ARTICLES 589 



Drayson's discovery in a most convincing way, and published 

 in the same month as my first pamphlet, 1 showing some of its 

 geological results. Incidentally I may mention that his fifteen 

 years of labour on this subject began with endeavours to dis- 

 prove Drayson. 



One can see from the diagram that the end of what would 

 have been a previous " genial period " is arrived at about 

 22,000 b.c. Here the obliquity begins to increase rapidly after 

 being small for some 8,000 to 10,000 years, marking the autumn 

 of the coming winter of glacial conditions, which culminated 

 between 15,000 and 16,000 years ago. Analogously in the 

 following spring of the cycle the obliquity decreased in equal 

 measure, driving back the ice-sheets, and in this way furnishing 

 a clear explanation of the phenomena which have induced 

 geologists in other countries to hold views in absolute accord 

 with Drayson's teaching. 



I will now deal shortly with the various phenomena all the 

 world over which are in agreement with the curve. It is im- 

 possible within the limits of this paper to deal fully with each 

 aspect of the question, but they clearly point to the fact that 

 we are on the track of the true solution of a long-standing 

 enigma. 



Phases of Drayson's Glaciation Cycle 



(1) A Maximum of Glacial Conditions at Date 13,544 B.C. — 

 It is the conviction of many geologists that the last glacial 

 period was not prolonged much more than 25,000 years, and 

 that it passed away some 7,000 years ago — not 80,000 as stated 

 by Croll. This view is held by a large number of American 

 geologists. The recent date of it is supported also by Swedish 

 researches on phenomena entirely distinct from those pre- 

 sented in America. There is similar evidence in the Anti- 

 podes. Prof. E. C. Andrews endorses the opinion, formed many 

 years ago by Haast, Lindenfield and Hochstaetter, that south- 

 west New Zealand was under glacial conditions recently, i.e. 

 to be reckoned in several thousands of years (not tens of thou- 

 sands). His view is stated to have received much support 

 from the observations of Prof. T. W. E. David, in southern 



Embodied in The Change of Climate and its Cause (Marlborough). 



