30 Original Articles. [Jan., 



that the distribution of land and water has frequently and greatly- 

 varied. At present, rather more than three-fourths of the earth's sur- 

 face are occupied with water, and something less than one-fourth with 

 dry land ; but were it proved that this has been a constant ratio, it by 

 no means follows, nor is it probable, that about three-fourths of the 

 land have always been in the northern hemisphere, nor that twenty-six 

 square miles of dry land out of every twenty-seven have at all times, 

 as now, had water at their antipodes. A slight change in the group- 

 ing, and the centre, instead of being in Britain, might be shifted far 

 into some continental mass ; say, for example, to Timbuctoo. The bare 

 supj)osition shows that we enjoy the advantage of insularity also. 



Now this insular position secures to us numerous advantages, and 

 amongst them that of accessibility; it would have availed us little 

 to have occupied an inaccessible centre. But whilst it facilitates 

 communication between our customers and ourselves, it renders 

 us comparatively free from invasion ; it is less easy to land a hostile 

 force than to march it from one continental country to another. It 

 brings with it also a large amount of coast ; the civilization of the great 

 divisions of the earth is pretty clearly indicated in the relation of their 

 coast-lines to their respective areas ; thus Europe has one mile of 

 coast for every one hundred and fifty-six square miles of surface ; 

 North America, one for every two hundred and twenty-eight square 

 miles ; South America, one for every three hundred and seventy-six ; 

 Asia, one for four hundred and fifty-nine ; and Africa, one for six 

 hundred and twenty-three ; * or, to throw the same facts into another 

 form, for every ten thousand miles of surface, Europe has sixty-four 

 miles of coast ; North America, forty-four ; South America, twenty- 

 seven ; Asia, twenty-two ; and Africa, sixteen ; or, again, to give them 

 still another aspect, if we put the relative coast-line of Europe at one 

 hundred, that of North America is sixty-nine ; South America, forty- 

 one ; Asia, thirty-four ; and Africa, twenty-five. It is worthy of 

 remark, too, that a portion of the coast-liues of Europe, Asia, and 

 North America is almost useless as a sea-bord, from its Arctic 

 position. Europe, however, is deprived of comparatively little in this 

 respect ; the losses on this account being, for the three divisions 

 respectively, as the numbers nine, fifteen, and twenty. 



Now amongst the countries of favoured Europe, the British 

 Islands — and especially Ireland — are, on the whole, the most richly 

 supplied in this respect. Great Britain has one mile of coast for 

 every fifty-seven square miles of area, being about three times greater 

 than that of France and of Europe generally. 



The coast advantages possessed by an insular over a continental 

 area are, of course, greatest in small islands. Suppose, for example, . 

 two square islands to be — one a mile in length and in breadth, the other 

 two miles long and two broad, their areas are one and four square 

 miles, their coasts four and eight miles respectively ; the first has four, 

 the second only two, miles of coast for every square mile of surface. 

 In short the relative coast decreases in the same ratio as the side of 



* Guyot's 'Earth and Man,' 1850, p. f>9, &c. 



