The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-19

emanates from the pen of Prof. Elias
Colbert. Of the Chicago Astronomical
society. who declares with the English
scientist that the accepted form of the
earth is not positively accurate In
a Weighty magazine article Prof.. COL
bert expresses his views on the sub
iect of the errors that have crept into
the conclusions made by astronomers
owing to the deviation of the plumb
lire. caused by the proximity or the
RtnaIava mountains, a deviation wh1ch
would alter the angles. thus causing
the lengthening of the equatorial meas
Uremert resulting in eXaggeratlhg me
oblateness of the sphero1d form OF the
earth The notion Of sea Level Goes
not form part or froI- Coloele liz
Dry He says:
PROF. COLBERT'S sGONTENTlO0Nsr
1.-THE sea level could not be accurate
u enheroidal. even if it were undlstruo'
ad bv storms in the earth's atmosphere
= nv tidal waves due to solar ana lu-
rar attraction AS the mountain hioSS
attracts toward itself a plumb llile t1,aI
=; r,,snended near it SO must the I'LL
ferent land masses attract the
in their vicinity; the result peiuS 9
heaping up Of the water near tile So 80 ~
,-;+b a corresponding hattening lFolil
the spheIolu"i lasin Further
80 nearly the whole of TINS lana
avcecs is situated on henllspne,ice
surface. the middle point OF W4icn -
- the British Isles, the great am M
ocean being on the other sue oi 'ie
spheroid. IF energy to
70 fix precisely upon the measure
- disturbance due to this fact 80,
~ We must content ourselves WITH
-, concentrations. The Whole mass
g. aarth may be taken as ABOUT
aoo times that of the water. anu .tie
1,.eioht of the land which lies ABOVE ene
oCean bed is fully one-QuaItei - -
80 that of the water MAKING Ill
tudn - FOR the fact that small por-
-, If land surface is situated-ln what
- - he called the aqueous hemisphere:
Lt'1' NOV cav that the land hemisphere
Contains a preponderance OF not l@i
I'm one part in $4,000 OIL the "h'ie
weight of the Spheroid Whlch Is supPoo
cd to be bounded by the sea ieVel ae
o,dinarilv understood. Hence, the AXIS
" +bat imaginary spheroid cannot he
tba avis of actual rotation. because II
- necessary to equilibrium that the
me of the momentum shall De eQuai
for the two hemisDheres that are
senarated by any and every plane that
Y,aV mass through the axis OF actual
rotation.
TWO LINES OF DISTURBANCE.
eft appears to be probable that these
facts will have to be taken account Oh
If we are ever to effect reconciliation
If the now outstanding discrepancies
between measures of ares of the merid-
ian and ratios of pendulum lengths 20
times of vibration; also that these dis
creparcfes are not to be explained py
reference to any system of three axes
at right angles with each other, such
as have been tentatively deduced by
Cen Clarke and Gen. Schubert. 1t
may be suggested that we shall have
TO recognize the existence or at least
Two principal lines of positive disturb
ance the first of which runs from the
southern extremity of Lower Guinea to
the Ural mountains, and the second
from the southern extremity OF Brazil
to Melville sound, each forming rather
large angle with the meridian.
Although Dr. Gregorys idea of the
earth's surface is g tetrahedral form
Prof Colbert does not altogether incline
to that form of belief. His idea Is thai
the sea is flatter in the center to al
least a degree than near the land
and that the waters are inclined to pile
up on each side of two fines, one drawn
from the southern extremity Of Brazil
through the Congo Free State. Arabia
and the Ural mountains.
Scientists at the different universities
were not generally acquainted with the
results of the two recent theories OF
Gregory and Colbert. Prof. Henry
Crew, of the chair of physics in North
western university. referring to the
printed reports Of the Colbert an6
Gregory theories. said: The earth's
form is pretty well known at this time
from measurements of the arcs of the
meridian and from the swinging OF
pendulums in different ATTITUDES. 1t is
unquestionably an oblate spheroid, tax
ing such form in its plastic condition
by'rotatlon. Ot course there are small
Irregularities Of surface, slight varia.