Paul-A-Laviolette-24-320.jpg)
![By the human or historical element of credibility in the Gospel
histories is meant that likeness or resemblance in matters of
representation of fact to other matters of representation of fact
which we find recorded in secular histories of standard authority
whose statements we are accustomed to accept as true. The
relations of historic facts to each other, and the connections and
coincidences of things known or believed to be true with still others
sought to be proved, form a fundamental ground of belief, and are,
therefore, reliable modes of proof. The most casual perusal of the
New Testament narratives suggests certain striking resemblances
between the events therein narrated and well-known historical
occurrences related by secular historians whose statements are
implicitly believed. Let us draw a few parallels and call attention to a
few of these resemblances.
Describing the anguish of the Savior in the Garden, St. Luke says:
"And being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly: And his sweat
was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."[39]
This strange phenomenon of the "bloody sweat" has been of such
rare occurrence in the history of the world that its happening in
Gethsemane has been frequently denied. The account of it has been
ascribed to the overwrought imagination of the third Evangelist in
recording the errors of tradition. And yet similar cases are well
authenticated in the works of secular writers. Tissot reports a case
of "a sailor who was so alarmed by a storm, that through fear he fell
down, and his face sweated blood which, during the whole
continuance of the storm, returned like ordinary sweat, as fast as it
was wiped away."[40] Schenck cites the case of "a nun who fell into
the hands of soldiers; and, on seeing herself encompassed with
swords and daggers threatening instant death, was so terrified and
agitated that she discharged blood from every part of her body, and
died of hemorrhage in the sight of her assailants."[41] Writing of the
death of Charles IX of France, Voltaire says: "The disease which
carried him off is very uncommon; his blood flowed from all his
pores. This malady, of which there are some examples, is the result](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1227143-250610122008-724d8304/85/Decoding-The-Message-Of-The-Pulsars-Intelligent-Communication-From-The-Galaxy-Paul-A-Laviolette-25-320.jpg)
![either of excessive fear, furious passion, or of a violent and
melancholic temperament."[42] The same event is thus graphically
described by the old French historian, De Mezeray: "After the vigor
of his youth and the energy of his courage had long struggled
against his disease, he was at length reduced by it to his bed at the
castle of Vincennes, about the 8th of May, 1574. During the last two
weeks of his life his constitution made strange efforts. He was
affected with spasms and convulsions of extreme violence. He
tossed and agitated himself continually and his blood gushed from
all the outlets of his body, even from the pores of his skin, so that on
one occasion he was found bathed in a bloody sweat."[43]
If the sailor, the nun, and the king of France were afflicted with the
"bloody sweat," why should it seem incredible that the man Jesus,
the carpenter of Nazareth, should have been similarly afflicted? If
Tissot, Schenck, and Voltaire are to be believed, why should we
refuse to believe St. Luke? If St. Luke told the truth in this regard,
why should we doubt his statements concerning other matters
relating to the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God? Does
not Voltaire, the most brilliant and powerful skeptic that ever lived,
corroborate in this particular the biographer of the Christ?
Let us pass to another instance of resemblance and corroboration.
While describing the crucifixion, St. John wrote the following: "But
one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came
there out blood and water."[44] Early skeptical criticism denied the
account of the flowing of blood and water from the side of the
Savior because, in the first place, the other Evangelists did not
mention the circumstance; and, in the second place, it was an
unscientific fact stated. But modern medical science has very cleverly
demonstrated that Jesus, according to the Gospel accounts, died of
rupture of the heart. About the middle of the last century, a
celebrated English physician and surgeon, Dr. Stroud, wrote a
treatise entitled, "Physical Cause of the Death of Christ." In this
book, he proved very clearly that cardiac rupture was the immediate
cause of the death of Jesus on the cross. Many arguments were](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1227143-250610122008-724d8304/85/Decoding-The-Message-Of-The-Pulsars-Intelligent-Communication-From-The-Galaxy-Paul-A-Laviolette-26-320.jpg)
![adduced to establish this fact. Among others, it was urged that the
shortness of time during which the sufferer remained upon the cross
and His loud cry just before "He gave up the ghost," tended to prove
that a broken heart was the cause of the death of the Man of
Sorrows. But the strongest proof, according to the author of this
work, was the fact that blood and water flowed from the dead man
when a spear was thrust into His side. This, says Dr. Stroud, has
happened frequently when the heart was suddenly and violently
perforated after death from cardiac rupture. Within a few hours after
death from this cause, he says, the blood frequently separates into
its constituent parts or essential elements: crassamentum, a soft
clotted substance of deep-red color, and serum, a pale, watery liquid
—popularly called blood and water, which will flow out separately, if
the pericardium and heart be violently torn or punctured. In this
treatise numerous medical authorities are cited and the finished
work is indorsed by several of the most famous physicians and
surgeons of England.
It is very probable that St. John did not know the physical cause of
the strange flow of blood and water from the side of Jesus. It seems
that he was afraid that he would not be believed; for, in the
following verse, he was careful to tell the world that he himself had
personally seen it. "And he that saw it bare record, and his record is
true: And he knoweth that he saith true that ye might believe."[45]
Here again modern medical science has corroborated, in the matter
of the flowing of blood and water from the side of Jesus, the simple
narrative of the gentle and loving Evangelist.
Still another illustration of resemblance, coincidence, and
corroboration is furnished by the incident of the arrest of Jesus in
the Garden. St. John says: "As soon, then, as he had said unto
them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground."[46]
This is only one of several cases mentioned in history where ordinary
men have been dazed and paralyzed in the presence of illustrious
men against whom they were designing evil. When a Gallic trooper](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1227143-250610122008-724d8304/85/Decoding-The-Message-Of-The-Pulsars-Intelligent-Communication-From-The-Galaxy-Paul-A-Laviolette-27-320.jpg)
![was sent by Sulla to Minturnæ to put Marius to death, the old
Roman lion, his great eyes flashing fire, arose and advanced toward
the slave, who fled in utter terror from the place, exclaiming, "I
cannot kill Caius Marius!"[47]
Again, we learn from St. Matthew that at the moment of the arrest
in the Garden, "all the disciples forsook him and fled."
This is no isolated case of cowardice and desertion. It is merely an
illustration of a universal truth: that the multitude will follow blindly
and adore insanely the hero or prophet in his hour of triumph and
coronation, but will desert and destroy him at the moment of his
humiliation and crucifixion.
Note the burning of Savonarola. The patriot-priest of the Florentine
Republic believed himself inspired of God; his heroic life and martyr
death seemed to justify his claim. From the pulpit of St. Mark's he
became the herald and evangel of the Reformation, and his devoted
followers hung upon his words as if inspiration clothed them with
messages from the skies. And yet when a wicked Inquisition had
nailed him to the cross and fagots were flaming about him, this
same multitude who adored him, now reviled him and jeered and
mocked his martyrdom.
