FALSE LEVELS. 



be a hill, whose face is B E, and we look at the 

 hill BCD from a point E well up the hill 

 ABE, having now E B instead of A B for our 

 base-line, the face of the opposite hill B C 

 makes with this base-line an angle E B C, 

 which is much more acute than the angle ABC. 

 Though we know that the base-line E B is 

 not level, as A B is, our minds and eyes so con- 

 stantly associate steepness and height with 

 the smallness of the angle between the base- 

 line and the hill, that we cannot help thinking 

 the hill-face B C looks steeper and higher seen 

 from a point E on an opposite hill than from a 

 point A on the level. 



And in the case of the sea viewed from 

 high up a steep hill close to it, this effect causes 

 the appearance of elevation in the sea, which 

 is level, so that it looks as if it were a hill 

 of water. 



The apparent height of a hill, as seen from an 

 opposite hill, is exaggerated by two other causes. 



Any height seems greater from above than 



from beneath. We so much more frequently 



s ee the height of a tree, a church-tower, or even 



a steep hill, from beneath than from the top, 



that the same height seen from the top is much 



more impressive, and consequently seems much 



greater. Thus a hill seems higher viewed from 



the top than from the valley ; and an opposite 



hill, of obviously equal height, shares this 



increase of apparent height. 



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