ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 273 



Some revision may be required liereafter in the number of Scutibrancliiate 

 species credited to the West coast province, as forms now catalogued as dis- 

 tinct may in some instances be united ; but on the other hand, it is not unlikely 

 that new forms undoubtedly distinct will be detected when the coast is more 

 thoroughly explored. 



Prof. Davidson introduced the following paper, with a few re- 

 marks upon the great changes that have taken place and are tak- 

 ing place upon the surface of the earth : 



Suggestion of a Cosmical cause for the great Climatic 

 changes upon the Earth. 



Disliking hypotheses and theories unless supported by facts almost numer- 

 ous enough to establish a law, T must characterize as a suggestion what I have 

 to state upon this subject : 



So far as I am aware, geologists have failed to indicate any reasonable or 

 rational cause (or the extensive sub-tropical fossil flora and fauna found M'ithin 

 the Arctic circle ; and tor the great ice sheet — the universal glacier — -which 

 doubtless covered nearly the whole land from the poles towards the tropics at a 

 comparatively recent geological j^ei'iod. To mention, is to condemn the ex- 

 travagant hypothesis of the changing of the direction of the earth's axis, as it 

 involves changes in the motion of the earth necessarily of greater relative 

 amount than the motions of a boy's top. Partial upheavals and great chan- 

 ges of the surface of the earth are insufficient to account for the phenomena, 

 and involve too many contradictions. 



The Palaeontologist has roughly indicated by his zones of fossil flora, and 

 fossil fauna, that the pole of the earth has not changed its direction ; and' this 

 is a rough but tangible proof of the deductions of astronomical observations. 



My suggestion is that we must look to a cosmical cause for these phenomena 

 of great and even small climatic changes ; and that cause is in the combustion 

 of the material or materials upon the surface of the sun. 



The telescope and the spectroscope have made known to us the connection 

 between sudden outbursts of storms upon the sun's surface, and the exhibition 

 of magnetic or electrical phenomena on the earth. There has been established 

 a correspondence between the eleven-year period of the solar spots and certain 

 magnetic phenomena ; and it appears probable, that the same inter-dependence 

 may be deliicjd, the sun's spots (as exhibiting solar phenomena) and the winds 

 and precipitation of rain. The spectroscope has revealed to us a sun wherein a 

 sudden outburst of luminous hydrogen has increased the brilliancy of the star 

 from the ninth to the second magnitude, and its comparatively slow return to 

 its apparently former condition. 



It appears to me that herein we strike the key-noteof the causes at work to 

 solve the problem of short or long periods of varying climate upon the surface 