Note the career of Napoleon. When the sun of Austerlitz rose upon
the world the whole French nation grew delirious with love and
homage for their emperor, who was once a subaltern of Corsica. But
when the Allies entered Paris after the battle of Leipsic, this same
French nation repudiated their imperial idol, cast down his images,
canceled his decrees, and united with all Europe in demanding his
eternal banishment from France. The voyage to Elba followed. But
the historic melodrama of popular fidelity and fickleness was not yet
completely played. When this same Napoleon, a few months later,
escaped from his islet prison in the Mediterranean and landed on the
shores of France, this same French nation again grew delirious,
welcomed the royal exile with open arms, showered him with his
eagles, and almost smothered him with kisses. A hundred days](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1227143-250610122008-724d8304/85/Decoding-The-Message-Of-The-Pulsars-Intelligent-Communication-From-The-Galaxy-Paul-A-Laviolette-28-320.jpg)
Decoding The Message Of The Pulsars Intelligent Communication From The Galaxy Paul A Laviolette
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- 5. ,J)IO.UU .. well worth reading by those who ponder the great questions of life in e cosmos." Eugene F. Mallove, Ph.D., author of Fire from Ice and former director of the New Energy Research Laboratory 'aul LaViolette is among the most advanced scientific minds of our time. s contributions in Decoding the Message of the Pulsars on our populated iiverse lay a foundation for our future society in space." Alfred l. Webre, J.D., author of Exopolitics: Politics, Government, and Law in the Universe 1967, astronomers began receiving and cataloging precisely timed radio rlses from extraterrestrial sources, which they called pulsars. These pulsars nit laserlike radio beams that penetrate through space much like search- .ht beams. Paul laViolette, who has been researching pulsars for over 'enty-five years, shows that while these pulsars have long been assumed be spinning stars, the true nature of these radio sources has been grossly sunderstood. In Decoding the Message of the Pulsars, LaViolette shows that pulsars ~ distributed in the sky in a nonrandom fashion, often marking key galac- locations, and that their signals are of intelligent origin. Using extensive ientific data to corroborate his theory, he presents evidence of unusual .ornetric alignments among pulsars and intriguing pulse-period relation- ips. Equally compelling is the message laViolette contends is being sent by ~se extraterrestrial beacons: a warning about a past galactic core explosion saster that could recur in the near future . •Ul A. LaVIOLETTE, Ph.D., is president of the Starburst Foundation, an erdisciplinary research institute, and holds advanced degrees in systems ence and physics. The author of Genesis of the Cosmos, Earth Under Fire, d Subquantum Kinetics, he lives in New York. ~ BEAR & COMPANY ROCHESTER, VERMONT www.BearandCompanyBooks.com ISBN 159143062-3 I 91178159111430629 ver design by Jon Desautels ver photographs courtesy of Corbis Images
- 7. Other books by Paul A. LaViolette Earth Under Fire: Humanity's Survival of the Ice Age Genesis of the Cosmos: The Ancient Science of Continuous Creation Subquantum Kinetics: A Systems Approach to Physics and Cosmology DECODING THE MESSAGE OF THE PULSARS Intelligent Communication from the Galaxy >, f t V !, f~ ~~ Paul A. LaViolette, Ph.D. ~. !. ~ i: L [f ~tt.:. ~ li': ~, l ~ Bear & Company Rochester, Vermont
- 8. Bear & Company One Park Street Rochester, Vermont 05767 www.BearandCompanyBooks.com Bear & Company is a division of Inner Traditions International Copyright © 2000, 2006 by Paul A. LaViolette Originally published in 2000 by Starlane Publications as The Talk of the Galaxy All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data LaViolette, Paul A. [Talk of the galaxy] Decoding the message of the pulsars: intelligent communication from the galaxy / Paul A. LaViolette. p. ern. Originally published: The talk of the galaxy. Alexandria, VA : Starlane Publications, ©2000. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-59143-062-3 (pbk.) 1. Life on other planets. 2. Interstellar communication. 3. Radio astronomy. I. Title. QB54.L38 2006 576.8'39-dc22 2006000293 Printed and bound in the United States by Lake Book Manufacturing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Text design and layout by Rachel Goldenberg This book was typeset in Sabon, with Charlemagne and Avenir as the display typefaces Diagrams are by Paul A. LaViolette unless otherwise noted To send correspondence to the author of this book, mail a first-class letter to the author c/o Inner Traditions. Bear & Company, One Park Street, Rochester, VT 05767, and we will forward the communication. CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgments I ~ l j, t f 1. THE PULSAR ENIGMA Discovery The Neutron Star Lighthouse Model ETI Beacons? 2. A GALACTIC MESSAGE The One-radian Marker The Millisecond Pulsar Marker The Eclipsing Binary Millisecond Pulsar Other Eclipsing Binary Pulsars I~ 3. THE GALACTIC NE1WORK Superluminal Space Travel Spaceflight Navigation Superluminal Communication 4. THE GALACTIC IMPERATIVE Message in the Stars Galactic Superwaves 5. SUPERWAVE WARNING BEACONS The Crab and Vela Supernova Remnants Pulsars Are Not Made in Supernova Explosions Wave of Destruction The King and Queen of Pulsars Warning of an Impending Superwave? Vll IX 1 1 8 15 19 19 27 32 41 45 45 49 52 56 56 58 69 69 71 76 85 91
- 9. 6. SKY MAPS OF A CELESTIAL DISASTER 93 A Star Chart of the Sagitta Constellation? 93 An Event Chronometer 95 A Celestial Memorial to a Terrestrial Cataclysm 98 A Superwave Shield? 106 Cosmic Synchronicity? 110 7. NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL 114 ~. > Lighthouse Trouble 114 f I Signal Ordering Too Complex to Explain 125 i A "Low-tech" Particle-Beam Communicator 134 .. Field-engineered Stellar Cores as ETI Beacons 138 ,. ~ t 8. FORCE FIELD-BEAMING TECHNOLOGY 143 ,. Aerial Plasmoids 143 Microwave Phase Conjugation 147 Tesla Waves 151 The Crop Circle Phenomenon 153 An ETI Connection? 159 Setting Up a Star Shield 163 Contact 164 " APPENDIX A: ORDERED COMPLEXITY 167 ~ ;;. Pulses and Time-Averaged Pulse Profiles 168 Pulse Modulation 171 Pulse Drifting 172 Mode Switching 176 APPENDIX B: PARTICLE BEAM- COMMUNICATOR LUMINOSITY 185 Notes 187 Bibliography 197 Index 205 ;~' ~ "~,~. PREFACE For decades SETI astronomers have been searching the sky for radio signals of extraterrestrial intelligence origin but have found nothing. Perhaps the problem is that they are looking for the wrong type of signal. They have been seeking discrete frequency transmissions similar to terrestrial AM or FM radio signals. But there is no guarantee that another civilization would be using this particular method of commu- nication. Broadband transmissions, covering the entire radio frequency spectrum, would be a more logical choice because they would be more easily detected regardless of which frequency one's radio telescope hap- pened to be tuned to. Such broadband emission, called "synchrotron radiation," is readily produced by magnetically decelerating a beam of cosmic ray electrons. By arranging that the electrons track in a straight line as they decelerate, the synchrotron radiation can be confined to a narrow beam that has minimal decrease of its intensity over interstellar distances, thereby ensuring that the target civilization will be receiving a strong signal. This kind of radio transmission essentially describes the signals that astronomers routinely observe coming from pulsars. In particular, there is considerable evidence to suggest that these signals are artificial. Indeed, they are the most complex ordered phenomenon known to astronomy, and to this date, they have not been adequately accounted for by any natural-cause model. The neutron star lighthouse model, for example, falls far short of this challenge. Many astronomers, though, will experience difficulty relinquishing the paradigm they have come to accept, even when confronted with its shortcomings. In reading this book, keep in mind that several sets of relationships must be taken into account to fully understand the symbolic message VII
