ANTIPODES, a word of Greek origin, signifying, literally, those who have their feet over against each other. As applied to geography, the term means the inhabitants of any two opposite points of the globe, or, in other words, the dwellers at the opposite extremities of any diameter of the earth. From this primary relation, there necessarily arise many sec ondary relations. A. must be on one and the same meridional circle, separated from each other by half the circumference. Being on one and the same meridional circle, they must differ in long. exactly 180°, with the exception of the poles themselves, as having no longitude at all; and being separated from each other by half the circumference, they must be equidistant from the equator in opposite directions. Take Edinburgh, as an example, in lat. 55° 57' n., and long. 3° 11' w.; its A. must be in lat. 55° 57' s., and in long. 183° 11' w., or rather in 176° 49' e.—which is merely an undistinguishable spot in the Antarctic or Southern ocean. Take, as another example, London, in lat. 51° 30' n., and long. 0° 5' w. Its A. must be in lat. 51° 30' s., and in long. 180' 5' w., or rather 179' 55'e. —coinciding pretty nearly with a small island to the s.c. of New Zealand. This small island, in honor rather of London than of itself, has appropriated the term A. as its own peculiar name.
Between A. in general there necessarily exist also other secondary relations. With reference to the earth's daily rotation, the noon of the one side must be the midnight of the other; while, with regard to its annual revolution, the summer and the autumn of the one side must be the winter and the spring of the other. With respect, however,
to the former contrast, some explanation may be required. This, for instance, being Wednesday in London, was last midnight in that city the noon of Tuesday or of Wed nesday at A. island? The answer is, that according to circumstances, it may be held to be either the one or the other. In going eastward—that is, in meeting the sun—one, from day to day, anticipates every noon and every midnight in the proportion of 4' of time to 1° of long., or of 12 hours of time to 180° of long.; so that, on reaching A. island from London by the cape of Good Hope, the middle of Tuesday night, by Greenwich reckoning, is actually regarded on the spot as the nOou of Wednesday, In. going west ward, again—that is, in leading, as it were, the sun—one, from day to day, postpones every noon and every midnight in the same proportion as above; so that, on reaching A. island from London by cape Horn, the middle of Tuesday night, by Greenwich reckon ing, is actually regarded on the spot as the noon of Tuesday. In fact, navigators in oppo site directions, meeting at any intermediate point whatever of the earth's circumference, always differ in their computation of time by a whole day, or 24 hours. In two cases, this has been permanently exemplified: the Spaniards at the Philippines, who have conle from the c., are a day behind the Portuguese iu Macao, who have come from the w.; while on the 11.W. coast of America, the Russians from the w. were a day in advance of the British from the c.