1G8 



CONTINENTAL PROBLEMS OF GEOLOGY. 



lessing in advance that my only result has been negative, I neverthe- 

 less recite what I have done, partly because negative contributions to 

 an obscure subject are not entirely valueless and partly with the 

 thought that the forms whose meanings I failed to discover may never- 

 theless prove significant to some other eyes. 



What I did was to draw upon a globe the outline of tlie continental 

 plateau and then view it from every direction. Afterwards I developed 

 the figure upon a jilane surface, employing for that purpose a mode of 

 projection which is probably novel. As tliis mode is not susceptible of 

 mathematical fornmlation, and therefore will not find place in the litera- 

 ture of cartography, I may be pardoned for applying a trivial name and 

 calling it the orange-peel projection. The name almost explains it. Con- 

 ceive the continental i^lateau to be outlined upon a spherical orange 

 and the rind of the orange to ])e divided by a sharp knife along the 

 sinuosities of the outline; conceive then that the ]>ortiou of the rind 



Figure 3.- The rotitiufntal platcaii deoeloperl on a piano, surface. 



thus circumscribed is peeled from the orange and is spread ujion a flat 

 surface, the different parts l)eing strciclied and compressed so as to pass 



FinrHK 4. — Oceanic, urea complementary to the cuntinental 2'lateaii developed on a plane surface 



from S])herical form to plane with the least strain of the rind. The re- 

 sulting shape is delineate<l in Figure 3. Figure 4 shows the form as- 