- 10. Vlll Preface that the pulsar network is conveying. One part ties in with another to form a complete picture. Thus, it is helpful to contemplate these find- ings as a whole. It is also useful to read the books Earth Under Fire and Genesis of the Cosmos, as they provide background material essential to understanding the pulsar message. I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my father, Fred, and also Tom Valone for the long hours they both spent helping me edit this manuscript. I would also like to thank Joscelyn Godwin; Jackie Panting; my sister, Mary; and mother, Irene, for their helpful comments on the manuscript, and Geri Davisson for her help as well. ix
- 11. ~ [~ ~ ~ f I ,~, ~ '. :/: :~ t " a 0' ~ ~ i t .,l a· '1{ ONE THE PULSAR ENIGMA ••••• . One other thing it can be is an intelligent civilization attempting to communicate with other worlds, because everybody has said that's how you'd mark yourself. You do something that can't be done in nature. You make the pulse rate of a nearby pulsar exactly right, not deviating in the least year after year. FRANK DRAKE, 1974 f r- Discovery It was July 1967. The world's first scintillation radio telescope had just been completed, a device that would allow astronomers to detect rap- idly varying radio emissions coming from distant stars. Cambridge University graduate student Jocelyn Bell and her astronomy professor, Anthony Hewish, were making final adjustments to the field of radio aerials that lay stretched out across the English countryside. Little did they know that within a month Jocelyn would stumble upon one of the most important astronomical discoveries of the century. They had finished scanning an area of the sky located in the direction of the con- stellation of Vulpecula. Jocelyn was looking over the yards and yards of pen chart data that scrawled the signals from their antenna array and noticed something quite unusual. One of the radio sources whose radio signal twinkling they had been observing appeared to be emitting a steady series of radio pulses, or "beeps," each lasting a few hundredths of a second. Hewish at first dismissed the pulses as radio interference from a terrestrial source such as sparking from a passing automobile. L' '~~ '~; , 1 1
- 12. 2 The Pulsar Enigma The signal had faded and could not be detected on subsequent observa- tions, but one night it reappeared. After several months of observation, seeing that the signal came from a fixed location in the sky, he became convinced that they had detected a new kind of astronomical source. At the end of November, after obtaining a suitable fast-response chart recorder, they were able for the first time to get an accurate fix on the timing of the pulses. Six hours of observations had shown that the pulses had a very regular recurrence period of 1.33733%0.00001 seconds. Additional months of observation added two more decimal places to the precision of the source, and today we know its period to better than six parts per trillion, yielding a pulsation period of precisely 1.337301192269%0.000000000006 seconds per cycle! This discovery caused quite a stir among the project's scientists. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. It seemed to them that they may have detected signals being sent from an alien civilization. Months of careful observation had revealed that the radio source lay about two thousand light-years away. The idea that the object was a radio beacon operated by extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) was seriously considered, for this was the first time in the history of astronomy that a source of such pre- cise regularity had been encountered. In fact, they initially named this source LGM-1, the acronym LGM standing for Little Green Men.' Near the end of December, Jocelyn discovered a second pulsating radio source in the constellation of Hydra, which lay in an opposite part of the sky. This one, which had a period of 1.2737635 seconds, was later christened LGM-2. With the discovery of this second source, the Cambridge astronomers began to doubt their ETI hypothesis. Since the two pulsars were found to be separated from one another by over 4,000 light-years, they figured that if they were ETI transmitters, they would necessarily have been built by different civilizations. But then it seemed to them very unlikely that more than one civilization would have chosen to communicate with us at this particular point in time and in addition use a similar method of sending precisely timed pulses. Fearing they would be inundated with reporters if their discovery became known to the public, the astronomers kept their find a tightly guarded secret until February, when they submitted a paper about it to Nature magazine.' Their paper, however, avoided making an extrater- restrial intelligence (ETI) interpretation. Rather, they proposed that these signals might be emitted from the surface of a highly dense com- pact star, such as a white dwarf or neutron star, that was expanding and contracting, dimming and brightening, in a very regular manner. A decision to stick to their initial ETI hypothesis would most assuredly have condemned them to attacks from skeptical colleagues and would very likely have jeopardized their chances of publishing their findings in refereed journals. Besides, their study had originally been designed to investigate natural astronomical phenomena, not to search the skies for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. In the following months, the Cambridge scientists discovered two other extremely regular pulsating sources with comparable periods of 0.253065 and 1.187911 seconds, duly named LGM-3 and -4, respectively. Later, when these sources became known as pulsars, the four were renamed PSR 1919+21, PSR 0834+06, PSR 0950+08, and PSR 1133+16." Multiple-source ETI communication, however, would not be all that unusual if the signals were coming from several intercommunicat- ing civilizations, forming a kind of galactic collective or commune. In such a case, the idea of several communicators being on line and using similar methods of transmission would seem rather plausible. Today many scientists interested in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, an endeavor known as SETI, believe that such a galactic commune could very well exist. For example, the MIT radio astronomer professor Alan Barrett was one scientist who in the early 1970s was quoted by the New York Post as having wondered whether pulsar signals "might be part of a vast interstellar communications network which we have stumbled upon."! But the idea of a communication collective had not received much discussion back in 1967, and so doubts arose. Another reason why the Cambridge astronomers began to question their ETI hypothesis had to do with the way the radio signals were being sent. Rather than being transmitted at discrete frequencies like our own radio and television stations, pulsar transmissions covered a broad range of radio frequencies. The astronomers Robert Jastrow and M. Thompson, for example, reasoned as follows: 1:~ If an extraterrestrial society were trying to signal other solar systems, { 'PSR signifies "pulsating source of radio" and the numbers indicate the source's sky position as seen in 1950 C.E. (an added J would signify the position in the year 2000). The first four digits give hours and minutes of right ascension measured from west to east along the celes- tial equator and the last two give degrees of declination measured either north (+) or south (-) from the celestial equator. The celestial equator is the outward projection of the Earth's equator onto the celestial sphere.
