The St. Johns herald., 1893-01-05
MiLDER WINTERS.
4 Gradual Moe-.auaslon Of Cold for the
 Next Nine Hundred Years.


 Next Nine Hundred Years.
 Every now and then some weather sage predicts extremely cold winters, and another ventures to say that the sun is gradually losing heat and in time arctic cold will prevail over the globe. Whatever may have been the changes during the vast cxcles of time prior to the advent of man. e whatever may be the chances in the t51lc to come.sone thing is q-ite certain. saTs .Josph Wallace in Popular Scienee s, a. our climate has been r1u.i Iao | within the last two thousand or three thousand years. ''1-ere 1ave been ffteen climatic cLan-es slaes the gi of the gla- ciaI 2ge. each o.e ilsLlng ten thou sand five hs red years. and each chance revcr4Iae the seasons in the two hemisphere. the pole which had en- ioycd pcrF, -tLlsll summer being Goome1 to undcTgo ,err tGal winter for ten tho sand fivv hundred years. and then passing = it's foz~eer state for an equal term. The I changes upon tie eaItA's susl. . daiDr t:-e last e ity tiloBaand 9...Ts ple..'lsed the changes of climate eti in the arctic regions. SO that the -tense cold of the former epochs was much modified during the latter eracns.''
 EaclSouirc these climatic changes in ther ordar, VIC had entered the epoch Of more genial temperature aLoHt fifteen hundred years ago; and if no disturbing change takes place dering the present enoch, we may reasonably expect a gradual modification of our winters for nlne thousand years to come. The change to 3Dtense cold from perpetual sumner durlng the greater part of the glacial period is supposed to have been caIscd by the higai faTu- perature of the north pole as cr.n1 Te.ed to that of the soutb pole. owing ta tae distribution of land azoru4 tbe two. the scu.h having alInest ncpe- Dr. Croll thinks it vas caused v@ry- ing inelinati5n of tAe cs axis, which produced the relative position of the two poies towar7 the sun to be periodically reversed at distant periods. Dr. James Geikie agrees with Croil on the reverse of seasons every fifteen hundred years during certain periods of high ellipiicitv of earth's orbit. But it may be t5l1ed: How coul3 the fauna and flora rr6r gate themsel7es under such CO ?" The fora itself at the q',as-larg age was of ex- treme visor. We knew this from the little which isleft rs. It more especial ly from the pres, f a large 1u,u7oer. of herbivorcus animals-staes horses elephants, T H.oee ete.--svl-,.i- -ap mated the li.ie asi-. valleys cI I.ar2pe and America 1t that tlIne. Eve.c,i ly they coul have i,~ed apJ pa gated , saives waeut abunea 1t vegetation Ior nourishnent and degel- opncnt.
 That which has deceived the ad- sherents of ta t ryF ss nader stood in is sb 'tse s,ase, j., t1e1 aaT, generally placed too nigh eslimsta on it's exteIt and iatcusity. 1t needs 9ct little effort of the reasoning pcHers to come to the conclusion that tbe earth had cooled to the degree thet ail auir2al and vegetable a1c should xist upon t, and that q portion of the earth's sur face permanently covered with snow and ice was a3so. .dteig Iudisrensanie to tho existence; nerDetuitV ard wea-0e- ing of animal and vegetable fife. There IS everything 10 show 9 modification O. climate ln our o.Yr days. If tFis goes on in the fature as in the past there wi7] te g marked difference iu tne tem- perature two h0ndred or three hundred F- .f. thoae3c6 years Nvne.d ri}ect Q great change in tite aacr tr The .aa- eung lI f3rr er~o> bi5stI tne ancient eztenston of giac
 did not Iitetrort ar1ma
 life. Tifty-ioor of tho fifty
 ol mouusca have outiived tHc
 age, and gil our savage ariInais-eygn 8 certain number which have disap- pearo3-date equally from the quater- nary. and were contemporary with the great eXtensioo of the glaciers.