Ill HOW BEST TO MODEL THE EARTH 73 



advisable, there can, I think, be little doubt that the 

 smaller scale here suggested should be adoped. This 

 would give an internal diameter of 167 feet, and a scale 

 of almost exactly a quarter of an inch to a mile, and would 

 combine grandeur of general effect, scientific accuracy, 

 and educational importance, with a comparative economy 

 and facility of construction which would greatly tend to 

 its realisation. It is with the hope of showing the 

 importance and practicability of such a work that I have 

 ventured to lay before the public this modification of the 

 proposal of M. Reclus, to whom belongs the merit of the 

 first suggestion and publication. Now that Great Wheels 

 and Eifel Towers are constructed, and are found to pay, it 

 is to be hoped that a scheme like this, which in addition 

 to possessing the attractions of novelty and grandeur, 

 would be also a great educational instrument, may be 

 thought worthy of the attention both of the scientific and 

 the commercial worlds. 



