32 WILLIAM H. PICKERING 
coast. ‘The two broken lines joining these various points are slightly 
inclined to one another, but the other small differences in relative 
position and distance are apparent and not real, being due to the 
necessary slight distortion of the map. The South American con- 
tinent does not fit well into this arrangement, and does not appear to 
have remained perfectly parallel to North America during its transit 
across the fiery ocean, in obedience to the pull of the Moon. Instead, 
it seems to have rotated slightly, as shown, about a point somewhat 
to the east of the Isthmus of Panama. 
In trying thus to match the continents together, we must take the 
outline of the continental plateau rather than the coast-line. Five- 
sixths of the area of the Altantic basin is thus very well accounted for, 
but there still remains a considerable area east of the United States, 
together with the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean and Medi- 
terranean Seas, not explained. The eastern outline of the Atlantic 
area is indicated by the dotted line. 
The antipodes of the central spot in the map of the Pacific is 
indicated by the cross in northern Africa. If the ultimate releasing 
force which caused the disruption of the Moon was, as has been 
supposed, the solar tides, we should expect that a certain amount 
of material might escape from both sides of the Earth. If the Sun 
were overhead at the central point in the Pacific, then within less 
than an hour, using Darwin’s rate of rotation, it would have been 
exactly opposite to the area in question in the Atlantic, Gulf, and 
Caribbean Sea. 
The similarity of the Lesser Antilles to the Asiatic islands, already 
pointed out, corroborates this explanation. It is also to be noted 
that the greatest depths in the Atlantic, 21,000 feet, are found along 
the eastern boundary of this region. Similarly, one of the deepest 
parts of the Pacific, 31,000 feet, is indicated by the X close to the 
central point on the map, Fig. 1. Around this deep portion on the 
east, north, and west is a shallower area from 15,000 to 20,000 feet 
in depth, and then, as we approach the continents, again a deeper 
area. 
All those who have studied the stratification of the Appalachian 
region have concluded that the sediments came chiefly from the east. 
Such extensive deposits require a larger land area than now exists; 
