hy the Precession of the Equinoxes, 309 



the earth as an oblate spheroid. To illustrate the theory, I 

 have taken the liberty to present you a globe, and an instru- 

 ment which shows the flattening of the poles by the centri- 

 fugal force. 



Sir Richard Phillips appears to be the first who conceived 

 the idea of great physical changes on the globe arising from 

 the precession of the equinoxes * : but to M. Guesney, an 

 advocate of Coutances in Normandy, is due the merit of 

 developing and applying the theory.f The globe before you 

 is his invention ; and had he studied physics instead of the law, 

 he would not have coupled a sublime discovery with one of 

 the wildest theories of the universe ever produced, nor have 

 confined the application of his theory to the phenomena of 

 the deluge and magnetic needle. 



Baron Cuvier has already passed in review J and rejected 

 the precession of the equinoxes, as being totally inadequate 

 to explain the grand cataclysm which is erroneously called 

 the universal deluge. The authority of so great a name justly 

 inspired me with a diffidence of the truth of the new theory : 

 1 accordingly adopted the excellent method laid down by 

 your learned secretary, in his Principles of Geology. I dili- 

 gently collected every fact from observation and the best 

 authorities ; and I had the satisfaction of finding, that, however 

 isolated, or to whatever order they appertained, our little 

 geological globe invariably offered a simple and elegant 

 solution. 



It is, therefore, with confidence that I submit to you, gen- 

 tlemen, a rapid sketch of my researches, in which you will 

 find that imagination has no part. 



" The pole of the earth," says M. Cuvier, " moves in a circle 

 round the pole of the ecliptic." § Can you conceive, gentle^ 

 men, that for 2000 years astronomers have resembled the one 

 in the fable of La Fontaine ; they have been so occupied with 

 the heavens, that they have paid no attention to what was 

 passing on the earth ? They never considered that the ecliptic, 

 instead of being an imaginary line, to be traced at pleasure 

 on the terrestrial globe, provided it cut the equator at an angle 

 of 23° 28', is a real circle, and can only be placed in one 

 position, to be in harmony Avith the annual motion which it is 

 intended to represent : and as every circle must have a centre, 

 the ecliptic necessarily ought to have one too; especially as it 



* Proximate Causes of the Material Phenomena of the Universe, 1821. 

 t Mouvement Heliaque. Paris, 1824. 



X Discours sur les Revolutions de la Surface du Globe. Paris, 1822 

 —1830. 



§ Discours, &c,, p. 42. 6th edit. 1830. 



X 3 



