New-York tribune., 1884-11-28

indoo0 an earlier start IN these. oud ot near the
North Pole. and. In . measure tho well-knowu
greater accumulation CT land, known to be largely
fossiliferous, the Northern hemisphere. Then.
both before and since the frost period set In at
| the South Pole. as has been intimated, by greater
extremes of heat aud cold there with their corre-
| spending greater evaporations and condensatons
| from equiiibrium-tndng seas, more extensive
rains, glaciers and summer thawing, have no doubt
always caused il not constant hiaher water level
! on the southern hemisphere generally. at least
! preponderating and more spasuod.c surface ocean
Currents fiom the south 10 the north which no
| donbt have always carried with the II. a. we'll as
water much debris and soil. volcanic fossiliferous,
etc, causing in connection with the no doubt more
successful fossil remains and structures OF tho
NortheIn hemisphere. the great preponderance OF
land we find there. IL is submitted that this 10 the
natural and logical solution of this heretofore
unsolved phenomenon-ihe greater iains and
! glaciers coming and going on the southern
hemisphere caused by the greater extremes OF heat
and cold there Ia matheuaticailv demonstrated
| fact. for ages and ages wearing aud washing tne
! land OF the Southern hemisphere TO the Northern
hemisphere, as we now lind the inevitable result
| THE GLACIAL PERIOD.
= The polar life existed of course. from the begin
ming of polar algae radiatd etc. through all the
uxuriance of the carboniferous and other periods
evidenced and defined by their fossil deposits found
in all explored regionsl mp to the beRnnng of the
glacial period. Geoogists tell of q great and 30
called nnaccountable change that took place in the
struction of almost all organic life on the earth by
the extreme coldness and extensive glaciers that
prevaled-from 10 to 80 per cent of all tertiary
sea-sheil life aud nearly all species of tertiary land
animals, such rs reptiles. birds. beasts. ETC., be-
coming extinct OF course the cooling of the great
hotbed OF the earhs surface. for the most part, to
| and far below the freezing point by a change from
q high combined internal and solar heat to solar
heat alone. must have wrought very great, yet
entirely natural and logical change in the earths
condition. economy. products and prospects-a
change. in the known nature of things, not unac-
countable, but traceable to the most commonplace
and familiar of causes.
In regard to the great mooted question, then. of
the cause of the glacial period. it would seem that
nothing in geological history could be palmer
more evident than that the same gradual cooling
of and loss of heat at the poles that first permit
ted organic life there and then gradually drove 1t
from both poles toward the equator, finally let
down. first upon the polar regions and then gradu-
ally toward the tropics the immense volumes of
aqueous vapor that must in the nature of things
have enveloped the earth, previous TO ITS cooling,
in the natural and inevitable form of the immense
glaciers tuat we know. by their astounding auto
graph records. TO have covered and narrowed aud
ground down the earth's rugged mountainous sur
face. from the poles almost to the equator,
the evaporatng powers of solar heat alone not
sufficient to produce the vaporous material. But
il is here submitted that now have an actual and
direct continuation of the same glaciers, a |
smaller scale. from solar evaporation alone, per |
petually in the polar regions, aud in high mountain
Gus countries. aud that a greater heat. whether |
solar combined solar and surfece heat and then |
subsdeuce thereof in of the glacial period.
would produce greater glaciers than we have now. |
aud in extreme like that Of the cooling Of the
previously hot. steam'Dg surfuce OF the earth. as
great ss have eves occurred on our globe.
The first glacier then, according to positive
occurred Mt the South Pole. In the midst OF a
months aphelion " iltcr night. lHow long ago
and yet low long after the liquid. hery earth had
heavens) This first frost. of course. Delted about
as fasl as it formed irom tho inferno! heat of the
already. during the six mouths apheon winter
nshts fallen at the pole from the upper and colder
would he long before frost snow or hail would lie at
thc Ts,e. even through tho coolest parts Of the
initial and carGon,ferons periods of organic life
would no doubt, long since have passed. at the
poles TO the equator, with the antipodal polar
glaciers gradually following down from the poles |
oruled would be reduced to the evaporation capac-
ty OF sol9r heat alone, when, attes immense &C.
on the upper parts OF both hem-
spheres, they would begin, from the clearer sway
,nd greater force of tue SUM- After the prmevai
1apors had been condensed into these glaciers,
'radually to recede toward their original starting
places. the poles. This contest bet ween the sun |
md tie glaciers. like many other contests and con-
iicts in nature, has now perhaps about found an !
verage equilibrium and uniform relation, tending
,radually. IN common with the phenomena of other
RIBS, toward great general destiny. The vast ma
ural records OF the glacial period show that about
he same preponderance OF land that now exists on
nd near the Northern Hemisphere was there be- j
that period began the fact of this then vast ac-
umg aton being in keeping with the known great
ia tINnrV nf
he preponderance being attributable largely to
cean currents from the Southern Hemisphere. The .
Teiknown comparative absence of land from the ,
outnern Hemisphere, too, matches and corresponds
nth thus theory. while the tapering and pointed O
lape of the southern extreIntes of the continents
artcuIarly OF South America aud Africa the far 8
hest south. well as of North America. Australia
llndostah aud even Greenland in almost the same >
egree emphatically show the effects of flowing of
Tater washing OF soil. ete from the south to the
orth.
AN ANNULAR SEA-
At the time Of the climax or elimination, 80 to G
,eak. of the glacial period when the great north
70 and southern glaciers extended from the poles
nost quite to the tropics. and glacial accumu- 2
tion on the two hemispheres was at its highest. z
nd glacial cold at its codest there was of course n
nIy open sea- and that around the earth within o
,e tropics. and between the two great hemisphere n
II glaciers. THIS open tropical, circummundane W
"A, on account OF the more vigorous aud rigorous ~
'uthern glacier arriving first. already effect
Iplane l. and encroachng fartnest. at the tropics.
ould naturally lie somewhat to the north In the "
opcal belt 1t must have been q violent, as well VI
unique, annular sea- fed and frozen alternately D.
either sale by tho great bordering circum- IL
undane glaciers. and whrled in the line of the sI
rths greatest centrifugal force Of the suns and tn
moons greatest attraction aud in the face of the al
eat converging glacial trade winds. What are =
Nv the Atlantic and Pacific must have been a a
ozen and gorged to the bottom from both poles TO
most as near the tropics the glaciers extended o.
land while northcrn and southern inellerns M | a..