tide"; when they are in quadrature the lunar tide will be partially neutralized by the solar tide, and the result will be a "neap tide." Size, Volume, Mass, Density. The moon's diameter is 2,163 miles, a little more than a quarter of the earth's. Its surface is therefore 0.074 of the earth's, ог, in square miles, about 14,657,402. The earth taken as a unit, the moon's density is 0.63; mass, 1/se, volume/so; that is to say, it would require the materials of 80 moons to form our globe; the earth is 50 times larger than the moon and its density is in the ratio of 10 to 16. Its smaller size and mass cause gravity to be only % of the terrestrial attraction; the same exertion which would lift a given weight here would raise a weight six times as great there, and a body instead of falling 16 feet in the first second would fall only 2% feet. Light, Temperature.---Like the earth, the moon has no light of its own, but receives all from the sun, and its day-the interval from sunrise to sunrise-is a month. At full moon it sends to us about 1-600,000 part of the light given by the midday sun. Physical Conditions, as Seen Through the Telescope. - The surface of the moon is totally unlike that of our earth. All the details are hard, cold and glaring in their delineations. All are marked in white and black or in various shades of yellowish gray. Nothing like mist, cloud or water has ever been seen. The so-called seas on the moon are simply portions of the surface darker in color than the average and very much broken up by craters and mountain ranges. Nor is there any evidence of an atmosphere. Observation of the stars suddenly occulted by the moon, as well as the spectroscope, confirms this, and if there be even an attenuated atmosphere it cannot have more than 1/200 of the surface density of our own. In consequence there is no vegetation, no life. The mountain ranges, called the lunar Alps, Appenines, Cordilleras, etc., range from 20,000 feet in height downward; the lunar rills, clefts or cracks in the surface pass often right through mountains and valleys, sometimes for a distance of 300 miles, their breadth being relatively so small as to give them the appearance of true cracks. The whole aspect suggests volcanic action on the lunar surface in remote ages, but nothing like an active volcano has ever been seen. THE EARTH AS A PLANET. Figure and Size. The earth is a member of the solar system, the third in distance from the sun and the largest within the orbit of Jupiter. The figure of the earth is approximately that of an ellipsoid of revolution or oblate-spheroid. Its mean diameter is 7,917 miles; its polar diameter, 7,899 miles; its equatorial diameter, 7,926 miles. The equatorial circumference is 24,902 miles; the meridian perimeter, 24,859.8 miles; length of a degree of latitude along the equator, 69.171 miles; length of one degree along 10 degrees of latitude, 68.128 miles; along 80 degrees of latitude, 12.051 miles. The area of its surface is about 197,000,000 square miles. The area of each polar zone is 8,204,000 square miles; of each temperate zone, 51,215,000 square miles, and of each torrid zone, 78,102,000 square miles. Mass and Density. Though astronomy affords the means of determining with great precision the relative masses of the earth, the moon and all other planets, it does not enable a measurer to determine the absolute mass of any heavenly body in units of the weights used on the earth. To determine the absolute mass of the earth its mean density must be known, and this is something about which direct observation can give no information, as it is impossible to penetrate more than an insignificant distance into the earth's interior. The mean specific density (or gravity) of the earth is obtained by comparing the mass (or weight) of the earth with that of an equal volume of pure water at 39 degrees Fahrenheit, From numerous experiments a mean density of 5.539 has been deduced; that is, the earth is 5.539 times as heavy as a ball of pure water of the same size. Calculating on 5.5 as a result sufficiently approximate and convenient to the memory, taking.the mean diameter of the earth considered as a sphere at 7,915.5 miles, and the weight of a cubic foot of water at 62,3211 