USEFUL THINGS. 49 i 



The following principal cities and places in the world are antipodal 



London Antipodes Island, southeast of New Zealand. 



New York South Indian Ocean. 



Lima Siam. 



Nankin g Buenos Ayres. 



Quito Sumatra. 



Bermudas Swan River. 



Azores Botany Bay. 



Antipodal places have the same climate, with all of the seasons, 

 days, and nights, completely reversed. When it is noon in London, 

 it is midnight at Antipodes Island ; and the noon of the longest day 

 at the Bermudas is midnight of the shortest day at Swan River. 

 When the sun is rising at New York, it is setting on the South Indian 

 Ocean. 



Antipodes Island, a small strip of land in the South Pacific Ocean, 

 southeast of New Zealand, is so called because it is the nearest inhab- 

 itable point to the antipodes of Greenwich, latitude 49 32' south, lon- 

 gitude 178 42' east. 



We said that the seasons at the antipodes were reversed. Take, 

 for example, New Zealand, which is nearly antipodal to England. 

 New Zealand has one of the finest climates in the world. The sum- 

 mer is a little longer and warmer than in England, the atmosphere 

 more moist, and fogs are frequent. Spring begins in September, sum- 

 mer in December, autumn in April, and winter in June. January 

 and February are the warmest months of the year, while July is the 

 coldest. The flowers bloom in January, and the snow falls in June. 



So, in a figurative sense, antipodes means opposite. As Shakespeare 

 says, or makes one of his characters to say, in the play : 



" Thou art as opposite to every good, 

 As the antipodes are unto us." 



-- 



USEFUL THINGS. 1 



By EDMOND ABOUT. 



TT1LITY does not require to be defined. Nevertheless, an expla- 

 v-J nation of it may be profitable. 



Many years have elapsed since man appeared on the earth. Geol- 

 ogists affirm that, before our appearance, this little globe moved round 

 the sun for thousands and thousands of ages. During that period the 

 soil, the sea, and the air, were of no benefit to anybody, because no 

 one existed here below. A multitude of plants and animals was 



1 From advance-sheets of the " Hand-book of Social Economy." By Edmond About. 

 D. Appleton & Co. 



