A WONDERFUL VILLAGE.
(
Unclassified Problems.)
There is a certain village in Japan, situated in a very low valley, and
yet the sun is nearer to the inhabitants every noon, by 3,000 miles and
upwards, than when he either rises or sets to these people. In what part
of the country is the village situated?
Answer:
When the sun is in the horizon of any place (whether in Japan or
elsewhere), he is the length of half the earth's diameter more distant
from that place than in his meridian at noon. As the earth's
semi-diameter is nearly 4,000 miles, the sun must be considerably more
than 3,000 miles nearer at noon than at his rising, there being no
valley even the hundredth part of 1,000 miles deep.
