The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-10-22

warm interoceanic currents pouring con-
stantly upon it.
Mr. Norton tells us that if we assign
an average thickness of $4,000 feet to the
antarctic ice-cap, "we should have
mass OF Ice large enough to displace the
earth's centre of gravity nearly mile to
tne south OF the centre" and that grad
ual displacement would produce ian i'm
Percptlbie drainage of the oceans from
the north to the south, and the gradual
emergence of northern and isubmergence
OF southern continents"
This is what is gradually gong. on.
The geologists assert that the northern
continents are slowly rising, and that the
islands Of the South Pacific are sinking.
or rather, according to Mr.. Morton. stheO-
~, the water is slowly draining from the
northern, and accommodating in the south
ern hemisphere. The process will con-
tlnue for some thousands of years to
come, until, "through the submergence of
southern lands and the extension of the
Antarctic ice cap, the condition of the
southern hemisphere will approximate to
that OF the northern continents during
the glacial age" Thus each hemisphere
passes through alternate periods of pre-
po1uerance OF summer or winter, each
PERIOD being about 10000 years. III
According to astronomical calculations,
our present great northern summer COM
menced some $500 years ago. While
the Southern Hemisphere is Undergoing
SLOW refrigeration and gradual submer-
gence The process" says Mr.. Norton,
mas passed its middle, but not its Gull
mlnatlon, even as the greatest average
cold OF our ordinary winter is nearer the
vernal equinox than the winter solstice."
In ABOUT two thousand years from now, he
tnlEKs, the southern continent will be
SILL more deeply deluged; the Antartic
ice cap will have extended several hun
dred miles northward, and The glaciers.
winch have already appeared among the
Andes, will have covered the plateaus Of
Patagonia and Chilli Neve, theless man
kind will not then witness the utmost
possible degree Of refrigeration, s.because
the ellipticity of the earth's orbit is now
less than it has been at certain periods of
the past, and will be again in the remote
| future"
| Mr.. Norton might have strengthened
his theory of this gradual change, due to
the procession of the equinoxes, by cita-
tlons from the writings of the ancients,
beginning with Heredotus and coming
oo"n to the first century of the Christian
era. In the time of the 'sfather of bis
tory the land occupied by the Scythians
was described as one of perpetual snow
and almost, if not quite, unlnhabited.
In tine time of Cesar the grape and other
fruits OF a temperate climate were not
grown north Of Italy, aud even in the
land OF the sun the winters were more
severe, the frosts more frequent, and the
snow more abundant This climatic
change has been attributed to the cult
walton OF the soil, the drainage of the
lano, and the cutting down Of the vast
forests: But it is still going on. as the
gradual recession and disappearance of
the glaciers among the Alps show. Their
fresh moraines testify to time within q
few hundred years when they reached
down much further into the valleys. Just
as they are disappearing among the Alps
and. other ranges of mountains in the
northern hemisphere, they are forming
among the higher Andes,-a phenomenon
in entire harmony with Mr.. -Norton's
theory.
In the long and indefinite past these
successive changes in the temperature of
the northern and southern hemlspheres
have doubtless been many times repeated.
Continents have risen and subsidized, and
the con6guration Of the earth's surface
under the vast changes. The work of
creation is never ended. TIE lost Atalan-
ia may again emerge from the waters,
while parts of continents and hundreds
of islands familiar to us may disappear,
and the human race be driven before the
advancing wave and increasing cold to
new lands for their habitation. Still, as
there are some four or five thousand years
ahead for human activity on. the nothern
continent before any great change will
have been worked, our people can still
afford to mend their fences and keep their
homesteads in repair. After us the flood.