No. 3. [From the Proc. of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 1886, Vol. vm. pp. 753-769.] 



ON SIMILARITIES IN THE PHYSICAL GEO- 

 GRAPHY OF THE GREAT OCEANS 



OSCAR PESCHEL, in his charming work on New Problems 



of Comparative Geography 1 , dilates on what had been called 



by Agassiz geographical homologies. He compared the study 



C structure of the earth with that of the structure of the 



animal body, the science of geography with the science of 



anatomy. It is from studies of comparative anatomy that 



much of our knowledge of the early history and development 



Is is derived, and it was hoped that analogous studies 



nd and sea would yield similar results. The establishment 



of geographical homologies having a certain amount of pa nil - 



:i with anatomical homologies has been an important 



lireetion. Thus the wing of an eagle, the arm 



of a 1 the foreleg of a horse, are homologous features, 



. are similar organs in corresponding positions. 



When we contemplate tin- features of the globe, we find the 



of the world forming an almost continuous 



belt round the north pole, and separated from it by an area 



of chiefly sea. From this circumpolar belt the land stretches 



soutl and appears to have a tendency to form three 



separate continental masses. Of these, the American continent 



i all respects well denned, and stretches furthest in a 



sour tion. The other two show their separate 



indi in th-ir southern portions, Africa and Australia ; 



in their northern portions thev are twinned (to use a 



mineraloi;i<-al expression), joint CODi i Europe 



ever maps have < in 



the SOUt rontin. -nt- has 



k obser icy are classed amongst remarkable 



robUmt dtr \tr K lt 1 rdkundt : von Oscar Pcscbel 



.-rand Hun.!-!.. t I r,j,/,g. 1883. 