- 13. 4 The Pulsar Enigma its interstellar transmitter would require enormous power to send signals across the trillions of miles that separate every star from its neighbors. It would be wasteful, purposeless, and unintelligent to dif- fuse the power of the transmitter over a broad band of frequencies. The only feasible way to transmit would be to concentrate all avail- able power at one frequency, as we do on earth when we broadcast radio and television programs." Nevertheless, the development of particle-beam weapon technology during the 1980s brought us a step closer to realizing that broadband ETI communicators are not such a far-fetched idea after all. With this technology it is possible for us today to build a space-based device capable of projecting an intense beam of high-energy electrons that would in turn generate a highly collimated laserlike radio wave beam. This particle-beam communicator would consist of two main compo- nents: a particle accelerator and a particle-beam modulator unit (fig. 1). The particle accelerator would produce a beam of high-energy electrons traveling at very close to the speed of light. The beam modulator would apply magnetic forces transverse to this particle beam causing its elec- trons to deflect slightly and to convert some of their forward kinetic energy into synchrotron radiation, electromagnetic wave emission that characteristically spans a broad range of frequencies. Synchrotron radiation was first discovered in the early 1940s when physicists at the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, first powered up the Synchrotron, one of the world's first high-energy particle accelerators. During its operation, they noticed , . ~~~~~~~~~~#'~E "~»b~» Laser-like Synchrotron Beam Modulator Control Unit Figure 1. An ETI particle-beam communicator device I proposed that could be used to transmit pulsarlike radiation pulses to other civilizations in the Galaxy (see chapter 7 for details). , ~ i I t f ~ I that a fascinating blue-white glow was radiating from the accelerator's high-energy electron beam. It was later found that this emission had a very broad spectrum that ranged from low-energy radio and micro- waves on up to high-energy ultraviolet and X-rays. Electrons traveling near the speed of light are known to emit this broadband radiation whenever they are magnetically deflected from their normal straight- line trajectories. Their high speed causes them to emit this radiation as a narrow conical beam aimed in their direction of travel (fig. 2). Although it was first discovered in the laboratory, synchrotron radiation was later found to be quite commonly produced in nature. Radio astronomers typically detect its presence wherever high-energy cosmic ray particles are being deflected by magnetic fields. It is detected coming from solar flare particles trapped in the Earth's Van Allen radia- tion belts, from cosmic ray electrons magnetically trapped in supernova remnants, and from the tremendously energetic cosmic ray barrages emitted from the luminous quasarlike cores of exploding galaxies. The pulsed radio signals coming from pulsars have also been determined to consist of synchrotron radiation. In fact, by properly controlling its modulator unit, the particle-beam communicator shown in figure 1 could be made to produce a synchrotron beam that would flash on and off and produce a signal very similar to that coming from a pulsar. Powered by a medium-sized power plant that supplied on the order of 10 to 100 megawatts, this communicator could produce a beamed signal that even at distances of thousands of light-years would have a strength similar to that coming from a pulsar. Additional details about how such a communicator might operate are given in chapter 7. Given that it is possible for a technically advanced civilization to produce broadband pulsarlike signals, what would be some of the advantages for them to do so, as opposed to broadcasting discrete fre- quency transmissions? For one thing, a broadband signal would stand Figure 2. Electrons traveling at near-speed-of-light "relativistic" velocities emit narrow cones of synchrotron radiation when they are magnetically deflected.
- 14. 6 The Pulsar Enigma a better chance of being detected by a radio telescope. Such telescopes are normally designed to receive a jumble of radio signals covering a wide range of frequencies, as would normally come from naturally occurring radio sources in the sky. A radio station broadcasting a single frequency would become lost in the background noise resulting from the thousands of radio frequencies being received. On the other hand, a broadband signal, whose intensity was made to coherently vary over all of its frequencies, would more easily stand out and be detected, and it could be detected regardless of which part of the radio-frequency spectrum an astronomer happened to be observing. If an ETI signal were instead being transmitted on a single radio-frequency channel, an astronomer would need to have the good fortune to tune in to that particular channel out of billions of available channels. It would be like trying to find a needle in a cosmic haystack. This difficulty could be overcome by retrofitting radio telescopes with specialized electronic equipment capable of rapidly processing data gathered simultaneously from millions of discrete channels. In fact, such signal-processing equip- ment is currently being used in the SETI program. But it is not the kind of apparatus that observational astronomers would normally use in surveying the radio-emitting sky. Broadband signal transmissions also have the advantage of provid- ing the recipient civilization with a way of estimating the communi- cator's distance. Interstellar space is filled with a tenuous medium of unattached electrons that causes lower-frequency radio waves to travel slightly slower than higher-frequency waves. This effect is due to radio- wave scattering and not to any change in the wave's velocity through space. The low-frequency radio waves from a communication pulse, then, would lag slightly behind the high-frequency waves coming from the same pulse (see fig. 3). Consequently, the recipients of the pulsed message could determine the sender's distance simply by measuring the amount of this frequency-dependent time delay. Such distance ranging would not be possible if the sending civilization were transmitting sig- nals at only one frequency. So in retrospect, it seems that some of the reasons that were once given for discounting the possibility that pulsar signals might be of ETI origin are really not so sound. Nevertheless, early searches for intelligent signals in space were conducted on the assumption that the transmissions would be of the discrete frequency type. The first such radio telescope search was car- 11?eruisar tirugmu I ried out by the astronomer Frank Drake in 1959 and 1960. This proj- ect, named OZMA, used the 26-meter radio antenna at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, to search for signals from the two closest sunlike stars, Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. Figuring that ETI signals would be transmitted at a discrete frequency, they tuned their telescope to scan what they thought would be the most likely frequency, 1420.405 MHz, the 21-centimeter line wavelength that atomic hydrogen normally radiates at. However, their search turned up nothing. Although SETI enthusiasts carried out a variety of other searches in the years that followed, there was no organized, scientifically recognized program at that time to fund such activities. Moreover, during these early years, the scientific community was not nearly as tolerant as it is today of the idea that intelligent beings might live elsewhere in the Galaxy and might even be trying to communicate with us. It was not until 1984 that astronomers first came up with irrefutable observational evidence indi- cating the presence of solar systems around other stars. It is not surpris- ing, then, that back in 1967 Hewish and his Cambridge astronomy group had backed away from their ETI interpretation for pulsars. The announcement of their findings created quite a stir in the astro- nomical community, for no other natural sources were then known to exhibit such precisely timed pulses. It became regarded as one of the most important astronomical discoveries of the decade. Jocelyn Bell subsequently received considerable press recognition and Drs. Hewish ~: high frequency •••/ I I I low frequency ~ ., ' • I at i ~ ~ u, Distance Figure 3. Compared with higher-frequency radio waves, waves of lower fre- quency require more time to traverse the same distance through space. By mea- suring the amount of delay in radio pulse arrival time, astronomers are able to estimate the distance to the pulsating source.
- 15. 8 The Pulsar Enigma and Ryle, who were codirectors of the Cambridge University radio tele- scope project, shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in physics. Shortly after the Cambridge pulsar findings were made public, other astronomers began their own searches. As a result, the number of known pulsars rose to 50 by mid-1970, to 147 by 1975, to 330 by 1981, to 550 by 1992, and to 706 by 1997, and by the end of 2005 more than 1,530 had been discovered. As many as 140 scientific papers were published on pulsars in 1968 alone, and hundreds more came out in the following years. ~. The Neutron Star Lighthouse Model In the months after Hewish and Bell published their pulsar discov- ery, scientists came forth with as many as twenty different theoretical models attempting to explain the phenomenon. The earlier suggestion that pulsars might be radially pulsating white dwarf stars had to be discarded following the discovery later that year of two unusual pulsars found in the Crab and Vela supernova remnants. Both have periods under one tenth of a second, far too short to be realistically described by a radially pulsating dwarf star. As an alternative, astronomers eventually settled on the neutron star lighthouse model, which was proposed by Thomas Gold in June 1968.5 This conceived a pulsar to be an extremely dense, rapidly rotat- ing mass of neutrons, called a neutron star, which was theorized to emit opposed beams of synchrotron radiation (see fig. 4). With each rota- tion, one or both of these beams would sweep past the Earth, producing a brief radio pulse. A neutron star is said to be formed when a star's fusion reactions burn out, leaving the star's mass in free-fall inward gravitational collapse. This compression is then said to be followed by a supernova explosion whose force further compacts the star's core. The result is theorized to be a state of matter so dense that all the star's nuclear particles have been transformed into neutrons and packed tightly together with the same density that exists in the nucleus of an atom. The star's core, which initially would have a mass somewhere between 1.2 to 3 times the mass of the Sun and a diameter about like that of the Earth, would become compressed to a size of only 1 to 30 kilometers. If it could be brought to the Earth's surface, one cubic centimeter of this substance would weigh somewhere between twenty-five million and one trillion tons! ,Hi. f~ ri ~, ~ ~} The neutron star idea was first proposed in the 1930s. But for many decades thereafter, astrophysicists were not sure whether to believe that such things really existed. It was not until pulsars were discovered that they began taking the idea more seriously, since no known natural object could explain pulsar signals. In their attempt to model pulsar signals, astrophysicists theorized that the neutron star would be spin- ning very rapidly, from several rpm up to hundreds of times per second, and that the resulting centrifugal forces would flatten it into the shape of a pancake." It was also thought that the star would be left with a magnetic field trillions of times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field. This would somehow be frozen into the neutron star matter itself and would be typically skewed at an angle to the star's axis of rotation. Furthermore, the neutron star was theorized to be left very hot as a result of its violent birth, its high temperature causing it to radiate a stream of high-energy electrons and other cosmic ray particles. These were thought to spew out from each of the star's magnetic poles to form two opposed, pencil-like beams. One theory suggests that the star's magnetic field would decelerate these electrons as they rushed outward and in so doing would cause them to emit two collimated beams of synchrotron radiation, the same type of radiation produced _ c: o 0 C/)+= ._ ell x- ~oa: N " Neutron Star Figure 4. The lighthouse model proposed as an explanation of pulsar emission.
