CONTINENT

, a terra firma, main-land, or a large extent of country, not interrupted by seas: so called, in opposition to island, peninsula, &c.

The world is usually divided into two grand continents, the old and the new: the old continent comprehends Europe, Asia, and Africa; the new, North and South America. Since the discovery of New Holland and New South Wales, it is a doubt with many whether to call that vast country an island or a continent.

CONTINGENT Line, the same with tangent line in Dialling, being the intersection of the planes of the dial and equinoctial, and at right angles to the substilar line.