CHAPTER V 



THE CONTINENT. ITS GEOLOGY AND 

 RELATION TO OTHER LANDS 



Build of Antarctica 



IN the writer's opinion no theory concerning the 

 general arrangement of the continents is so sug- 

 gestive as that propounded by Lowthian Green ^ in 1875 

 and strongly supported by J. W. Gregory " in 1899. 

 I refer to the Tetrahedral Theory, which seeks to show 

 that the earth is a flattened sphere (geoid) slightly 

 modified toward the shape of a tetrahedron or pyramid. 

 The antipodal arrangement of land and sea, shown by 

 more than 90 per cent of the land surface, was ex- 

 plained by this theory long before we knew anything 

 at all about the condition of the surface at the poles. 

 It was Scott's expedition as late as 1902 w^hich revealed 

 the fact that the Antarctic area consisted essentially of 

 a gigantic plateau, and it was only by Nansen's drift 

 in the *'Fram" (1893-96) and Peary's soundings near 

 the Pole (1902- 1 909) that the equally interesting 

 phenomenon of a deep Arctic ocean could be demon- 

 strated (see Figure 9). Thus the essential feature of 

 the ''World Plan" is clearly this fact of antipodal ar- 



1 Lowthian Green, Vestiges of the Molten Globe (London, 1875). 

 -J. W. Gregory, "Plan of the Earth," Geographical Journal, 

 1899. 



83 