- 16. 10 The Pulsar Enigma by our hypothetical particle-beam communicator. Since the beams were assumed to be oriented at an angle to the star's axis of rota- tion, they would sweep through space as the star revolved, much like searchlights from a rotating lighthouse beacon. If the Earth happened to be in the path of one or, in some cases, both of these beams, they would be observed to flash by with clocklike precision, producing a train of regularly spaced pulses. There is, however, a fundamental problem with the neutron star lighthouse model. Whereas the model predicts that a pulsar's individual radio beeps should be evenly spaced from one another, instead their arrival times are found to vary from one pulse to the next. A typical example of pulse-to-pulse timing variation may be seen in figure 5, which charts a succession of pulses observed from pulsar PSR0950+08. Each horizontal trace represents the signal received over a single pulse cycle, with 260 of these cycles being stacked up for comparison. The humplike pulses consist of a rise and fall in signal amplitude that typically lasts about 9 milliseconds, or about 3th percent of the pulsar's approximately 0.253-second pulse period. Note that each successive pulse does not occur at precisely the same phase in the pulse cycle. Instead, its timing varies with some degree of randomness. Nor is each pulse the same height as its predecessor. Precise regularity emerges only when many pulses are averaged together to produce a time-averaged pulse profile such as that shown as the uppermost trace in figure 5, which has been synthesized from two thousand successive pulse cycles.* Astronomers find that the shape of this pulse contour remains amazingly constant, being virtually identical to a time-averaged profile synthesized from data obtained some days, months, or even years later. Also unlike the individual pulses, the timing of this average pulse profile is extremely precise, its leading edge always beginning to rise at its "appointed" time. When astronomers speak of the extreme precision of a pulsar's period, they are referring to the timing of the time-averaged profile, rather than to the timing of the individual pulses. Time-averaged pulse profiles for a number of pulsars are displayed 'Pulsar astronomers have come to refer to the individual pulses from a pulsar as subpulses, and the time-averaged pulse profile they have come to call the integrated pulse profile. Since this terminology could be confusing to some readers, I will adhere to the terms pulse and time- averaged pulse profile when referring to these concepts. Time-averaged profile 2000 pulse average " Interpulse t "- Q) ..c E ::::l Z Q) sa ::::l o, o 100 200 Phase Phase (degrees) Figure 5. A sequence of 260 pulses received from PSR 0950+08. Their time- averaged pulse profile, shown at the top, is obtained by adding together 2000 individual pulses. The horizontal axis plots pulse period phase, where one com- plete cycle is equivalent to a cycle phase of 3600 (from Hankins and Cordes, Astrophysical Journal, figure 1).
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- 18. impossible, since each generation of men would have to begin de novo, and be restricted to the results of its own experience. The enforcement of such a doctrine would prevent, furthermore, the acceptance of the truths of nature discovered by inventive genius or developed by physical or chemical research, until such truths had become matters of universal experience. Every man would then be in the position of the incredulous citizen who, having been told that a message had been sent by wire from Baltimore to Washington announcing the nomination of James K. Polk for the presidency, refused to believe in telegraphic messages until he could be at both ends of the line at once. The art of telegraphy was a reality, nevertheless, in spite of his incredulity and inexperience. The American savages who first beheld the ships of Columbus are said to have regarded them as huge birds from heaven and to have refused to believe that they were boats, because, in their experience, they had never seen such immense canoes with wings. Herodotus tells us of some daring sailors who crept along the coast of Africa beyond the limits usually visited at that time. They came back home with a wonderful account of their trip and told the story that they had actually reached a country where their shadows fell toward the south at midday. They were not believed, and their report was rejected with scorn and incredulity by the inhabitants of the Mediterranean coasts, because their only experience was that a man's shadow always pointed toward the north; and they did not believe it possible that shadows could be cast otherwise. But the report of the sailors was true, nevertheless.[27] These simple illustrations teach us that beings other than ourselves have had experiences which are not only different from any that we have ever had, but are also either temporarily or permanently beyond our comprehension. And the moral of this truth, when applied to the statements of the Evangelists regarding miracles, is that the fortunate subjects and witnesses of the miraculous powers of Jesus might have had experiences which we have never had and that we cannot now clearly comprehend.
