Geological Papers. 79 



glacial epoch of prehistoric times brought on by similar causes? 

 Let us see. 



At the beginning of the Tertiary age our sun was at a point 

 in his orbit nearest the central magnetic center in his journey 

 toward Sirius. The axis of the earth was probably inclined 

 less than now, likely not more than twenty degrees ; a perpetual 

 summer prevailed from pole to pole. To use the words of 

 T. J. Bonney (Story of Our Earth, p. 496) : "Switzerland, 

 and in fact all Europe, was 16 to 20 degrees warmer than a I. 

 present in Eocene and Miocene Tertiary times; and Le Conte 

 says that in the Miocene Greenland, Iceland and even Spitz- 

 bergen were covered with luxuriant temperate vegetation. 



Another writer says : "This, the Tertiary period indeed for 

 America, was the golden age of animals and plants. . . . 

 The country was more interesting and picturesque than now. 

 . . . This state of things, doubtless, continued throughout 

 many thousands of years," (Popular Science Monthly, Oc- 

 tober, 1878, p. 648.) 



A more recent writer says : "The middle era of this age — 

 the Miocene Tertiary — was characterized by tropical plants, 

 a varied and imposing fauna, and a genial climate, so extended 

 as to nourish forests of beeches, maples, walnuts, poplars and 

 magnolias in Greenland and Spitzbergen, while an exotic 

 vegetation hid the exuberant valleys of England." (American 

 Antiquarian, July, 1881, p. 280.) 



On the same subject Dr. Dawson says: "This delightful 

 climate was not confined to the present temperate or tropical 

 regions. It extended to the very shores of the Arctic sea. In 

 North Greenland, at Atanekerdulk, in latitude 70' north, at an 

 elevation of more than two thousand feet above the sea, were 

 found the remains of beeches, pines, walnuts, limes, and vines. 

 The remains of similar plants were found in Spitzbergen in 

 latitude 78 56'. (Earth and Man, p. 261.) 



Dr. Dawson continues: "Was not the Miocene period on the 

 whole a better age of the world than that in which we live? In 

 some respects it was. Obviously, there was in the northern 

 hemisphere a vast surface of land under a mild, equable climate 

 and clothed with a rich and varied vegetation. Had we lived 

 in the Miocene we might have sat under our own vine and 

 fig-tree equally in Greenland and Spitzbergen and in those 

 more southern climes to which the privilege is now restricted." 

 (Earth and Man, p. 264.) 



