science

NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages

NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages rather than just read about it. In short: NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages is one of the first feminist science fiction books published in the United States. It is also one of the first Hollow Earth novels.

Key takeaways

NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages is one of the first feminist science fiction books published in the United States. It is also one of the first Hollow Earth novels. It was serialized in the newspaper Equity. Then in book form, two editions were published in Topeka, Kansas in 1900. The title page gives Jack Adams as author, but this is a pseudonym. One bibliographer assigned authorship to writers Alcanoan O. Grigsby and Mary P. Lowe.

Plot In the body of the work it is revealed that Jack Adams is actually a woman (Cassie) dressing in men's clothing, who has spent several years searching for her betrothed on various ocean voyages. She is so successful in her masquerade as a male that she actually works for the ship captains. The voyage described in Nequa is to the Arctic, where the ship becomes trapped in the ice. After several harrowing adventures the ship is freed and then proceeds to sail north. The Captain of the ship, Rafael Ganoa (Cassie's betrothed) is amazed to find that when they reach a certain spot, which should be close to the north pole, the compasses show that the ship is suddenly traveling south. Actually they have sailed into the inside of the Earth, where they meet the Altrurians, a society which has developed into a more cooperative society than those on the outside of the Earth. Individual members of the Altrurian Society describe how the evolution of Altrurian society took place. These explanations reflect Populist thought of the time with definite feminist proclivities, providing the tone of a political novel. Jack Adams exposes his/her secret and is chastised by her betrothed Captain Ganoe as having broken several conventions that exist among the outer Earth society. Jack Adams/Cassie Van Ness, now called Nequa (the teacher), takes a manuscript that she has written about this voyage and leaves in one of the new aeroplanes for the outside world to have the manuscript you have been reading published.

History Compilations which have included information about Nequa have resulted in misunderstandings about the authorship of the book. The article "New World That Eve Made: Feminist Utopias Written by Nineteenth-Century Women" authored by Barbara Quissell, which appeared in Kenneth Roemers’ America as Utopia, discusses A. O. Grigsby as a woman writer. In Science-Fiction, the early years: A full description of more than 3000 stories, Everett Franklin Bleiler gives a synopsis and lists the authors as Alcanoan O. Grigsby, a male, and Mary P. Lowe, a female. A. O. Grigsby (Alconoan O. Grigsby) was a Populist and later a Socialist who was editor of several newspapers from the 1890s through 1900. Mary P. Lowe was an editor of The New Woman, a women's suffrage paper, and co-editor with A. O. Grigsby of "Equity", a Populist newspaper, complete editions of which are available on microfilm from the Kansas State Historical Society. The first edition of NEQUA listed A.O. Grigsby and Mary P. Lowe as the copyright holders. There was also an explanation printed in the first edition which credits Dr. T. A. H. Lowe with the original ideas found in NEQUA. Dr. T. A. H. Lowe studied Eclectic Medicine at the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati. NEQUA contains many ideas which are similar to other Hollow Earth books, particularly one titled Mizora. Mizora first appeared in serialized form in the Cincinnati Commercial, a newspaper, while Dr. Lowe was enrolled at the Eclectic Medical Institute. Two other Eclectic Physicians also wrote subterranean fiction. John Uri Lloyd was a teacher in the Pharmacy Department at the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati. He wrote Etidorhpa, which had elements of secret Masonic rituals and alchemy woven throughout the book. Cyrus Teed was also an Eclectic Institute physician who preached the existence of a world inside of the Earth. He became leader of Koreshanity, which built a commune in Florida. According to Worldcat, NEQUA in printed form is only owned by eleven libraries. Out of print for 115 years, interest in its political, social and economic systems has reappeared on the internet. A third edition, published in 2015 by Green Snake Press, includes a new introduction and an epilogue, consisting of background material about the persons originally involved in the writing and publishing of NEQUA. The original copyright was held by newspaper editors and publishers who were political organizers using the printed word to further their political cause. NEQUA was published online in 2017.

References

External links

NEQUA at Project Gutenberg Nequa or The Problem of the Ages public domain audiobook at LibriVox

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages

In research: NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1900 American novels, 1900 English-language novels, 1900 science fiction novels, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages in simple terms?

NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages is one of the first feminist science fiction books published in the United States. It is also one of the first Hollow Earth novels.

Why does NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on NEQUA or The Problem of the Ages.