THE TEKRESTRIAL GLOBE AT THE PARIS EXHIBITION.* 



Some time before tbe opening* of the Paris Exhibition it was announced 

 that one of tbe attractions of tlie show would be a great terrestrial globe, 

 one millionth of the actual hize of the earth. The globe is now exhib- 

 ited in a building S|»ecially erected, near the Eiffel Tower, for the pur- 

 pose, and it excites the warmest interest among- all visitors who have 

 devoted the slightest attention to geographical science. It was designed 

 by MM. Villard and Cotard, and these gentlemen, who have received 

 many congratulations on their success, have lately issued an account , 

 of the manner in which their project has been realized. 



Maps on a plane surface give, of course, a very inadequate impression 

 of the real appearance of our planet; and ordinary globes are too small 

 to indicate, even vaguely, the extent of the spaces represented on them. 

 The idea of making a globe one millionth the size of the earth deserves, 

 therefore, to be described as a -'happy thought," for although the mean- 

 ing of a million may not be fully appreciated, it is not absolutely inac- 

 cessible to the human mind. When we see a place or a district marked 

 on a globe, and learn that the reality is a million times larger, the pro- 

 portions are impressively suggested, with at least some approach to 

 accuracy. 



The diameter of the globe constructed by MM. Villard and Cotard is 

 12.73 meters, (42 feet). It has a circumference of 40 meters (131 feet), 

 and a millimeter of its surface represents a kilometer (a little more 

 than 15^ miles to the inch). The globe consists of an iron frame-work 

 made chiefly of meridians united to a central core. This structure 

 is carried by a pivot resting on an iron support. To the meridians 

 pieces of wood are attached, and on these are fixed the panels compos- 

 ing the surface of the globe. These panels are made of sheets of card- 

 board bent by hand to the required spherical shape, and covered with 

 plaster specially hardened. Fig. 1 shows how they are applied to the 

 underlying structure. The total surface is divided into forty spindle- 

 shaped spaces, the breadth of which at the equator is exactly one meter. 

 Each "spindle" or gore is itself sub-divided, so that there are 000 ])anels 

 of various dimensions. The designs are ])ainted on the panels before 

 they are put in their place, in order that the globe may ultimately be 

 easily dismantled and removed. 



From Nature, Julv 18. 1889.- vol. xl, pp. 278-280. 



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