Lester Cohen, aged 14, of Plattekill, N.Y. for his question:

Has the land and ocean always been at the same ratio?

In our day and age the seas cover about three quarters of the surface of the world. That leaves only one quarter of the world .for dry land. This ratio of land and water has been steady for long ages. Nor are we likely to notice any change. However, there are people who say that the oceans are gradually growing.

This does not mean that the seas will someday swami all the dry land. But the land and water ratios do change with the ages. Half a million years ago the seas were smaller. Billions of tons of water were frozen in the glaciers of the Ice Age. As this water melted it ran down to the sea basins. The seas overflowed and slopped over on the land which the Ice Ages had exposed.

In times past, the seas have invaded vast stretches of low lying land. The Arctic Ocean once joined with the Gulf of Mexico forming a shallow sea through the middle of our continent. California. was once cut off by the sea and made into an island. This land and ocean see‑saw is thought to be a long slow process. The sea creeps in and recedes only a few inches in a century. So there no one need fear that his home town will be stolen by the sea during a single night.