140 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



The Earth's Beginnings 



'By F. L, Bhke, 0,L,S,, D,L,S, 



The supposition, first formed by Col. Clarke in 1878, that the 

 earth is an ellipsoid with three unequal axes rather than a sphere 

 has acquired new and unexpected importance on account of its re- 

 lation to the h3'pothesis broitght forward by Mr. Jeans of Cam- 

 bridge University that immediately before consolidation the earth 

 was pear-shaped in form. According to Mr. Jeans, after the moon 

 was thrown off from the earth, our planet was preparing to eject 

 a second satellite, but stopped short of this perhaps on account of 

 complete solidification ; hence the pear-shaped appearance. The 

 ultimate configuration of the earth after consolidation was reached 

 only as the result of a long succession of ruptures. This places 

 the question outside the range of exact mathematics, but we can 

 fairly assume that the final shape of our planet would retain traces 

 of its initial asymmetrical condition, and, therefore, would be not 

 quite spherical. 



These speculations are of considerable importance since they 

 throw fresh light on the very difiicult question of the origin of the 

 ocean. When the final stage of configuration was reached, the 

 surface of the globe would not be quite an equipotential, and, 

 therefore, the centre of gravity would not quite coincide with the 

 centre of the figure. Were water placed on the surface of such a 

 planet, it would form a circular .sea of which the centre would be 

 on the axis of harmonics, while the dry land would form a 

 spherical cap. 



The atmosphere of our earth during con.solidation* (exerting as 

 it did a pressure of 5,000 pounds to the square inch) must have 

 played an important role in the evolution of our planet, and may 

 have given rise in a later stage of cooling to vast floating islands of 

 scoria, the possible foreshadowings of future continents. Our 



