The record-union., 1898-12-27
universally taught In the textbooks of


| lie those of. the previous Cambrian ard
Laurentian Ages. whose structure and
fossils likewise mark a widespread tor
rid climate. Beneath these in turn are
the enormously thick rocks Of pre-
Cambrian and Azoic ages, beyond
which lie the ages preceding those of
| geology and reaching into the domain
| of cosmology. We are taught alike in
| the textbooks of the common schools
| and in the profound treatises of geo1o-
gists and physicists that during these
ages the earth twas a melted fiery ball
| surrounded by a thick atmosphere Of
gases and vapors." Of this stage of
| the earth's climatic development, Sir
| A. Geikie says: AT an early period of
| the earth's history the water now form
| ing the ocean, together with the rivers,
| lakes and snow fields of the land. ex-
| listed as vapor, in which were mingled
many other gases and vapors, the whole
forming a vast atmosphere surrounding
the still intensely hot globe.'
STAGES OF CLIMATIC EVOLUTION.
| Various stages Of climatic evolution
are apparently represented in the con-
ditions of the planets Jupiter, the Earth
and Mars. The former is Of great size,
and is apparently shrouded in dense
clouds and appears to be in the first era
of climatic evolution. The cloud sphere
presents a surface Of high albedo, and
the heat from it is of about that intens-
| ity which we should receive by the re-
| Election of solar energy.
! The Earth, q much smaller mass, has
| passed through the first era of climatic
evolution, and has reached the earlier
epoch of the second era; during this
| epoch glacial conditions are being re-
| moved, and surface temperatures are
| slowly rising. Since the rays of the
| violet end of the spectrum are most
easily trapped the Earth must reflect
light in which red rays predominant,
and it has low albedo.
| Mars, smaller and more distant from
the sun than the Earth, has apparently
reached a still further stage of climatic
evolution. Polar snow caps form in
winter and melt off in summer. thus
| indicating milder polar conditions than
prevail within our polar circles. The
albedo Of Mars is low, and solar. energy
reflected from its surface is deficient in
violet rays, thus showing that the at
mosphere of Mars, like that of the
Earth, most readily traps the rays of
the violet end of the spectrum. Thus
Mars is apparently in a condition
toward which the climatic evolution,
now in progress upon the Earth, is
| tending.
CONCLUSIONS.
| The author therefore holds: First
That the present zonal distribution of
climates is gradually increasing in tenn
| perature and extent. Second-That
| this rise in temperature is due to the
trapping of solar heat by the lower lay
| ers of the atmosphere. Third-That
this rise in temperature was inaugural
| ed at the elimination of the Ice Age in
| tropical latitudes, and that it must be
| gradually checked by a denser cloud
| formation as the surface temperatures
| of the oceans are raised. Fourth-That t
| the Ice Age was unique in the climatic
| history of the earth, and the result of
the laws previously cited. Fifth-That
the preceding climates We're Independent
of latitude, and were controlled by the
internal or planetary heat of the earth !;
that they were the result of the cooling
of hot spheroid subjected to the grad
4 eaciI lOSo III uC6il ny IAGN GRdpO I'll
water to vapor, by the radiation of heat
from the cool outer surface of the re-
! sultant cloud sphere, which loss by ra-
diation was retarded by the conserva-
tive action of solar energy. Sixth
| That local glaciations could have oc-
CURED during any period and in any
latitude, provided there were land areas
| sufficiently elevated.
DIFFICULTIES IN PREVIOUS EX-
PLANTATIONS.
Fhe postulates and corollaries Just
given appear to the author to satisfac-
| torily account for the great variations
in climate geologically recorded in the
history Of our planet. rs The difficulties
met with in previous fattempts to ex-
plain present, glacial and pre-glacial
| climates have been due in part to a
failure to give due weight to certain OF
the laws which are above cited, and tc
fully recognize the force of others. Fol-
instance:
First-The influence and functions OF
water in its various forms upon the
mode and rate of loss of planetary heat
have not been given due weight.
Second-The effect Of the difference In
been omitted in most of the discussions
Third-The conservative function OF
solar energy prior to the exhaustion o1
planetary heat has not been fully rec
ognized
Fourth-The ultimate influence of the
| trapping of solar energy in the lower
layers of the atmosphere, and the cumu
lative effect of this action upon surfac-
temperatures, have been left out o1
consideration.
Fifth-That the acceptance of ice &C.
ton alone as proof of glacial epocl
is not warranted.
The failure to fully weigh and adjust
the effects of the laws of climatic evo-
luton has almost necessitated a resort
to assumptions and hypothesis, some o1
which have been of vague and indef
mite nature, and others rest upon an in.
/ adequate foundation. OF these may be
cited: Variations in the amount of so.
lar energy, in the heat absorbing power
of the solar atmosphere, in the temper.
ature of space, in the direction anG
temperature of the Gulf Stream, in thu
elevations and depressions of Iant
areas, and in changes in position of the
polar axis, and in the orbital eccen
tricity of the earth. Some of these art
beyond the range of analysis and inves.
tigation, and others are of local ant
minor influence, and may be left out o.
consideration in a discussion of the
| fundamental principles.
If the eras of climatic evolution which
our planet has undergone have hereir
haar~ rafarrad to their uronar laws a nf