The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-02-07
rrom inaBow,s Resiew.
climatic changes ON the Earth;

Climatic changes ON the 1EarsH:
/ :. q now pretty well established that
Az Goth has fonr motions. First, there
10 sha d;urnal motion, In which the globe
ft,rns an ;fs axis every twenty -four hours,
cansine day and night. Second, there is
Iits revolution round the.sun, which takes
s65 DAYS, hours, AZ minutes, ST. seconds
/ 20 accomplish. Third, the motion of the
whole solar system in space-that is, the
earth, with all the planets and stars,
moving round what is supposed to be a
central sun. Fourth, motion in which,
through long period of years, the poles
of the earth are changed, the equatorial
region in time becoming the polar region,
and uice versa.
Through the influence of this motion We
Of the. temperate zone are gradually ap-
preaching the equator; indeed, it can be
shown from history, taking given zone,
that it has become warmer as time al
vanccs. Many trees and plants-the vine
and olive for ins.snce-fourish IN places
where two thousand years ago they did not
grow. The change is so gradual ana SO
slow that the longest-lived being cannot
perceive it; but that the climatic change
takes place is very evident, nevertheless.
Another evidence is adduced in the pecu-
liarity of the animals, the remains OF which
have been found in the Polar regions,
which only could have existed when that
| region had much more equatorial bear
ing than it has at present. The proof that
tropical plants grew there is also undis-
puted. The bearing OF ancient Christian
churches. which were invariably built
| facing east and west, but which now dif-
fer materially from those points, is said to
be another proof of this terrestrial change.
The phenomenon called the procession
of the equinoxes, in virtue of which the
first point Of Aries receded upon the eciip-
tic about fifty seconds in year, gradually
causing complete change in the sessions;
and, counting from any given time, there
must elspse at least 2l,0oo years before
the season can return to precisely the
same period of the year. 1t has been as
certained, so it is asserted, that up to the
year 1248 of the Christian era, a year in
| which tho first day in winter precisely CO.
incided with the earth's passage through
its perihelion, the temperature of the
southern hemisphere had been in constant
course Of dminuticn. And tits, moreover,
made plain, according to the calculation,
that after the lapse of 10000 years the sea-
sons on our globe will be exactly reversed.
Therefore, about 10000 years before the
year l,248, or 700 years before the pre-
| sent time, it was the north pole, and not
| it's opposite one, which was in its maximum
of refrigeration our present continents
were then submerged, according to the
! Mosaic account of the deluge-not, how
ever, chronologically considered, if we
interpret the Bible too literally, as many
who interpret it for themselves often do
and there were continents unknown to US
| in the southern hemisphere. Aud again,
by the same astronomical and natural
laws, 10000 years after the last cataclysm
new one will occur, which will again
submerge the northern hemisphere, and
allow a new world to emerge from the
southern ocean.
It is with this motion Of the earth we
have to deal when treating on the deluvian
phenomena.