Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1895-05-23
ANOTHER GLACIAL PERIOD
Biologists Think the World May BE Fro
neu I'm Agnfn-


The question Is again being discussed
whether recent and long continued obser-
vations do not point 10 the advsnt Of a
second glacial period, when the countries
now basking In the fostering warmth Of a
tropical sun win ultimately give way TO
tho perennial frost and snow OF the polar
regions. The researches Of geologists have
proved the existence in Greenland and
other arctic lands OF fossil palms and 9TH
er tropical plants, which show that these
regions were once covered with a rich veg
citation, which only equatorial climes can
now produce.
Then uame the great ice age, which
buried this vegetation beneath the mantle
Of cold which still prevails at the polar cx-
tremities OF the earth. Is this kingdom
Of ice and snow again extending Its way
toward the equator9 From the arctic cir
cles VIC have no data which supply an an
swer to tho question, but 1t is asserted that
the climate Of Norway, Sweden and Ice
land is annually becoming more severe.
Great masses of leo are frequently observed
by navigators in far more southerly posi-
tion during the summer months In the
Atlantic than was the case a few years
uBOt duu lllO ducCb Vi bu'5a6 lOoDerR6 IL W
materially reduce the temperature Of
Scandinavia md Iceland. The latter Is
land in late years has been suffering SO So
verely that corn no longer ripens there,
and the inhabitants, in fear Of approach.
ing famine and still colder climate. are
emigrating to North America.
The influence CT the gulf stream on the
climate of Norway, which has not been
less marked than its effects ON the coasts
Of Ireland and Scotland, Is being effaced
by the intensity of the cold brought by
the masses Of ice which It is for the gulf
stream to carry toward the eastern side of
the north Atlantic This extraordinary
cold appears, however, to be rather q
periodical occurrence than of gradually
and annually increasing in intensity,
and the existence of larger quantities of
Ice than usual in the Allan tic rather points
to warmer weather in the polar regions
than to an unusual intensity and exten-
sion Of the region Of the polar cold. The
annals of history show that from time TO
time since the advent of man into the
world remarkable rigid winters and torrid
summers have upset the calculations Of
learned geologists and ruffled the equa
ate zones. Several times the frost king
has been known to come down from the
heights of Europe aud seal the waters of
the Adriatio
In $50 and 1884 the ice formed a secure
bridge from Venice to the opposite Dals
matian coast, and in 1909 the Adriatic
was completely covered with ice. All the
rivers in France were frozen in the years
1906 and 1854, the ice on the river Rhone
being in some places 10 feet thick. The
winter of 1889 was rigorous throughout
Europe. The Atlantic froze along It's
coast to distance of several leagues, and
vessels were unable to approach within
some miles Of Ostend, in Belgium, port
that ordinarily Is open throughout the
year. The winter of 1913 is memora-
BILE for its extreme degree of cold. Snow
fell in Now England in every month of
the year In 1885, and the weather was SO
uniformly chilly that scanty crops of every
sort were harvested On the 18th OF May
1884, snow fell to the depth of foot.
In the winter of 1851-2 the Susquehanna
river at Havre de Grace, Md, was frozen
SO hard that trains of the Philadelphia,
Wilmington and Baltimore railroad ran
over It, The large ferry boat which carried
the cars across the river failed to keep the
channel open, and there being no bridge
at that time the track for the railroad cars
was laid on the Ice precisely at 1t was on
land, with sleepers, crossties and iron rails,
and the cars were run across.--New York
Times.