Strange Maps — July 23, 2010

What the World May Come To: a Tetrahedron

“Who would not pity the poet who has to write and make his rhymes about some bold Sir Francis Drake’s brave journey round the tetrahedron?”

Frank Jacobs

Notwithstanding the fact that celestial objects of a certain mass generally are spherical in shape, an article in My Magazine, dated May 1918 (and titled What the World May Come To: The School Maps As They May Be in Millions of Years to Come) predicts that the earth is spinning itself into a tetrahedron. The explanation, as one can imagine, is very dodgy. The accompanying picture of the globe is strange enough to be figured here.

The article concludes: “We may be sorry for the editors and poets in those days. It is pleasant to write of sailing round the globe, or of this spinning ball, but who would not pity the poet who has to write and make his rhymes about some bold Sir Francis Drake’s brave journey round the tetrahedron? We hope the League of Nations will rule the Tetrahedron well.”