pounds, the earth's solid content in cubic miles is 259,373 millions, and its weight, in tons of 2,240 pounds avoirdupois each, is 5,842 trillions. Orbit, Revolution and Rotation. The earth revolves about the sun in an elliptical orbit having the sun at one focus. The length of its orbit is 584,000,000 miles. When nearest to the sun (at perehelion, January 1) the earth is about 90,000,000 miles from it, and when at the greatest distance (at aphelion, July 3) about 93,000,000 miles. The period of revolution with regard to the sun, or, in other words, the time taken by the sun apparently to pass from one equinox to the same equinox, is the tropical or equinoctial year; its length is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds. It is about twenty minutes shorter than the true or sidereal year, which is the time taken for the sun apparently to travel from one star to it again. The mean velocity with which the earth travels round the sun is 18.5 miles per second. The earth rotates about its axis from west to east in twenty-four hours. The speed of rotation varies from zero at the poles to a maximum at the equator, where it is 1,037 miles per hour. Motions and Mutations. There are recognized to-day no less than thirteen motions of the earth. These are: First, the daily rotation about its axis; second, the revolution about the sun; third, the procession of the equinoxes in 25,765 years; fourth, the monthly motion of the earth about the centre of gravity of earth and moon; fifth, the variation caused by the moon's attraction produced every eighteen and one-half years; sixth, the secular variation of the obliquity of the ecliptic; seventh, the secular variation in the distance of the centre of the earth's orbit The Cape-to-Cairo railroad has been completed 2,150 miles north from Cape Town, from the sun; eighth, the variation of the "line of apsides," e. g., the motion of the major axis of the earth's orbit along the ecliptic, effected in 21,000 years; ninth, the mutations due to the ever varying attraction of the planets; tenth, the variations of the centre of gravity of the solor system about which the earth annually revolves; eleventh, the general motion of the solar system toward the constellation of Hercules; twelfth, the oscillation of the polar extremities of the earth, which wander in a circle of about fifty feet in diameter and to which is due a variability in terrestrial latitudes; thirteenth, the periodical oscillation to which the whole terrestrial globe, analogous to the tides of the sea, is subject, that is, the apparently so rigid surface of the earth rises and falls twice a day like the ocean under the influence of the tides, the oscillation amounting to about eight inches. FACTS ABOUT THE EARTH. The total area of the earth is about 197,000,000 square miles, and its total population 1,626,000,000. The area of the water of the earth is about 145,000,000 square miles. The area of the land of the earth is about 52,000,000 square miles. The largest continents are: Tho figures of population are taken from the Year Book of the Bureau des Longitudes. "Including all islands in the Eastern Indian and Southern Pacific oceans. Including population in the Dutch East Indies. The areas of the largest states, comprising parent country and colonies or possessions, are: .11,467,294 sq. miles | Germany (with German British Empire. Russian Empire. 8,647,657 sq. miles Africa) 1,140,290 sq. miles China 1,135,840 sq. miles France 4,279,130 sq. miles Belgium and the Congo United States... 3,756,884 #q. miles State 921,027 sq. miles Brazil 3,218,991 sq. miles Portugal 838,442 sq. miles Turkish Empire... 1,157,860 sq. miles Netherlands 736,400 sq. miles According to the number of inhabitants, the countries range roughly as follows: British Empire and Colonies. 418,000,000||Austria-Hungary The Baltimore fire in February, 1904, caused a loss of property valued at $70,000,000 Height. 