THE GEOSPHERES 237 



there could be such a shifting of materials 

 in the depths of the earth's crust as would 

 cause the sub-oceanic heaviness to give place 

 to the sub-continental lightness which has 

 been found to subsist." 



Should this result be accepted as clearly 

 established, then what is to be said about the 

 sunken continents and land-bridges which 

 have been constructed across ocean-basins 

 by biologists and geologists to explain the 

 distribution of rock formations and of fossil 

 and living organisms ? The western moun- 

 tains of Europe and the eastern mountains 

 of the United States are supposed to be frag- 

 ments of the great mountain ranges of 

 " Atlantis," now buried beneath the floor 

 of the North Atlantic. Again, portions of 

 South America, of Africa, and of India are 

 believed to be fragments of " Gondwanaland," 

 now buried beneath the submerged floor of the 

 great Southern Ocean. The study of ocean- 

 depths and ocean-deposits does not seem in 

 any way to support the view that continental 

 land has disappeared beneath the floor of the 

 ocean in the manner just indicated. 



It is no doubt very difficult to account for 

 the distribution of rocks, of fossils, and of 

 living creatures on the existing continents and 

 islands, but this distribution is better inter- 

 preted by the north polar theory of the origin 



