Such a change in the position of the British Isles, transforming them into a Continental Country, would mean far-reaching consequences to ourselves as a People. One such consequence may be briefly given in the words of a recent newspaper article: “Dry up the Atlantic to the 100-fathom line, and in six months we should bear the load of Conscription as cheerfully and more efficiently than any nation in Europe.” Suppose that another great fall in the ocean-surface could follow. Not this time to six hundred feet, but to three thousand feet, below its present level. The resulting alterations would be still more sweeping. Not only Iceland and the Färoe Islands, but Greenland also--and not only Greenland, but the Continent of North America itself--would become one with the Continent of Europe, no longer cut off from the Old World. A word as to measurements. Two kinds of “miles” have been mentioned. There is the ordinary “Statute mile,” used in common conversation, which is 880 fathoms, or 1,760 yards, in length. There is also the “Geographical” or “Nautical” mile--the “knot” of our Navy--which is 1,013 fathoms or 2,026 yards in length. The difference between the two is not far from one-eighth of a statute mile. Roughly, seven miles are equal to six knots. A fathom is six feet or two yards. CHAPTER IV. SUBJECT TO LAW “Thou rulest the raging of the Sea.”--PSALM lxxxix. 9. “Nothing useless is or low, Each thing in its place is best, And what seems but idle show Strengthens and supports the rest.”--LONGFELLOW. Things are what they are in this world very largely because of the pull of opposing forces, and among such forces not one is more universal than that of Gravity. Many causes beside Weight have their share in making our Earth what it is; but if Weight were banished from our midst, the Earth as we know it would exist no longer. The only way to get rid of weight would be by getting rid of Gravity. And since no force in Nature acts more steadily and incessantly than this, we are no more likely to get rid of it than we are to get rid of the world itself. Gravity, or Gravitation, or Attraction--it is known by all these names. Sometimes it is called a Law; sometimes a Force. Neither term may be counted amiss. No law is worth anything without a sufficient force to back it up; and no force is worth anything unless it acts according to law. But we might almost as reasonably call this behaviour of things “an Obedience” as “a Law.” Each particle of each substance draws and is drawn by each other particle of every substance. And each body in the Universe, from a grain of sand to a sun, draws and is drawn by each other body, whether far or near. All these drawings are in obedience to that mysterious something--that force, or power, or influence--which has been named Attraction or Gravitation. So much we know; and beyond it we know very little as to the nature of the said “Attraction;” but we find that the outcome of it is Weight.