- 19. (5) In the fifth and last place, as to the coincidence of their testimony with collateral circumstances. This is the chief test of credibility in all those cases where the witness, whose testimony has been reduced to writing, is dead, absent, or insane. Under such circumstances it is impossible to apply what may be termed personal tests on cross-examination; that is, to develop the impeaching or corroborating features of bias, prejudice, and personal demeanor to the same extent as when the witness is still living and testifies orally. When a written narrative is all that we have, its reliability can only be ascertained by a close inspection of its parts, comparing them with each other, and then with collateral and contemporaneous facts and circumstances. The value of this test cannot be over-estimated, and Greenleaf has stated very fully and concisely the basis upon which it rests. "Every event," he says, "which actually transpires, has its appropriate relation and place in the vast complication of circumstances of which the affairs of men consist; it owes its origin to the events which have preceded it, is intimately connected with all others which occur at the same time and place, and often with those of remote regions, and in its turn gives birth to numberless others which succeed. In all this almost inconceivable contexture and seeming discord, there is perfect harmony; and while the fact which really happened tallies exactly with every other contemporaneous incident related to it in the remotest degree, it is not possible for the wit of man to invent a story, which, if closely compared with the actual occurrences of the same time and place, may not be shown to be false."[28]
- 21. ST. JOHN AND ST. PETER (DÜRER) This principle offers a wide field to the skill of the cross-examiner, and enables him frequently to elicit truth or establish falsehood when all other tests have failed. It is a principle also perfectly well known to the perjurer and to the suborner of witnesses. Multiplicity of details is studiously avoided by the false witness, who dreads particularity and feels that safety lies in confining his testimony as nearly as possible to a single fact, whose attendant facts and circumstances are few and simple. When the witness is too ignorant to understand the principle and appreciate the danger, his attorney, if he consents to dishonor his profession and pollute the waters of justice with corrupt testimony, may be depended upon to administer proper warning. The witness will be told to know as few things and to remember as little as possible concerning matters about which he has not been previously instructed. The result will be that his testimony, especially in matters in which he is compelled by the court to testify, will be hesitating, restrained, unequal, and unnatural. He will be served at every turn by a most convenient memory which will enable him to forget many important and to remember many unimportant facts and circumstances. He will betray a painful hesitancy in the matter of committing himself upon any particular point upon which he has not been already drilled. The truthful witness, on the other hand, is usually candid, ingenuous, and copious in his statements. He shows a willingness to answer all questions, even those involving the minutest details, and seems totally indifferent to the question of verification or contradiction. The texture of his testimony is, therefore, equal, natural, and unrestrained. Now these latter characteristics mark every page of the New Testament histories. The Gospel writers wrote with the utmost freedom, and recorded in detail and with the utmost particularity, the manners, customs, habits, and historic facts contemporaneous with their lives. The naturalness and ingenuousness of their writings
- 22. are simply marvelous. There is nowhere any evidence of an attempt to conceal, patch up, or reconcile. No introductory exclamations or subsequent explanations which usually characterize false testimony appear anywhere in their writings. They were seemingly absolutely indifferent to whether they were believed or not. Their narratives seem to say: These are records of truth; and if the world rejects them it rejects the facts of history. Such candor and assurance are always overwhelmingly impressive; and in every forum of debate are regarded as unmistakable signs of truth. The Evangelists, it must be assumed, were fully aware of the danger of too great particularity in the matter of false testimony, and would have hesitated to commit themselves on so many points if their statements had been untrue. We have already noted the opinion of Professor Holtzmann, of Heidelberg, that the Synoptic Gospels were committed to writing between the years 60 and 80 of our era. At that time it is certain that there were still living many persons who were familiar with the events in the life and teachings of the Savior, as well as with the numerous other facts and circumstances related by the sacred writers. St. Paul, in I Cor. xv. 6, speaks of five hundred brethren to whom the risen Jesus appeared at one time; and he adds, "of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep." And it must be remembered that this particular group of two hundred and fifty or more were certainly not the only persons then living who had a distinct remembrance of the Master, His teachings, and His miracles. Many who had been healed by Him, children who had sat upon His knee and been blessed by Him, and many members of the Pharisaic party and of the Sadducean aristocracy who had persecuted Him and had then slain Him, were doubtless still living and had a lively recollection of the events of the ministry of the Nazarene. Such persons were in a position to disprove from their personal knowledge false statements made by the Evangelists. A consciousness of this fact would have been, within itself, a strong inducement to tell the truth.
- 23. But not only are the Gospels not contradicted by contemporaneous writers; they are also not impeached or disproved by later scientific research and historical investigation. And at this point we come to make a direct application of the test of the coincidence of their testimony with collateral and contemporaneous history. For this purpose, as a matter of illustration, only facts in profane history corroborative of the circumstances attending the trial and crucifixion of the Master will be cited. In the first place, the Evangelists tell us that Pontius Pilate sat in judgment on the Christ. Both Josephus and Tacitus tell us that Pilate was governor of Judea at that time.[29] In John xviii. 31 we read: "Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." From many profane historians, ancient and modern, we learn that the power of life and death had been taken from the Jews and vested in the Roman governor.[30] In John xix. 16, 17 occurs this passage: "And they took Jesus, and led him away; and he, bearing his cross, went forth." This corroborative sentence is found in Plutarch: "Every kind of wickedness produces its own particular torment; just as every malefactor, when he is brought forth to execution, carries his own cross."[31] In Matthew xxvii. 26 we read: "When he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified." That scourging was a preliminary to crucifixion among the Romans is attested by many ancient writers, among whom may be mentioned Josephus and Livy. The following passages are taken from Josephus: Whom, having first scourged with whips, he crucified.[32] Being beaten, they were crucified opposite to the citadel.[33] He was burned alive, having been first beaten.[34]
- 24. From Livy, a single sentence will suffice: All were led out, beaten with rods, and beheaded.[35] In John xix. 19, 20 we read: "And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross; and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin." That it was a custom among the Romans to affix the accusation against the criminal to the instrument of his punishment appears from several ancient writers, among them Suetonius and Dion Cassius. In Suetonius occurs this sentence: "He exposed the father of the family to the dogs, with this title, 'A gladiator, impious in speech.'"[36] And in Dion Cassius occurs the following: "Having led him through the midst of the court or assembly, with a writing signifying the cause of his death, and afterwards crucifying him."[37] And finally, we read in John xix. 32: "Then came the soldiers and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him." By an edict of Constantine, the punishment of crucifixion was abolished. Speaking in commendation of this edict, a celebrated heathen writer mentions the circumstances of breaking the legs. "He was pious to such a degree," says this writer, "that he was the first to set aside that very ancient punishment, the cross, with the breaking of legs."[38] If we leave the narrow circle of facts attendant upon the trial and crucifixion of Jesus with its corroborative features of contemporary history, and consider the Gospel narratives as a whole, we shall find that they are confirmed and corroborated by the facts and teachings of universal history and experience. An examination of these narratives will also reveal a divine element in them which furnishes conclusive proof of their truthfulness and reliability. A discussion of the divine or spiritual element in the Gospel histories would be foreign to the purpose of this treatise. The closing pages of Part I will be devoted to a consideration of the human element in the New Testament narratives. This will be nothing more than an elaboration of the fifth legal test of credibility mentioned by Starkie.
