66 



B. K. EMERSON — TETRAHEDRAL EARTH : INTERCONTINENTAL SEAS 



solid spherical crust of the earth, then, collapsing upon its plastic inte- 

 rior, would tend toward the tetrahedral form as the one which would 



coordinate the greatest diminution 

 of the interior with the least change 

 of the surface. There is a long series 

 of tetrahedroid forms between the 

 tetrahedron and the sphere, and the 

 six-faced tetrahedron with rounded 

 faces — the form so common in the 

 diamond — may nearly approach the 

 sphere, and may be supposed to be 

 the form toward which the earth at 

 first tends (figures 1-3). 



Four low, equal, and equidistant 

 protuberances (A, B, C, D in figure 1 ; 

 A, B, D visible in figures 2 and 3) of 

 rounded triangular boundaries rise 

 equidistant on the surface of the 

 model. Opposite each is a corresponding broad depression (C and E, 

 visible in figures 2 and 3). If the body be supposed to be placed like a 

 top on one of these protuberances, the other three would make the top 

 three-shouldered, as they would be placed 120 degrees from each other. 



Figure 1. — Tetrahedron placed symmetrically 

 within a Sphere. 



Showing crudely the ideal relation of the four 

 projecting continents. From Green. 



Figure 2. — Six-faced Tetrahedron (Heratetra- 

 hedron). 



showing the next approximation toward the 

 sphere, with the depressions representing 

 oceans shaded on the assumption that land 

 and water are equal. 



Figure 3. — Six-faced Tetrahedron with rounded 

 Feices. 



The shading represents oceans equal to the 

 lands. 



If the top be revolved, it would be an over-regular model of the rotating 

 earth. The three equidistant shoulders of the top would be the three 

 continents, Eur-Africa, Asia-Australia, and the Americas, triangular 



