258 Penfield — Use of the Stereographic Projection for 



shapes of the several land areas to best advantage : also to a 

 comparison between the shapes of the North American Conti- 

 nent on the two kinds of maps, figures 8 and 4. It will thus 

 be found that the shapes of the continents have not been mate- 

 rially altered by mapping in stereographic projection. One 

 effect of distortion may be seen by observing, for example, 



Stereographic Map of the Eastern Hemisphere. 



Greenland in two positions, figures 8 and 4. The shape is well 

 shown on either map, but it appears considerably larger near 

 the periphery than when near the center. Variation in size, 

 however, is not a matter of so great importance, since on all 

 maps the distances between the parallels, as measured along a 

 meridian, give a measure of length, and in either position it 

 may be seen that Greenland is about 22° (1320 geographical 

 miles) long, with a width at the 70th parallel of about 10° 

 (600 miles). 