20,464 feet 23,080 feet 18,526 feet 29,141 feet 20,065 feet 32,768 feet 7,336 feet The longest rivers in the world are: In Europe, Volga, about 2,200 miles; in Asia, Yenisei, about 2,700-3,000 miles, and Yang-tse-Kiang, about 3,000; in Africa, Nile, about 3,240 miles; in North America, Mississippi and Missouri, 4,300 miles; in South America, Amazon and Bent, 4,000 miles; in Australia, Darling, more than 2,345 miles. The largest lake in the world is Lake Superior. It covers an area of 32,000 square miles and has a mean depth of about 475 feet. The greatest cataract in the world, surpassing by far Niagara and Zambezi Falls, is on the Ignazu River, which partly separates Brazil from Argentina, one thousand miles by boat from the nearest settlement. The precipice over which the river plunges is 210 feet high, that of Niagara being 167 feet. The cataract is 13,123 feet wide, or about two and a half times as wide as Niagara. It is estimated that 100,000,000 tons of water passes over Niagara in an hour; a like estimate gives the Falls of Ignazu 140,000,000 tons. The oldest city in the world is Damascus, in Syria. The exact date of the founding of this city, once so famous for its manufacture of silks, jewelry and blades, is not known, but it is said to have been begun by a greatgrandson of Noah, and probably is 4,200 years old. Next comes Athens, the capital of Greece, which is about 3,453 years old-older than any other European city. Peking, the capital of China, is said to be about 3,000 years old. Jerusalem, which was a Jebusite city in the days of Abraham, is 8,000 years old at least. The coldest inhabited district in the world is Werchojansk, in Siberia, longitude 133 degrees 51 minutes east, latitude 67 degrees 34 minutes north, where a lowest temperature of minus 90 degrees Fahrenheit has been observed, and the mean of January is minus 48 degrees Fahrenheit. THE CONTINENTS. EUROPE. Europe, though next to Australia the smallest, is the richest and most important of the continents. The name is said to be derived from the Assyrian Irib or Ereb, meaning sunset or west, which was applied to Greece to distinguish that region from Asia Minor, which was designated as Asia, meaning sunrise or east. Boundaries.-Europe forms a huge peninsula and is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and the Caucasian Mountains, and on the east by the Caspian Sea, the River Ural and the range of the Ural Mountains connecting it with Asia. Extent. Most northerly point, North Cape, in Norway, latitude 71 degrees 6 minutes north; most southerly point, Cape Tarifa, latitude 36 degrees north, in the Strait of Gibraltar; most westerly point, Cape Roca, in Portugal, in longitude 9 degrees 28 minutes west; most easterly point, Ekaterinburg, in longitude 60 degrees 36 minutes east. The area of the continent, about 3,800,000 miles. Peninsulas. - The principal peninsulas are Norway and Sweden, which together form the Scandinavian Peninsula; Jutland, which forms a portion of Denmark; Spain and Portugal, Italy, the Moroa, which is part of Greece; the Balkan Peninsula, and the Crimea, which is part of Russia. Islands. The principal islands and groups of islands are: Nova, Zembla, Vaygats and the Lofoten Isles, in the Arctic Ocean; Zealand, Funen and several of smaller size, which together form the Danish Archipelago, with Rügen, Bornholm, Oland, Gothland and the group of the Aland Islands; Great Britain, Ireland, the Shetland Islands, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, in the Atlantic; Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Ionian Islands, Crete, in the Mediterranean. Coast Line. -The length of the coast line is estimated as high as 47,790 miles (smaller islands not included), or 1 mile for about 75 square miles of area. Straits and Channels. -The Seager Rack and Cattegat sounds (entrance to the Baltic Sea), the Strait of Dover, the Strait of Gibraltar (only entrance to the Mediterranean), the Dardanelles and the Bosporus (the only channels of entrance to the Black Sea). Rivers. The most important rivers are: Petchora, Dwina, Owega (into the White Sea); Neva, Dvina, Niemen, Vistula, Oder (into the Baltic Sea); Elbe, Weser, Rhine, Thames (into the North Sea); Seine (into the English Channel); Loire, Garonne, Douro, Tagus, Guadiana, Guadalquivir (into the Atlantic); Ebro, Rhone, Po (into the Mediterranean); Danube, Dniester, Dnieper, Don (into the Black Sea); Volga, Ural (into the Caspian). Lakes. Alpine lakes, Geneva, Constance, Neufchatel, Zürich, Lucerne, Garda, Maggiore, Como; Scandinavian