- 25. By the human or historical element of credibility in the Gospel histories is meant that likeness or resemblance in matters of representation of fact to other matters of representation of fact which we find recorded in secular histories of standard authority whose statements we are accustomed to accept as true. The relations of historic facts to each other, and the connections and coincidences of things known or believed to be true with still others sought to be proved, form a fundamental ground of belief, and are, therefore, reliable modes of proof. The most casual perusal of the New Testament narratives suggests certain striking resemblances between the events therein narrated and well-known historical occurrences related by secular historians whose statements are implicitly believed. Let us draw a few parallels and call attention to a few of these resemblances. Describing the anguish of the Savior in the Garden, St. Luke says: "And being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly: And his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."[39] This strange phenomenon of the "bloody sweat" has been of such rare occurrence in the history of the world that its happening in Gethsemane has been frequently denied. The account of it has been ascribed to the overwrought imagination of the third Evangelist in recording the errors of tradition. And yet similar cases are well authenticated in the works of secular writers. Tissot reports a case of "a sailor who was so alarmed by a storm, that through fear he fell down, and his face sweated blood which, during the whole continuance of the storm, returned like ordinary sweat, as fast as it was wiped away."[40] Schenck cites the case of "a nun who fell into the hands of soldiers; and, on seeing herself encompassed with swords and daggers threatening instant death, was so terrified and agitated that she discharged blood from every part of her body, and died of hemorrhage in the sight of her assailants."[41] Writing of the death of Charles IX of France, Voltaire says: "The disease which carried him off is very uncommon; his blood flowed from all his pores. This malady, of which there are some examples, is the result
- 26. either of excessive fear, furious passion, or of a violent and melancholic temperament."[42] The same event is thus graphically described by the old French historian, De Mezeray: "After the vigor of his youth and the energy of his courage had long struggled against his disease, he was at length reduced by it to his bed at the castle of Vincennes, about the 8th of May, 1574. During the last two weeks of his life his constitution made strange efforts. He was affected with spasms and convulsions of extreme violence. He tossed and agitated himself continually and his blood gushed from all the outlets of his body, even from the pores of his skin, so that on one occasion he was found bathed in a bloody sweat."[43] If the sailor, the nun, and the king of France were afflicted with the "bloody sweat," why should it seem incredible that the man Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth, should have been similarly afflicted? If Tissot, Schenck, and Voltaire are to be believed, why should we refuse to believe St. Luke? If St. Luke told the truth in this regard, why should we doubt his statements concerning other matters relating to the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God? Does not Voltaire, the most brilliant and powerful skeptic that ever lived, corroborate in this particular the biographer of the Christ? Let us pass to another instance of resemblance and corroboration. While describing the crucifixion, St. John wrote the following: "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water."[44] Early skeptical criticism denied the account of the flowing of blood and water from the side of the Savior because, in the first place, the other Evangelists did not mention the circumstance; and, in the second place, it was an unscientific fact stated. But modern medical science has very cleverly demonstrated that Jesus, according to the Gospel accounts, died of rupture of the heart. About the middle of the last century, a celebrated English physician and surgeon, Dr. Stroud, wrote a treatise entitled, "Physical Cause of the Death of Christ." In this book, he proved very clearly that cardiac rupture was the immediate cause of the death of Jesus on the cross. Many arguments were
- 27. adduced to establish this fact. Among others, it was urged that the shortness of time during which the sufferer remained upon the cross and His loud cry just before "He gave up the ghost," tended to prove that a broken heart was the cause of the death of the Man of Sorrows. But the strongest proof, according to the author of this work, was the fact that blood and water flowed from the dead man when a spear was thrust into His side. This, says Dr. Stroud, has happened frequently when the heart was suddenly and violently perforated after death from cardiac rupture. Within a few hours after death from this cause, he says, the blood frequently separates into its constituent parts or essential elements: crassamentum, a soft clotted substance of deep-red color, and serum, a pale, watery liquid —popularly called blood and water, which will flow out separately, if the pericardium and heart be violently torn or punctured. In this treatise numerous medical authorities are cited and the finished work is indorsed by several of the most famous physicians and surgeons of England. It is very probable that St. John did not know the physical cause of the strange flow of blood and water from the side of Jesus. It seems that he was afraid that he would not be believed; for, in the following verse, he was careful to tell the world that he himself had personally seen it. "And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: And he knoweth that he saith true that ye might believe."[45] Here again modern medical science has corroborated, in the matter of the flowing of blood and water from the side of Jesus, the simple narrative of the gentle and loving Evangelist. Still another illustration of resemblance, coincidence, and corroboration is furnished by the incident of the arrest of Jesus in the Garden. St. John says: "As soon, then, as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground."[46] This is only one of several cases mentioned in history where ordinary men have been dazed and paralyzed in the presence of illustrious men against whom they were designing evil. When a Gallic trooper
- 28. was sent by Sulla to Minturnæ to put Marius to death, the old Roman lion, his great eyes flashing fire, arose and advanced toward the slave, who fled in utter terror from the place, exclaiming, "I cannot kill Caius Marius!"[47] Again, we learn from St. Matthew that at the moment of the arrest in the Garden, "all the disciples forsook him and fled." This is no isolated case of cowardice and desertion. It is merely an illustration of a universal truth: that the multitude will follow blindly and adore insanely the hero or prophet in his hour of triumph and coronation, but will desert and destroy him at the moment of his humiliation and crucifixion. Note the burning of Savonarola. The patriot-priest of the Florentine Republic believed himself inspired of God; his heroic life and martyr death seemed to justify his claim. From the pulpit of St. Mark's he became the herald and evangel of the Reformation, and his devoted followers hung upon his words as if inspiration clothed them with messages from the skies. And yet when a wicked Inquisition had nailed him to the cross and fagots were flaming about him, this same multitude who adored him, now reviled him and jeered and mocked his martyrdom. Note the career of Napoleon. When the sun of Austerlitz rose upon the world the whole French nation grew delirious with love and homage for their emperor, who was once a subaltern of Corsica. But when the Allies entered Paris after the battle of Leipsic, this same French nation repudiated their imperial idol, cast down his images, canceled his decrees, and united with all Europe in demanding his eternal banishment from France. The voyage to Elba followed. But the historic melodrama of popular fidelity and fickleness was not yet completely played. When this same Napoleon, a few months later, escaped from his islet prison in the Mediterranean and landed on the shores of France, this same French nation again grew delirious, welcomed the royal exile with open arms, showered him with his eagles, and almost smothered him with kisses. A hundred days
- 29. passed. On the frightful field of Waterloo, "Chance and Fate combined to wreck the fortunes of their former king." Again the fickle French multitude heaped execrations upon their fallen monarch, declared the Napoleonic dynasty at an end and welcomed with acclamations of joy the return of the exiled Bourbon Louis XVIII. And when the Evangelist wrote these words: "All the disciples forsook him and fled," he simply gave expression to a form of truth which all history reflects and corroborates. Again, the parallels and resemblances of sacred and profane history do not seem to stop with mere narratives of facts. Secular history seems to have produced at times characters in the exact likeness of those in sacred history. The resemblance is often so striking as to create astonishment. For instance, who was St. Peter but Marshal Ney by anticipation? Peter was the leader of the Apostolic Twelve; Ney was the chief of the Twelve Marshals of Napoleon. Peter was impulsive and impetuous; so was Ney. Peter was the first to speak and act in all the emergencies of the Apostolic ministry; Ney, so Dumas tells us, was always impatient to open the battle and lead the first charge. Peter was probably the last to leave the garden in which the great tragedy of his Master had begun; Ney was the last to leave the horrors of a Russian winter in which the beginning of the end of the career of his monarch was plainly seen. Peter denied Jesus; Ney repudiated Napoleon, and even offered to bring him, at the time of his escape from Elba, in a cage to Louis XVIII. Peter was afterwards crucified for his devotion to Jesus whom he had denied; Ney was afterwards shot for loyalty to Napoleon whom he had once repudiated. The examples heretofore given involve the idea of comparison and are based upon resemblance. These illustrations could be greatly extended, but it is believed that enough has been said in this connection. However, in closing this brief discussion of the human element in the sacred writings as evidenced by the coincidences and resemblances of their narratives to those of profane history, slight
