COLLAPSE OF THE PEAR 49 



sequences of the condensation of the atmosphere of steam, 

 which we have depicted on page 10, would now follow, 

 the hot rain would accumulate in the ocean basin, 

 increasing by its pressure the previously existing depth, 

 and so assisting to disturb the already unstable con- 

 figuration. 



In a letter Mr. Jeans was good enough to write me he 

 makes the following suggestion : " If we imagine the two 

 [hemispheres, one of land and the other of sea] repre- 

 sented by two halves, upper and lower, of the figure 



FIG. 5. 



(Fig. 4) crushing together under their mutual attraction, 

 as, of course, they would tend to do in the cooling process, 

 and expelling matter near their equator, which is at least 

 a plausible conjecture of what would happen, then the 

 form resulting is roughly that shown in Fig. 5. Of 

 course this is enormously exaggerated, but does it not fit 

 in well with the earth's figure,* taking the features as I 



* So well does it agree that I had drawn a figure, essentially the 

 same, to illustrate a paper on the form of the earth, as obtained 

 solely by observation. This, however, was not introduced into the 

 paper, as it was thought the facts were obvious enough without it. 



5 



