As I slowly passed the telescope over the face of Europe, I pictured to myself the fat, plodding Hollanderthe patient, contemplative Germanthe ingenious, sensual Italianthe temperate Swissthe haughty, superstitious Spaniardthe sprightly, self-complacent Frenchmanthe sullen and reflecting Englishmanwho monopolise nearly all the science and literature of the earth, to which they bear so small a proportion.

The opposite view is that there have been frequent connections between the great land masses, alike in the tropics, in the south temperate zone, and in the Antarctic region.