Chap. 65.J A.^rTIPODES. -95 
and tlie vulgar. "We maintain, that there are men dispersed 
over every part of the earth, that thej stand with their feet 
turned towards each other, that the vault of the heavens ap- 
pears alike to all of them, and that they, all of them, appear to 
tread equally on the middle of the earth. J£ any one should 
ask, why those situated opposite to us do not fall, we directly 
ask in return, whether those on the opposite side do not 
wonder tha*t> we do not fall. Eut I may make a remark, that 
will appear plausible even to the most unlearned, that if the 
earth were of the figure of an unequal globe, like the seed of a 
pine\ still it may be inhabited in every part. 
But of how little moment is this, when we have another 
miracle rising up to our notice ! The earth itself is pendent 
and does not fall with us ; it is doubtful whether this be from 
the force of the spirit which is contained in the universe^, or 
whether it would fall, did not nature resist, by allowing of 
no place where it might fall. Por as the seat of fire is no- 
where but in fire, nor of water except in water, nor of air 
except in air, so there is no situation for the earth except in 
itself, everything else repelling it. It is indeed wonderful 
that it should form a globe, when there is so much flat sur- 
face of the sea and of the plains. And this was the opinion 
of Dicgearchus, a peculiarly learned man, who measured the 
heights of mountains, under the direction of the kings, and 
estimated Pelion, which was the highest, at 1250 paces per- 
pendicular, and ' considered this as not affecting the round 
figure of the globe. But this appears to me to be doubtful, 
as I well know that the summits of some of the Alps rise 
up by a long space of not less than 50,000 paces^. But what 
^ As our author admits of the existence of antipodes, and expressly 
states that the earth is a perfect sphere, we may conclude that the re- 
semblance to the cone of the pine is to be taken in a very general sense. 
How far the ancients entertained correct opinions respecting the globular 
figure of the earth, or rather, at what period this opinion became generally 
admitted, it is perhaps not easy to ascertain. The lines in the &eorgic3, 
i. 242, 243, which may be supposed to express the popular opinion in the 
time of YirgH, certainly do not convey the idea of a sphere capable of 
being inhabited in aU its parts : 
Hie vertex nobis semper sublimis ; at ilium 
Sub pedibus Styx atra videt, manesque profundi, 
' " spiritus vis mimdo nclusi,^' 
^ " Alpium vertices, longo tractu, nec breviore qidnquagiiita 