lakes, Wener, Wetter, Maclar; Russian lakes, Ladoga, Onoga; Hungarian lakes, Lake Balatow, or Platen. Mountain Ranges. The Alpine system, embracing not only the Alps proper, but also the outlying French and German highlands, the Carpathians and Balkans to the east and the Appenines to the west; the British system, including the various ranges and groups of the British Islands; the Scandinavian system, including the broad, flat-topped, plateaulike mountains (fjelds) of Norway and Sweden; the Uralian system, which includes the chain of mountains remarkable as forming a natural boundary between Europe and Asia, and as running in an entirely different direction to the other great ranges of Europe. Highest Mountains. - Elbruz (Caucasus), Russia), 18,526 feet; Mont Blanc (Alps, French Savoy), 15,775 feet; Anethou (Pyrenees, Spain), 11,168 feet; Corno (Apennines, Italy), 9,580 feet; Galdhoppingan (Scandinavian Mountains, Norway), The half of Saghalien which came back to Japan in the settlement of the RussoJapanese war has an area of about 8,000 square miles and a population of 60,500, of whom two-thirds are Japanese. 8,399 feet; Teplos-iz (Urals, Russia), 5,540 feet; Ben Nevis (British Mountains, Scotland), 4,260 feet. Volcanoes. The principal active volcanoes are Hecla (5,000 feet), in Iceland; Etna (18,865 feet), in Sicily; Vesuvius (4,260 feet), near Naples, and Stromboli, one of the Lipari Islands. Ethnography. The population of Europe consists for the most part of what is known distinctly as the Caucasian or Indo-Germanic race and, in particular, the three great families: First, German-Dutch, English, Scandinavian; second, Romanic-French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Walloon; third, SlavonicRussians, Poles, Czechs, Ruthens, Servians, Croatians, Bulgarians and Wends; further, Letts, Celts, Greeks, Armenians, Albanians, Basques, Caucasian and Caspian peoples; Mongols, Magyars, Finns, Turks and Jews. Political Divisions.--Andora, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, German Empire, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Lichtenstein, Luxemburg, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, San Marino, Sweden, Switzerland, Servia, Spain, Turkey and, under Turkey's suzerainty, Crete. ASIA. Asia, which is supposed to derive its name from the Semitic root asu, meaning "sunrise," or "the East," is the eastern and main part of the Old World. It is larger than the whole New World and is four times the size of Europe, the smallest continent except Australia. Boundaries. Asia is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean and on the west by the Red Sea, the Isthmus of Suez, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the chain of the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, the River Ural and the Ural Mountains. It is joined to Africa by the Isthmus of Suez and separated from North America by the Bering Strait, thirty-five miles in width. Extent. Greatest length, north and south, from Cape Chelyuskin, within the Arctic Circle, in latitude 77 degrees 30 minutes north, to Cape Romana, at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula, in latitude 1 degree 22 minutes 30 seconds north, 5,360 miles; greatest breadth from Cape Baba, the most westerly point of Asia Minor (in longitude 26 degrees 4 minutes east), to East Cape of Bering Strait (longitude 169 degrees 44 minutes west), about 6,000 miles. The total area is estimated at 16,500,000 square miles. Coast Line. - About 35,000 miles, or 1 mile of coast line to 496 square miles of surface. Inlets. The chief ocean inlets are: On the north or Arctic coast, the Nordenskjold Sea and the Kara Sea with the Gulf of Obi; on the eastern Pacific coast, the China Sea with the gulfs of Siam and of Tonkin; the Tung-Hai or Eastern Sea, the Hwang-Hai or Yellow Sea with the Gulf of Pechili and Korea Bay; the Sea of Japan with the Gulf of Tartary; the Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea with the Gulf of Anadyr; on the south, Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, gulfs of Oman, Cambay and Manar, the Persian Gulf and the Bay of Bengal. Straits. The most important are the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb ("Gate of Tears"), forming the entrance to the Red Sea; the Strait of Ormuz, leading into the Persian Gulf; the Strait of Malacca, between the China Sea and the Indian Ocean; the Strait of Sunda, between the islands of Sumatra and Java, and the Bering Sea, between Asia and North America. Islands. The most important are the Kuriles, Sakhalin, Japan, Formosa, Hainan and the Philippines in the east; the Moluccas, the Sunda Islands, Ceylon and other small islands in the south; Cyprus and the Sporades in the west. Rivers.