To these observations we may add two very remarkable facts, the old and new continent are almost opposite each other; the old is more extensive to the north of the equator than the south; the new is more to the south than the north. The centre of the old continent is in the 16th or 18th degree of north latitude, and the centre of the new is in the 16th or 18th degree south latitude, so that they seem to be made to counterbalance each other. There is also a singular connexion between the two continents, although it appears to be more accidental than those which I have spoken of, which is, that if the two continents were divided into two parts, all four would be surrounded by the sea, if it were not for the two small isthmuses, Suez and Panama.
This is the most general idea which an attentive inspection of the globe furnishes us with, on the division of the earth. We shall abstain from forming hypotheses thereon, and hazarding reasonings which might lead into false conclusions; but no one as yet having considered the division of the globe under this point of view, I shall submit a few remarks. It is very singular that the line which forms the greatest length of the terrestrial continents divides them also into two equal parts; it is no less so that these two lines commence and end at the same degrees of latitude, and are both alike inclined to the equator. These relations may belong to some general conclusions, but of which we are ignorant. The inequalities in the figure of the two continents we shall hereafter examine more fully: it is sufficient here to observe, that the most ancient countries are the nearest to these lines, and are the highest; that the more modern lands are the farthest, and also the lowest. Thus in America, the country of the Amazons, Guiana and Canada will be the most modern parts; by casting our eyes on the map of this country we see the waters on every side, and that they are divided by numberless lakes and rivers, which also indicates that these lands are of a late formation; while on the other hand Peru and Mexico are high mountains, and situate at no great distance from the line that divides the continent, which are circumstances that seem to prove their antiquity. Africa is very mountainous, and that part of the world is also very ancient. There are only Egypt, Barbary, and the western coasts of Africa, as far as Senegal, in this part of the globe, which can be looked upon as modern countries. Asia is an old land, and perhaps the most ancient of all, particularly Arabia, Persia, and Tartary; but the inequalities of this vast part of the globe, as well as those of Europe, we will consider in a separate article. It might be said in general, that Europe is a new country, and such position would be supported both by the universal traditions relative to the emigrations of different people, and the origin of arts and sciences. It is not long since it was filled with morasses, and covered with forests, whereas in the land anciently inhabited, there are but few woods, little water, no morasses, much land, and a number of mountains, whose summits are dry and barren; for men destroy the woods, drain the waters, confine rivers, dry up morasses, and in time give a different appearance to the face of the earth, from that, of uninhabited or newly-peopled countries.