The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-08-14
EARTH TO BE BUILT ANEW.
Professor RecIus VIII Construct a Gigsn-
tic Model.

tic MOuei.
London Correspondence of the Phila-
delphia Times.
The earth in miniature form, with the
height and depth of every mountain.
valley, river. lake and sea correct TO
scale. This is the gigantic scheme that
the celebrated French g~eographer, Pro-
fessor Elisee Reclus, proposes to carry
out for the benef of the inhabitants OF
this terrestrial sphere. Professor Re-
clus Is now in England e~ndeavoring 10
interest the Britishers in his idea, for
he wants some one to come forward and
undertake to share the expense with
him. AS may be imagined, the cost OF
such a model will be m
Professor Reclus' plan is to construct
the earth model on a scale 1.5OO, 600 OF
nature or eight miles to the inch, TINS
being the smallest model on which IL
will be possible to show the correct
depth of the rivers and actual height
of the mountains on the earth's surface.
According to the scale decided upon the
distance on the gigantic model from
New York to London Will be 30 feet,
while Paris and London will be sepa-
rated by a distance of three feet. The
entire size of the great globe-model,
which will be certainly be one of the
most novel models ever constructed.
will be about two-thirds that of the
dome of the capitol of Washington.
The work on the globe will. of course,
be of the most arduous kind, as precise
mathematical care must be exercised 10
reduce the size of all the rivers and hills
in exact accordance with the scale. Ii
is calculated that the task will occupy
the whole time of a corps of skilled
workers at least a year, as only a little
can be done at a time. Professor Re-
clus thinks tina il will be possible to
plan out the model and let each man
work on a section. and afterwards fit
the sections together. When this Is
done corrections can be made as errors
are discovered. 1t is not expected that
even with the greatest amount of care
such a gigantic globe can be made in
sections without many of the parts
proving inaccurately scaled. necessitat-
ing a repetition of the work.
The question of how to show off the
great globe so that the spectators can
see most of ii at one time is now occu-
plying the professors attention The
plan most favored is to suspend il on
an axis just as the globes in use in
public shoots are suspended, but an
other proposition that has met with IA
vor is to float the sphere i'm an immense
lake so that it can be turned i'm any di-
rection desired. When finished il is in
tended that the globe shall be placed
on exhibition in England for a time
and then transferred to Paris to be one
of the sights at the exposition of 1900
where it will doubtless, on account 81
its novel and interesting character, bt
a prize exhibit.
Professor Reclus has had the schem'
in his mind for some years and. as Z
matter of fact, the communale counc
of Paris has promised a large sum o
money towards the construction of sucl
a globe for the Paris exposition of 1900
but. unfortunately, difficulties arose ant
the money was not forthcoming. WheI
Professor Reclus first made his projec
public an eminent English scientist sug
gested that the surface of the earth b.
nodded on the inside instead of the out
side of the sphere, so that al observe
suspended in the center of the glob
could easily examine any part of IL
This idea, however, did not meet vii
approval, except that II was suggested
that If the globe was given a rotary mo
ton a visit to the interior Nigh
prove a permanent cure for deliriun
tremens.
People may be inclined to think tina
such a globe as described would be o
small practical utility. But. apart iron
it's many and important scientific uses
it is computed that the thousands o
the working classes who would visi
such an object would probably lear
more geography in a few minutes con
temptation of the earth's surface tina
in months spent over maps. The Sal
walton Army, no doubt had some ide
of this kind in view when they aske
for tenders for the construction of
similar globe. though, of course, on
much smaller scale, some two or thre
years back. The scheme had to b
abandoned, however, OF account of tn
expense.