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effected by her (imaginary) girdle of redundant matter 
around her equatorial waist, that they cannot permit her to 
pursue the even tenor of her way, either rotatorily, or in her 
orbit, without exercising their imaginarily attractive powers 
thereupon. This purely fanciful idea may, however, be 
driven into the shade, in view of the mechanical necessity 
for causes of terrestrial origin affecting the earth's equili- 
brium, inducing change of its centro of gravity, not once in 
ages as conjectured by M. Adhemar, but continuously. 
Polar accumulation, when of vastly disproportionate amount 
upon one segment of the Arctic circle, is one adequate cause, 
aided, the effect maintained, and the amount definitely 
registered in sight of science, by the continuous transfer of 
the fluid envelope of the globe, resulting in relative eleva- 
tion and depression of all coast lines with reference to 
adjacent sea surfaces. Barometric observations of relative 
altitudes of sea surfaces at prolonged intervals, by an 
instrument of extreme nicety, having a gnomon of extended 
radius, or being otherwise specially adapted for the purpose, 
would test the accuracy of the data upon which I base my 
theory as to the continuous increase of the changes hereto- 
fore recorded. The initial points of longitude being repre- 
sented by defined positions of observatories at European 
capitals, the westerly deviation of the northern apex of the 
polar axis has not yet been definitely traced, the astro- 
nomically conjectured causes, affecting precession of the 
equinoxes being held to account for the annual change com- 
puted in the obliquity of the a,ngle of intersection of the 
plane of the equator — which must ever be perpendicular to 
the axis- with the plane of the earth's orbit. It rests with 
science in the southern hemisphere to follow up the solution 
of this great problem. If the northern apex of the polar 
axis deviate south-westerly, there must be variations in the 
angle of intersection of the plane of the ecliptic (which I 
submit is the phenomena of precession), and a deflection 
north-easterly of the antarctic axial extremity, causing an 
easterly change of position of southern longitudes with 
reference to previously defined points on the earth's surface. 
That there are still difficulties to be got over by hypotheses 
of action of natural phenomena as to the cause, and results 
of continuance of the precession of the equinoxes, as popu- 
larly explained by astronomy, may be inferred from the sub- 
joined extract from a paper laid before the Royal Astro- 
nomical Society, by Colonel Drayson, F.R.A.S., a few years 
ago: — "For many years it has been accepted, without ques- 
tion, that the pole of the ecliptic was the centre of the 
