EXPLAINING GEOLOGICAL FACTS. 411 



I was desirous to know how such a projection of the 

 sphere would appear. At my request Mr. Darby exe- 

 cuted a map whose equator and axis are removed forty- 

 five degrees from the present equinoctial line and poles. 

 By fixing one pole to the northwest of the Sandwich 

 Islands, and the other to the southward of St. Helena, 

 the equator crossing the isthmus of Darien, and touching 

 the east end of Cuba*, runs over the Atlantic ocean to 

 the eastward of Bermuda, and all the United States lie 

 between it and the tropic. The continuation of the 

 equator passes through Ireland, England, Holland, Ger- 

 many, Poland, touches the northern shore of the Black 

 Sea, and brings all Europe between the tropics. 



From that track the equator may be supposed to have 

 been moved to the place it now occupies, producing a 

 corresponding action in the physical character of the 

 globe, and on the life of its plants and animals. 



This notion may be said by critics to be unfounded 

 and visionary. The reader will remember it is not of- 

 fered as a fact, but as a speculation. Visions, when they 

 are known to be such, are frequently amusing, and never 

 mischievous. It is only when they are mistaken for 

 realities that they mislead the understanding. 



