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 radius over 3949 miles.
This makes the depression at either pole upward of thirteen miles.