GENERAL SUMMARY. 
257 
and Sicily lies close to the southern termination of 
Italy. 
Some years ago I ventured to suggest* that we 
might correlate this with the remarkable preponder- 
ance of ocean in the southern hemisphere, which 
M. Adheinar has suggested to be due to the altera- 
tion of the centre of gravity of the Earth, caused by 
the great southern cupola of ice. 
However that may be, the preponderance of 
water in the south is very remarkable. Taking each 
parallel as unity, the proportion of sea is as follows: — 
60 North . . . 
• 0.392 
50 ... 
• 0,438 

■ 0,538 
30 
. 0,567 
20 „ ... 
■ 0,574 
10 „ ... 
• 0.758 
0 „ ... 
. 0,783 
10 South 
.... 0,795 
20 „ 
.... 0,763 
30 „ 
.... 0,797 
40 .. 
.... 0,961 
50 
.... 0,983 
60 „ 
. . . . 1,000 
Without at the present moment entering upon any 
discussion as to the cause which has produced this 
remarkable result, the fact at anyrate seems to throw 
some light on the southern direction of promontories. 
For let us suppose three tracts of land, each trending 
north and south, each with a central backbone, but 
* Nature, 1877. See also a paper in the Joiirn. Roy. 
Geogr. Soc., 1895. 
Scenery of Swtizerland, 11. 
17 
