e night of six
months, during which he never rises. In the spaces between the polar
circles the quantities of the continuous day and continuous night vary
in accordance with the distance from the pole. At the north point of
Nova Zembla, 75 degrees north latitude, there is uninterrupted light
from May 1st to August 12th, and uninterrupted darkness from November
8th to February 9th. At the arctic circle at the summer solstice the
day is twenty-four hours long. At the antarctic circle at the same
time the night is twenty-four hours long."

Upon this Melick filled the doctor's wine-glass with a great deal of
ceremony.

"After all those statistics," he said, "you must feel rather dry. You
should take a drink before venturing any further."

The doctor made no reply, but raised the glass to his lips and
swallowed the wine in an abstracted way.

"The thing that struck me most," said Oxenden, "in all that has been
read thus far, is the flatness of the South Pole, and the peculiar
effect which this produces on the landscape."

"I must say," added Melick, "that the writer has got hold of a very
good idea there, and has taken care to put it forward in a very
prominent fashion."

"What is the difference," asked Oxenden, "between the two diameters of
the earth, the polar and the equatorial? Is it known?"

"By Jove!" said Featherstone, "that's the very question I was going to
ask. I've always heard that the earth is flattened at the poles, but
never knew how much. Is there any way by which people can find out?"

The doctor drew a long breath, and beamed upon the company with a
benevolent smile.

"Oh yes," said he; "I can answer that question, if you care to know
and won't feel bored."

"Answer it, then, my dear fellow, by all means," said Featherstone,
in his most languid tone.

"There are two ways," said the doctor, "by which the polar compression
of the earth has been found out. One is by the measurement of arcs
on the earth's surface; the other is by experiments with pendulums
or weights with regard to the earth's gravity at different places.
The former of these methods is, perhaps, the more satisfactory.
Measurements of arcs have been made on a very extensive scale in
different parts of the world--in England, France, Lapland, Peru, and
India. Mr. Ivory, who devoted himself for years to an exhaustive
examination of the subject, has deduced that the equatorial radius of
the earth is over 3962 miles, and the polar radi