Washington sentinel., 1898-02-12
A DROWNED CONTINENT.
kn0zOkRgs,

A DROWNED CONTINENT.
ENowiedgs,
As many of our readers are doubtless
aware, deem boring operau MS are being
undertaken in the island OF Funafuti. IN
the Ellice group OF Polynesia, with the
primary object OF ascertaining the depth
to which coral rock, or limestone Of coral
origin, extends. II it were found that
such coral made material extended 10
depths far below the level at which living
coral can exist, there would be evidence
that the island on which the experiment
was conducted had subsidized And If
subsldence were thus proved to have
taken place in a single island selected
almost az random, the conclusion could
hardly be resisted that the greater part,
il not the whole, of Polynesia must be
likewise a sGbsiding area, or, in @. her
words, the remnants Of a drowned con
tlnent, some Of the high lands OF which
are indicated by the atolls and
| other islands Of the Coral Sea. II is,
therefore, favorable opportunity for
few words in regard to the permanence
or otherwise of the great oceanic basins
and continental areas Of the globe. This
| subject, it need scarcely be said, has not
only an intense and absorbing interest OF
its oVn-for it is difficult tor any one
except geologist to fully realize that
the solid ground on which he stands
may have been buried fathoms deep
kas !, Il FAI.
utmost Importance IN regard to many
puzzling problems connected with the
present and past geographical disiribu
tion of terrestrial animals and plants on
the surface ofthe globe.
Although it might we'll have been
thought that opinion in matters scienti-
| ic would be unlikely to veer suddenly
round. and after tending strongly in one
direction incline with equal force in the
one Immediately opposite, yet there are
| few instances where the swing OF the
| pendulum OF opinion to one side has
| been more swiftly followed by its oscil-
| lation to the other than has been the
case IN the problem of the permanency
| OF continents and oceans. When geology
| first began to take rank among the exact
| sciences, and it was demonstrated that
most Of the shells and other fossils found
| in the solid rock Of many Of our CONT.
nents aud islands were of marine origin,
It was a natural, if hasty, conclusion that
| land and sea had been perpetually
changing places, and that what is now
the centre OF a continent might compare
! lively recently have been an ocean abyss.
| Accordingly, when any difficulty in find.
ing an adequate explanation in regard
| TO the geographical distribution of the
| animals or plants Of two or more conti'
nents or islands occurred, the aid of an
| atlantis" or "Lemuria" was at once
invoked without misglving, and a r,s,I
thus indicated across which the inhaD
! iiants of one isolated area could easily
| have passed to another.
AS the result OF the boring it appears,
| then, that there is possibility that the
| community between the South Ameri'
! can and Australasian faunas may admit
| OF being explained by means OF direct
| line connection between the two areas
at a comparatively recent geological
| date. Even, however, il tEis explana-
ton receive future support and ac-
| ceptation, there are, as IN all similar
cases, still many difficulties with which
to contend. One OF these is the practical
absence of all non-vOlant mammals
from Polynesia, with the exception Of
the Solomon group, where a few Gus
cuses and rats are found. But
the case OF the West Indies-where
there is every probability that there was
| formerly large mammall; fauna, the
majority OF which were drowned by
submergence-may very likely afford
the solution OF the difficulty. Worms
and slugs would probably find means of
survival in circumstances where mann
maian lite would disappear. This ex-
PLANTATION will, however, clearly not
apply in the case of New Zealand, where,
il mammals had ever existed, their re-
mains would almost certainly have been
| discovered. Ii must be assumed then
| that, il Polynesia was the route by which
the taunas of Australia and Patagonia
were formerly connected, New Zealand
was at that time isolated. And. indeed,
seeing that the hypothetical land con
nection between the areas in question
must have existed at a comparatively
late epoch, it is most likely that the
ancient Polynesian land was already
broken up to a considerable extent INTO
islands and archipelagos, so that the
main line Of connection may have been
out narrow, and from time to time in
terrupted. Indeed, 1t must almost of
ueces sity have been but incomplete and
OF short duration after the introduction
OF modern forms OF lite, as otherwise the
types common to Australia and Pata
20 lia would be much more numerous
than we find to be the case. Hence
there IS no improbabilty in the sugges-
tedisolation Of New Zealand during the
period in question,
But, putting these interesting specula,
tions aside, the results OF the Funaiuti
boring indicate almost without doubt
that Polynesia is an area of compare.
lively recent subsistence; and It has
already been mentioned that there are
good reasons for regarding a large part
o. the basin OF the South Atlantic as Of
no very great antiquity, while the area
Of the Indian Ocean appears TO have
been considerably enlarged during the
later geological epochs. Apparently.
therefore, the great extent OF ocean at