The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-01-19
THE GREAT DELUGE. =

Not the least curious of the specala-
tions which have lately been propouRd-
ed across the water is one called s'Cyc-
lical Deluge; an Explication of the
\ Chief Geological Phenomena of the
Globe. :" The theory is based upon
the calculations of M. Adhemar, a
French Mathematician, to whom the
4 first suggestion of the really novel and
striking idea that he has developed is
due. With the figures We shah not
1 trouble our readers, nor shall we guar.
antee that the theory is a true one
but. making plain story, in place of
a difficult one, the line of expication
is as follows s - ~ 3: F-fs
The earth, as it spins upon its axis,
also swings or ''wabbles" upon that
axis precisely as top rolls while ITS
toe remains upon the same spot of
ground. The top completes this cir
Gle in second or two; but the terres-
tial motion, caused by the SUMS at
traction upon the equatorial protube-
rance of our planet, has a cycle of
about twenty-one thousand years. Du-
ring one half of this period, which is
that known as the procession OF the
equinoxes, the North Polewill be more
exposed to the sun than the South
Pole; during the other half, the South
Pole will be more exposed than the
North. At present, corresponding sea-
sons are not of equal length in the
northern and the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
The seasons of autumn and winter, in
the southern hemisphere, are seven
days longer than those of spring and
summer. North of the equator the
reverse is the case. We enjoy seven
days more of sunlight during the year
than falls upon the austral countries;
but, in course of time, this advantage
will return to the southern hemisphere,
and we of the north shall be, for ten
thousand five hundred years, or half of
the period of equinoctial procession,
left comparatively in the cold. In the
year B. c., 1,248 the North Pole at
tanned its maximum summer duration
of heat. But for the last three thous-
and wears the heat has been decreasing
and the maximum winter duration of
cold will be attained about the year
1882 of our era.
Thus much is an undeniablefact A
but upon the fact NJ. Adhemar bases
some startling conclusions. First, as
to the cause and date of the great del
uge which science and tradition agree
in affirming to have swept over large |
part of the earth not many thousand |
years ago. At the time of its occur
renee the North Pole had been in COM
parative darkness for ten thousand five |
hundred years. During this immense |
period the excess of the hours of night |
over the hours of day had amounted to
hundreds of years. This excessive |
cold had suficed, little by little, to
build up an immense cap or cupola of
ice over and around the North Pole,
which extended, if NJ. Ademar's calcu-
lations are correct, as far southward as
the seventieth degree of north latitude.
The attraction of this grand glacier
had drawn into the northern hemis-
phere the larger part of the seas and
oceans of the earth-the northern con-
tinents were for the most part under
water, and the marine shells which We
now find upon the sides of mountains
in the northern regions were then de-
posted for the puzzling of geologists.
The southern SUBMITS, on the contra
ry, were high and dry, and that hemis-
phere was then mainly terrestrial, as it
is now mainly aqueous. An entirely
different distribution of land and sea
from the present one then existed
throughout the globe. But the yearly
sum of night hours in the northern
hemisphere at last began to lessen, the
sum of day hours to increase. The
great cap of northern ice began to di-
minish, and a southern polar glacier to
form. After many centuries the suns
heat had sufficiently softened the
North Polar ice to cause its sudden
breakup. The slow process of terres-
tial adjustment was instantly changed
for sudden and terrible catsclysm.
The North Polar ice-mountain broke
down under the influence of gravita
ton; its fragments, borne upon the
northern seas, rushed violently toward
the south. Torn from his bed, the
acean bore with him the mud which
now forms the diluvium of the north
ern hemisphere. Gigantic streams OF
wateI, mingled with earth, sand, and
pebbles, formed the alluViums CT The
great valleys; erratic houlders were
carried southwark upon the ieo, and
scattered all over the northern hemis-
phere, or piled upon the esideof noun
tains that they were unable to scale,
and left there for the corner-stones, as
it were, of geological theories. A
large part of the northern forests were
torn up and borne aXay upon the |
food, to be deposited in basins, and
to become the coal beds of the present
epoch. The waters Of the deluge1
stripped the forest Shores OF Asiatio
Russia, Nova Zembla, Lapland, Nor
way, and Denmark, pouring the floral
spoil into the then estuary, which is
now the North Sea, and distributing
the fuel of the future In the great coal
basins of the Firth of Forth, in Scot
land, and in those of Somersetshire
and Glouoestsrshire in England. This
view is confirmed in the opinion OF Mr.
Walker, by the fact that Sweden, Nor
way, and Denmark, being probably
without deposit basins at the coal Pc
riod for the reception Of the North Po-
lar timher-rush, have not received an
ounce OF vegetable fuel, although
these countries were within hail, as it
were, of the Britain of the coal period.
We're coal a deposit of vegetable
growth in stu, we should expect to
find its richest deposits in the eastern
and other parts of the vorld where
growth is the most luxuriaht. Yet in
these countries no coal is found.
Such was the last Cyciicai deluge,
which was no other than the flood of
Noah. Its date is variously estimated