the note. The reader, it
is confidently presumed, will be satisfied with what was said of it in
the account of the former voyage.--E.]

[Footnote 30: The judgment of the ingenious author of _Recherches sur
Americains_, on this question, seems to be very deserving of a place
here: "Qu'on calcule, comme on voudra, on sera toujours contraint
d'avouer, qu'il y a une plus grande portion de continent situee dans la
latitude septentrionale, que dans la latitude australe.

"C'est fort mal a-propos, qu'on a soutenu que cette repartition inegale
ne sauroit exister, sous pretexte que le globe perdroit son equilibre,
faute d'un contrepoids suffisant au pole meridionale. Il est vrai qu'un
pied cube d'eau salee ne pese pas autant qu'un pied cube de terre; mais
on auroit du reflechir, qu'il peut y avoir sous l'ocean des lits & des
couches de matieres, dont la pesanteur specifique varie a l'infini, &
que le peu de profondeur d'une mer, versee sur une grande surface,
contrebalance les endroits ou il y a moins de mer, mais ou elle est plus
profonde."--_Recherches Philosophiques_, tom. ii, p. 375.--D.

We offered some observations on this topic in the preceding volume, and
need scarcely resume it, as it cannot be imagined that any of our
readers still entertain the belief of the necessity for such an
equilibrium. The object in again alluding to it, is to call attention to
some observations of another kind, which Mr Jones has hazarded in one of
his Physiological Disquisitions. According to him, no such thing as a
southern counterpoise ought to have been expected, for it seems to be
the constitution of our globe, that land and water are contrasted to
each other on its opposite sides. "If," says he, "you bring the meridian
of the Cape of Good Hope under the brazen circle, or universal meridian
of a terrestrial globe, observing that this meridian passes through the
heart of the continents of Europe and Africa, you will find that the
opposite part of the meridian passes through the middle of the great,
south sea. When the middle of the northern continent of America, about
the meridian of Mexico, is examined in the same way, the opposite part
passes very exactly through the middle of the Indian ocean. The southern
continent of America is opposed by that eastern sea which contains the
East India islands. The southern continent of New Holland is opposite to
the Atlantic ocean. This alternation, if I may so call it, between the
land and sea, is