-Ob (2,500), Yenissi (2,500) and Lena (2,500), flowing into the Arctic Ocean; Amur (2,500), Hwang-ho (2,600), Yang-tse-Kiang (3,200), Mekong (1,600) and Menam (900), into the Pacific Ocean; Irawadi (800), Brahmaputra (1,680), Ganges (1,500), Indus (1,800), Euphrates (1,700) and Tigris (1,100), into the Indian Ocean; Amu Daria (1,000) and Sir Daria (1,150), into the Sea of Aral; Ural, into the Caspian Sea; Jordan (135), into the Dead Sea. Lakes. The three largest lakes in Asia are Aral (26,000 square miles), Baikal (15,000 square miles) and Balkhash (9,000 square miles). Mountain Systems. The principal mountain ranges are the Himalaya Mountains, between India and Tibet; the Hindu Kush, between Afghanistan and Turkestan; the Altai Mountains, between Mongolia and Siberia; the Kuen-Luen, between Tibet and Chinese Turkestan; the Thian-Shan ("Celestial Mountains"), which run through Chinese Turkestan and Mongolia; the Elbruz Mountains, in Persia; the Caucasus, between the Caspian and the Black seas; the Mountains of Armenia, on the Plateau of Armenia: the Taurus Mountains, in Asia Minor; the Mountains of Lebanon, on the coast of Syria; the Ghats, in Syria, and the Nan-ling and Pe-ling Mountains, in China. Highest Mountains.-Mount Everest (Himalayas), 29,141 feet; Kuchinjinga (Himalayas), 28,225 feet; Dhwalagiri (Himalayas), 26,800 feet; Dapsang, or Goodwin-Austen (Karakorum range, Cashmere), 28,700 feet; Pioneer Peak (Karakorum range), 22,600 feet; Murtagh-Ata (Pamir, Cashmere), 25,800 feet; Ararat (Armenian Mountains), 16,910 feet. Tablelands. - The Pamir Plateau, the Tableland of Tibet, the Mongolian Plateau, the Armenian Highlands and the Plateau of Asia Minor, with the Arabian Plateau and the Deccan in Southern India. Plains. The plains of Siberia, Turkestan, China, Tongking, Siam, Pegu, Hindustan and Mesopotamia. Deserts. Gobi, in Mongolia (Chinese Empire); the India Desert, between the There are in continental United States about 1,900,000,000 acres, of which 950,000,000 are estimated to be capable of cultivation. Of these, 873,729,000 acres are now in farms. Indus and the Ganges; the Desert of Seistan (in Eastern Persia); the Great Salt Desert, in Persia; the Desert of Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and the Euphrates; the Syrian Desert, in the east of Syria, and the Desert of Arabia, in the interior of Arabia. Ethnography.-Indo-Germanic race (Afghans, Armenians, Balutchis, Persians, Greeks, Hindus, Kurds, Russians, Singhalese); Semitic (Arabs, Syrians, Jews); Malayan (Javanese, Malays, Sudanese, Tagalos); Mongolian (Ainos, Annamese, Burmese, Cambodians, Chinese, Japanese, Kalmuks, Kirghiz, Koreans, Manchus, Mongols, Osmanli, Ostiaks, Samoyedes, Siamese, Tartars, Tibetans, Tchuktchis, Tunguses, Turks, Yakuts); Dravidian (of Southern India and Ceylon) and Papuan. Political Divisions. Afghanistan, China, Japan, Nepal, Oman, Persia and Siam. By far the larger portion of Asia is held by European powers, e. g., Russian, 6,495,970 square miles; British, 1,998,220 square miles; Dutch, 586,980 square miles; French, 247,580 square miles; German, 193 square miles; Turkish, 681,980 square miles; United States, 114,370 square miles, AFRICA. Africa (from the Phœnician afrigah, a colony), the second of the great land divisions of the globe, forms the vast southwestern peninsula of the Old World. It is separated from Asia by the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, between which it is almost joined to Asia at the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb (fourteen miles wide). In the north it is actually continuous with Asia at the Isthmus of Suez (sixty miles wide), across which the Suez Canal has