- 30. mention may be made of another test of truth which may be applied to the histories of the Evangelists. This test is not derived from a comparison which is focused upon any particular group of historic facts. It springs from an instantaneously recognized and inseparable connection between the statements made by the Gospel writers and the experience of the human race. A single illustration will suffice to elucidate this point. When Jesus was nailed upon the cross, the sad and pathetic spectacle was presented of the absence of the Apostolic band, with the exception of St. John, who was the only Apostle present at the crucifixion. The male members of the following of the Nazarene did not sustain and soothe their Master in the supreme moment of His anguish. But the women of His company were with Him to the end. Mary, his mother, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, Salome, the mother of St. John the Evangelist, and others, doubtless among "the women that followed him from Galilee," ministered to His sufferings and consoled Him with their presence. They were the last to cling to His cross and the first to greet Him on the morning of the third day; for when the resurrection morn dawned upon the world, these same women were seen hastening toward the sepulcher bearing spices—fragrant offerings of deathless love. What a contrast between the loyalty and devotion of the women and the fickle, faltering adherence of the men who attended the footsteps of the Man of Sorrows in His last days! One of His Apostles denied Him, another betrayed Him, and all, excepting one, deserted Him in His death struggle. His countrymen crucified Him ignominiously. But "not one woman mentioned in the New Testament ever lifted her voice against the Son of God." This revelation from the sacred pages of the devotion of woman is reflected in universal history and experience. It is needless to give examples. Suffice it to say that when Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell us of this devotion, we simply answer: yes, this has been ever true in all countries and in every age. We have learned it not only from history but from our own experience in all the affairs of life, extending from the cradle to the grave. The night of sorrow never grows so dark that a mother's love will not irradiate the gloom. The
- 31. criminal guilt of a wayward son can never become so black that her arms will not be found about him. If we pass from loving loyalty to the individual, to patriotic devotion to the causes of the nations, woman's fidelity is still undying. The women of France are said to have paid the German war debt. The message of the Spartan mother to her soldier son is too well known to be repeated. When the legions of Scipio engirdled the walls of Carthage and desperation seized the inhabitants of the Punic city, Carthaginian women cut their long black hair to furnish bowstrings to the Carthaginian archers. Illustrations might be multiplied; but these will suffice to show that Mary and Martha and Salome, the women of the Gospels, are simply types of the consecrated women of the world. When we come to summarize, we are led to declare that if the Gospel historians be not worthy of belief we are without foundation for rational faith in the secular annals of the human race. No other literature bears historic scrutiny so well as the New Testament biographies. Not by a single chain, but by three great chains can we link our Bible of to-day with the Apostolic Bible. The great manuscripts: the Vatican, the Alexandrian, and the Sinaitic, dating from the middle of the fourth and fifth centuries, must have been copies of originals, or at least of first copies. The Bible is complete in these manuscripts to-day. The Versions, translations of the original Scriptures from the language in which they were first written into other languages, form a perfect connection between the days of the Apostles and our own. The Vulgate, the celebrated Latin version of St. Jerome, was completed A.D. 385. In making this translation the great scholar has himself said that he used "ancient (Greek) copies." Manuscripts that were ancient, A.D. 385, must have been the original writings, or, at least, first copies. The Vulgate, then, is alone a perfect historic connection between the Bible that we read to-day and that studied by the first Christians. Again, the Writings of the Church Fathers furnish a chain, without a single missing link, between the Bible of this generation and that of
- 32. the first generation of the followers of the Christ. It has been truthfully said that if all the Bibles in the world were destroyed an almost perfect Bible could be reconstructed from quotations from these writings, so numerous and so exact are they. Beginning with Barnabas and Clement, companions of St. Paul, and coming down through the ages, there is not a single generation in which some prince or potentate of the Church has not left convincing evidence in writing that the Books of the Old and New Testament which we read to-day are identical with those read by the first propagators of our faith. The chain of proof forged from the Writings of the early Fathers is made up of a hundred links, each perfect within itself and yet relinked and welded with a hundred others that make each and all doubly strong. If these various testimonies, the Manuscripts, the Versions, and the Writings of the Church Fathers, be taken, not singly, but collectively, in support and corroboration of each other, we have, then, not merely a chain but rather a huge spiritual cable of many wires, stretching across the great sea of time and linking our Bible of to-day inseparably with that of the Apostolic Age. If it be objected that these various writings might have been and probably were corrupted in coming down to us through the centuries, reply may be made that the facts of history repel such suggestions. As Mr. Greenleaf has suggested, the jealousy of opposing sects preserved them from forgery and mutilation. Besides these sects, it may be added, there were, even in the earliest times, open and avowed infidels who assaulted the cardinal tenets of the Christian faith and made the Gospel histories the targets for their attacks. They, too, would have detected and denounced any attempt from any source to corrupt these writings. Another and final, and probably the most cogent reason for the remarkable preservation of the books of the Bible, is the reverential care bestowed upon them by their custodians in every age. It is difficult for the modern world to fully appreciate the meaning and extent of this reverence and care. Before the age of printing, it must be remembered, the masses of the people could not and did not
- 33. possess Bibles. In the Middle Ages it required a small fortune to own a single copy. The extreme scarcity enhanced not only the commercial value but added to the awful sanctity that attached to the precious volume; on the principle that the person of a king becomes more sacred and mysterious when least seen in public. Synagogues and monasteries were, for many centuries, the sole repositories of the Holy Books, and the deliberate mutilation of any portion of the Bible would have been regarded like the blaspheming of the Deity or the desecration of a shrine. These considerations alone are sufficient reason why the Holy Scriptures have come down to us uncorrupted and unimpaired. These various considerations are the logical basis of that rule of law laid down by Mr. Greenleaf, under which the Gospel histories would be admitted into a modern court of law in a modern judicial proceeding. Under legal tests laid down by Starkie, we have seen that the Evangelists should be believed, because: (1) They were honest and sincere, that is, they believed that they were telling the truth; (2) they were undoubtedly men of good intelligence and were eyewitnesses of the facts narrated by them in the New Testament histories; (3) they were independent historians, who wrote at different times and places and, in all essential details, fully corroborate each other; (4) excepting in the matter of miracles, which skepticism has never been able to fully disprove, their testimony is in full conformity with human experience; (5) their testimony coincides fully and accurately with all the collateral, social, historical, and religious circumstances of their time, as well as with the teachings and experience of universal history in every age. Having received from antiquity an uncorrupted message, born of truth, we have, it is believed, a perfect record of fact with which to discuss the trial of Jesus.
- 35. PART II HEBREW CRIMINAL LAW
- 36. MOSES AND THE LAW (MICHAEL ANGELO)
- 38. CHAPTER I HEBREW CRIMINAL LAW—MOSAIC AND TALMUDIC HE Pentateuch and the Talmud form the double basis of Hebrew jurisprudence. "The wisdom of the lawgiver," says Bacon, "consists not only in a platform of justice, but in the application thereof." The Mosaic Code, embodied in the Pentateuch, furnished to the children of Israel the necessary platform of justice; ancient tradition and Rabbinic interpretation contained in the Talmud, supplied needed rules of practical application. Employing classic terminology, it may be said that the ordinances of Moses were the substantive and the provisions of the Talmud were the adjective laws of the ancient Hebrews. These terms are not strictly accurate, however, since many absolute rights are declared and defined in the Talmud as well as in the Pentateuch. Another definition, following the classification of Roman legists, describes Mosaic injunction as the lex scripta and Talmudic provision as the lex non scripta of the Commonwealth of Israel. In other words, the Pentateuch was the foundation, the cornerstone; the Talmud was the superstructure, the gilded dome of the great temple of Hebrew justice. Bible students throughout the world are familiar with the provisions of the Mosaic Code; but the contents of the Talmud are known to few, even among scholars and literary men. The most appalling ignorance has existed in every age among the Gentile uninitiated as to the nature and identity of this gigantic literary compilation. Henricus Segnensis, a pious monk of the Middle Ages, having heard and read many things about the despised heretical Talmud, conceived it to be a person and, in a transport of religious frenzy,
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