New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-03-12
Danger of Another DeIuge.

u
work, just published, entitled Co1raNs Il Edfsnos-
phere ct de Ia Mer, by Lieut. Julien distinguished
officer in the French navy. The greater part of
the book is devoted 70 q general description Of
Lieut.. Maury7s splendid theory of current Winds
by which he explains recurrence Of storms and
other meteorological phenomena; hut what has
chiefly attracted our attention is new theory ON
the inevitable periodicaireturn of cataclysm sin
liar to that known under the name of the universal
denge, subject which the author treats with nm
gniar lucdity, and Of which we viii here endeaTur
to give an outline.
The author starts from certain facts, some of
which are generally known, viz. /. That the 80
thermal lines Zines where the same degree Of
warmth is observed on cur globe1 Of the highest
temperature are unequaIly distributed between
northern and southern hemisphcres, the space they
occupy in the former being about the double Of
that which they occupy South of the equator, so
that the southern hemisphere is considerably
colder, especially toward the pole, than the north
ern one.
g. That the accumulation Of ice at the Antarctic
pole is much more considerable than at the North
ern.
8. That the earth performs the shortest portion
Of its revelations viz that nearest the perhelion.
that period OF the year which comprises the an
tumn and winter Of the northern hemisphere
Hence it follows that the winter of the latter is
shorter {by about eight daysl than that of the
southern hemisphere and it is during the long
that the solar rays must loose in strength what they
gain in duration To this cause of diminution of
temperature must be added the loss Of ealoric by
radiation, and then II will be easy to perceive the
difference Of temperature between the two heni-
1 spheres. Observation, moreover, has shown that
the quantity Of caloric lost at the south pole III the
course of year is equal to the surplus absorbed
| at the north pole
| Now let u.s. with the author, mentally represent
| to ourselves the earth at the moment OF It's ere
alton, when the whole surface was covered with
its geometricai center. From that moment It's rev
| oution around the sun commenced, and all these
causes which have led to the Inequality of temper
! ature between the two hemispheres began to
operate. In the course Of few centuries the ice
| at the south pole became in consequence heavier
than that accumulated at the north pole, and the
center of gravity was displaced s0uthwards math-
ematicans in fact, state the distance between the
latter and the geenIerica center much more rapid
ly than the other, and at about 100 meters.
Under these circumstances, what could the liquid
surface of the globe do but flow southwark, Ieav-
ing all the continent we are SO familiar with nm
covered? Here NJ. Julien observes that all the
taxable marks Of suhmersion; that America, AfEi-
ca and India end in points, all turned toward the
north poles that the islands Of the southern regions
have the appearance Of the submits of mountain
ranges, and that Lieut.. Maury's soundings show
that the coasts on that side descend abruptly into
the He further states the curious fact that in
going from the north to the south pole, at every
parallel the ratio of the extent OF land to that of the
sea dminishes regularly and progressively.
Let us now take into consideration the phenome-
non called the procession of the equnoxes, in
virtue of which the first point of Aries recedes
upon the eeptic by about so seconds In year.
This gradually causes complete change in the
seasons ; and counting from any given time, there
must elapse at least q 900 before the seasons can
return at precisely the same periods of the year.
It has been ascertaned that up to the year la4s Of
the Christian Era, year In which the FIRST day cf
winter precisely coiaeided with the earth's pas
sage through its perhelion, the Temperature of
the Southern hemisphere had been ia constant
course of diminution. 1t is moreover clear that
nffar Ia anf1 &3,Df,,-a
was the north pole and not its maximum ef re-
frigeration our present continents were then sub
merged, according to the Mosaic tradition of the
deluge, and there were continents unknown 10
US in the southern heinispheres And again, by
the. same astronomical and natural laws, I9,5G0
years after the last cataeiysn, new one will ee-
cur, which will again submerge the northern heTn-
sphere, and allow new world to emerge from the
ocean in the southern one.s Sss s58
Such is the theory Of Al. tJulien-a theory. we
may add, which is in perfect accordance with tho
sphere of our actual knowledge.