been cut. Boundaries. -Bounded in the north by the Mediterranean, in the east by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and in the west and southwest by the Atlantic Ocean. Extent. Greatest length from Cape Blanco in the north (latitude 37 degrees 20 minutes north) to Cape Agulhas (latitude 34 degrees 51 minutes south) in the south, about 5,000 miles; greatest width from Cape Verde (longitude 17 degrees 33 minutes 22 seconds west), the westernmost point, to Ras Hafun, south of Cape Guardufin (longitude 51 degrees 27 minutes 52 seconds east), the most easterly projection, about 4,600 miles. Area, 11,500 square miles. Coast Line. -Total length estimated at 16,000 miles. Inlets. Gulfs of Sidra and Cabes (north); Gulf of Aden, leading to the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb (east); Sofola and Delagoa bays (east); Table Bay (south), and Gulf of Guinea (west). Channels and Straits. The principal of these are the Strait of Gibraltar, between Morocco and Spain; the Mozambique Channel, between Madagascar and the mainland; the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, leading from the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. Besides these there is the artificial channel-the Suez Canal-leading from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Islands. With one exception- Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean (area, 229,820 square miles) - the African islands are small. The principal are the Mascarenes (Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues), Comoros, Amirantes, Seychelles and Socotora, in the Indian Ocean; Madeira, the Canaries, Cape Verde and Guinea islands (Fernando Po, Principe, St. Thomas and Annobon), in the Atlantic, and, more remotely, St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Rivers.--Flowing into the Mediterranean, Nile (4,000 miles); into the Indian Ocean, Rovuma (683 miles), Zambesi (2,000), Limpopo (993 miles); into the Atlantic, Orange (1,300), Congo (3,000), Niger (2,300), Senegal (980 miles). Lakes. The principal lakes are Chad (850 square miles), Leopold II (1,100), Rudolf (1,250), Nyassa (1,645), Albert Nyanza (2,028), Tanganyika (2,624), Ngami (2,950), Mwern (3,000), Albert Edward (3,004), Bangweulu (3,700), Victoria Nyanza (3,720), Abai (4,200), Kiou (4,829), Tsana (5,690), Naivasha (6,135 square miles). Mountain Systems. The entire continent of Africa may be regarded as a vast plateau of average elevation from about 4,000 feet in the south to less than 1,500 feet in the north. Except for the Atlas system, in Northern Africa, along the shores of the Atlantic and the Alpine range of Abyssinia, which are sharply distinguished from the rest of the continent, the natural divisions are not well marked. Chief Mountains. Kilima Njaro (20,065 feet) and Kenya (18,000), Ruwenzori (16,815), Tagharat (15.000), Meru (14,955), Karissimbi (14,683), Elgon (14,152), Cameroon (13,370), Krakenberg (11,700), etc. Volcanoes. The only active volcanoes known to-day are Kirunga, or Mount Götzen (11,300 feet), and Kirungu-Ndogo (11,000 feet), and the now dormant Mount Eyres (13,000 feet). Sahara.-The Sahara, called the Great Desert, a vast portion of Northern Africa, lies between the Atlantic Ocean on the west and the valley of the Nile on the east, the Soudan on the south and the Atlas Mountains and a portion of the Mediterranean Sea on the north. It is part of an arid belt measuring about 4,000,000 square miles. Of this area at least two-thirds lies west of Suez and is in general known as the Sahara. Ethnography.-Excluding the Europeans, and the Asiatics, Chinese and natives of India introduced by them, the population of Africa consists of the following elements: Caucasians (Hamites) are the Berbers and Copts; Semites are the Arabs and Abyssinians; Ethiopians (Nigritoz, Bantus); South African race (Hottentots); Malays (Hovas in Madagascar). Other varieties are the Kaffirs of Cape Colony and Natal, Bechuanas, Matabeles, Zulus, Swajis, etc., as well as the Waganda, Wanyoro and other peoples of Central Africa. Still more primitive races Of the Pan-American Railway between New York and the Panama Canal Zone4.872 miles-4,197 miles are built and 675 miles are still to be built. |