THE ICE-AGE QUESTION SOLVED 



By MAJOR R. A. MARRIOTT, D.S.O. 



Preface 



The solution of this question is now ripe for acceptance, but 

 since of all the sciences astronomy is perhaps the most con- 

 servative, it is inconvenient to await the cautious processes 

 by which astronomers have to arrive at the conception of a 

 new idea, when it runs directly counter to certain beliefs as 

 set forth in their text-books. The aim of this paper is to free 

 geologists from their astronomical trammels by convincing 

 them that the dogma which has barred the way to an under- 

 standing of the glacial period is now practically removed. 

 This can be shown to be the case both by admissions and state- 

 ments made by astronomers themselves, and by the fact that 

 Drayson has abounding geological evidence to support him, 

 thus bringing the two sciences into mutual agreement. As a 

 result of the expeditions to the Antarctic, the astronomical 

 explanation of the Ice Age has been proved to be so wrong 

 that it has become an admitted failure. On the other hand, 

 the retreat of the ice at both poles is so much in favour of 

 Drayson that it set me on the track to discover that glacial 

 and other phenomena were in complete accord with him. 



The evidence, however strong, since it involves a revolution 

 in astronomical thought and system, must be fully proved 

 before both sciences can be brought to alter the whole course 

 of ideas on this subject. I propose to show cause for immediate 

 inquiry into this question owing to the complete and multiple 

 evidence which can be produced, and I am confident that a 

 searching investigation will be justified by the result. 



As the junior science cannot well adopt an essentially 

 astronomical explanation without strong encouragement, I 

 propose to deal with the celestial side of the question first, 

 explaining the discovery and the inherent weakness of the 

 astronomical position, but before exposing the latter I must 

 enumerate briefly the geological facts which agree with 



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