Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-07-20

but in none of the geologic ages,
even from the silurin system to the
tertiary, do we find temperature so
low in any portion Of our worlds sur
face as we have now. Till within a
step, so to speak, of the age in which
we live we find. on the contrary, that
the climate Of the now temperate zones
was similar-and that uninterrupted
to that now within the tropics, and that
great mammals like the elephant and the
mastadon, which could only exist in
high temperature throughout the year,
swarmed in northern Europe and Asia
and dwelt in myriads on the plains of
the United States and basked on the
torrid banks OF the rivers Of Canada
Scarcely a week transpires that we do
not read in the press of fossil remains
of the mastodon being found in Maine
or Pennsylvania or Ontario, and in con-
ditions which show that the whole race
appears not only to have been till with
in the human period the most wonder
full and most numerous OF our great
ma mmals, but that the whole race was
wiped out in. as it were, a moment of
time when even the carnivora which
lived among them were either so paral-
lied, or, which is more probable,
demoralized as to have been unable to
devour their bodies. No less than several
hundred skeletons OF this quadruped
have been taken from the Big Bone
Lick in Kentucky, and under circum-
stances which. as DIR. Hitchcock OBJ
serves, indicate that they died through
sudden change of climate, in other
words by sudden fall of temperature.
Sir Charles Lyell, Sir r. Murchison
and other geologists long ago pointed
out that up to a comparatively recent
period, eithor Immediately before or
within the human period, a universally
high temperature prevailed from the
equator to the polar circle-"a phenom-
enon," to use the words of the latter,
"'wholly at variance with the present
distribution of animal life on the surface
Of the globe
What was the cause of this sudden
change Of climate when the hitherto
continuous torrid cline in these regions
was suddenly exchanged for the four
seasons we have now-for u winter that
wiped out these great mammals as if by
the stroke of universal death ushering
In that brief period known as the glacial
age? My reply is the sudden appear
ance OF "short-period" comet like
that of Encke which, running too
closely to our earth. was SO attracted
and forced out of its path as TO reyolve
around her as her second satellite. The
temperature suddenly fell and destroyed
these great branches of the animal king
dom, for occurring, as it probably did.
when the earth was in perihelon, our
summer became winter in the twinkling
of an eye, and the kindly snow lickered
through the atmosphere and threw its
blanch pail over the strange and gi-
gantic but beautiful millions so long,
probably for millions of years the mas
ters of our plains and forests, lying
down to die as the last of those mon
strous races of pristine history. No
new satellite, it is true, looked down
from above, but the stroke was rs in
visible and deadly as that which struck
down the army of Assyria.s great King,
and the mastodon lay down to die-to
close the long and apparently eternal
summer of our country's lost heritage.
The sudden change of temperature
must have produced the most appalling
hurricanes, frustrating every forest be-
tween the poles, while the earth itself
shook from center to circumference,
the whole world moaning at the de-
cease of probably ninety-nine-hun-
dredth OF the terrestrial animal race
a cataclysm which must have been wit
messed by our barbaric ancestors, since
this event was within the human Pc
riod. The earths sphere must also
have undergone considerable contrac-
tion, which must in turn have resulted
in the complete subInergence of all
low-lying countries, especially near the
sea; in short, universal deluge, an
event so awful in the history OF our race
that jew and Christian and savage in
all countries and climes detail its his
tory to this day.
May such a universal destruction
again occurP 1t is possible, for as
pointed out in 1864 tho short period
comet Encke, which travels far within
the orbit OF Jupiter, is constantly de-
creasing its orbits eccentricity, thus
forming it more and more toward the
circle. and should it at any time run
near the earth nothing could be more
certain than that it will fall about our
sphere and become another satellite.
OF course there are many chances to
one that this will not occur and yet
that one chance may become a certain
ty. Should our two satellites inter-
vene it would be thrown into an outer
orbit where its effects would be less
fatal, but should it run within the
moons orbit, like the great comet of
1770, which passed through the satel-
lite system of Jupiter-it would GER
tainly cause the extinction of the
greater portion of the animal creation,
while it would usher in an con of storm
and earthquake that would be ap.
paIling and destructive for many cen
turtles.
But we are inclined to ask, Will this
low temperature now rendering the
earth such an uncomfortable abode in
the temperate zones ever pass away,
and will the charming climate which