CORRESPONDENCE 273 



ignorance of science on this subject which, more than on any other, forms a 

 bar to progress in geology and in other kindred questions. 



When all the evidences, supported by the elements of de Horsey 's diagram 

 of the curve, are summarised, they constitute a convincing list.' Thus, by 

 the light of Drayson we have revealed — 



1. A reason for the retreat of the ice-caps at both poles. 



2. A reason for the traditions of the Deluge. 



3. A reason for the lake pile dwellings of 7,000 years ago. 



4. A reason for the recent submergence of forests round the coasts of 

 England, and those of the Continent for the same and lower latitudes. 



5. A reason for the remains of pine forests in St. Patrick's and other 

 islands within 15° of the North Pole, and for the remains of forests of cedars 

 buried by ice in Alaska (Croll in Climate and Time, and Wright's Ice Age in 

 North America). 



6. A reason for pronounced climatic changes as shown by the vegetation 

 of Denmark previous to a.d., while very little change, comparatively, has 

 taken place since the Christian Era. 



7. A reason for marks of ice striation on flints of Neolithic culture, and of 

 Neolithic flints being found in the submerged forests. 



8. A reason for the fact that in the sequence of the various cultures of 

 flint implements the changes of culture are generally accompanied by very 

 marked changes in climate intervening. 



9. A reason for the noticeable change of climate on which we have entered, 

 during the last sixty years or so, in England and in the southern latitudes 

 of the temperate zone, which has reduced very rapidly the size of Alpine 

 glaciers, made the winters milder and the summers cooler than formerly, 

 and is causing the ice fringing the Arctic regions to retreat measurably year 

 by year. 



10. Finally, proof positive, from the general consensus of opinion among 

 geologists abroad, and notably from the close agreement between Dr. Hoist's 

 estimate and de Horsey's curve for the dates of the oncoming and the passing 

 away of glaciation in Southern Sweden, that there has been extended from 

 both poles a glaciation from which the earth has not completely emerged — 

 a universal and geologically recent glaciation which cannot be accounted 

 for by any of the current theories, nor by all of them combined, but which 

 is fully explained by Drayson's polar motion round another centre, not for a 

 " few centuries " only, but during the whole cycle of 31,756 years. 



These arguments show that the world has been subjected to glacial 

 conditions which only passed away under 10,000 years ago. It is also 

 evident that there have been several glaciations. Now, all the geological 

 and physical theories either fail to respond to so recent a date, or fail to 

 account for a recurrence of glaciations in the post-tertiary period at such 

 comparatively short intervals, except the one theory, both rational and 

 logical, that glaciations are due to a periodical increase of the obliquity of 

 the ecliptic. 



The only reason that might make geologists hesitate before endorsing 

 the evidence herein given of a recent glaciation is that astronomers have for 

 so long opposed any suggestion that the obliquity may alter considerably 

 within ascertainable time-limits, that it would seem an outrage or a trespass 

 on a sister science to fly in the face of its teachings. But let us see if the 

 statements put forward by astronomers from time to time are consistent 

 and coherent, or are such as to furnish any real barrier to the acceptance 

 of the principle of the Drayson glacial theory, and it will become plain that 

 certain established facts and statements indicate that this principle has now 

 become interwoven with ideas that are professedly orthodox. 



I will here quote some cosmical facts, and summarise the diverse astro- 

 nomical fancies regarding them. 



