314 



REID— THE DISTRIBUTION OF LAND 



one hemisphere, zvhose pole lies about half ivay hetzveen the equator 

 and the north geographic pole. And the position of this land area 

 on the earth has no relation whatever to the earth's equator and 

 axis of rotation. 



A glance at Fig. i will show that this is a true statement ; we 

 shall discuss later this concentration of the land. 



Fig. I. Land and water hemispheres. Lambert's equivalent area projection. 



1. The first characteristic is explicitly contained in the general 

 proposition above. 



2. A glance at Fig. 2, taken from Stieler's Handatlas, impresses 

 one strongly with the antipodal relation of land and water ; but 

 Fig. 3 gives a truer impression. The former shows the eastern 

 hemisphere with the western hemisphere projected through upon it. 

 the latter shows the land hemisphere with the water hemisphere 

 projected upon it.^ 



If all the land were in one hemisphere, then the antipodal rela- 

 tion of the land to the water would be perfect. But this is not so ; 

 there is some land in the water hemisphere. Does it project upon 

 water in the land hemisphere? 



1 The center of the land hemisphere has been pretty carefully worked out 

 by H. Beythien ("Fine neue Bestimmung des Pols der Landhalbkugel," Dis- 

 sertation. Kiel und Leipsig, 1898) following a method suggested by Pro- 

 fessor Kriimmel. He places the center at latitude 47^° N. and longitude 

 23^° W., close to the mouth of the Loire. Using a slightly different method 

 I have corroborated his results. 



