1825.] On the Climate of the Antediluvian World. 97 



Article II. 



On the Climate of the Antediluvian World, and its Independence 

 of Solar Injiuence; and on the Formation of Granite. By Sir 

 Alexander Crichton, Knight, St. W. FRS. &c. 



(To the Editors of the Annals of Philosophi/ .) 



GENTLEMEN, Ilurleyslreet, Cavendish-square, Jan. 4, 1825. 



The proofs of the dimate of the antediluvian globe having 

 been for a long period of time independent of solar heat are 

 numerous, and well known as detached geological facts ; yet 

 they have not, so far as I know, been brought together and pre- 

 sented under this very interesting point of view, nor has the 

 principle been applied to the explanation of such geological 

 phenomena as it is calculated to elucidate. They have attracted 

 notice indeed, as characterizing epochas in the stratification of 

 the earth, and as exhibiting a succession of events in the great 

 work of creation, but the light they throw on the climate of the 

 world in its first ages, has not arrested that degree of attention 

 which a subject so interesting seems to demand. 



The view which I am going to take of the temperature of the 

 antediluvian world, of its independence of solar heat, and its 

 gradual changes, is founded on the most indisputable facts ; and 

 the conclusions to be drawn from them are so highly important 

 in themselves, and so intimately connected with the study of 

 geology, that the subject appears a fit one for a scientific journal, 

 where it will probably awaken the attention of many readers, and 

 lead to further researches. 



In the foUowuig pages it will not be necessary to enter into 

 very minute details, but to turn the attention of geologists to 

 certain great classes of facts as data which will at once be 

 acknowledged to bear immediately on the subject. Many others 

 will naturally present themselves to every well informed and 

 reflecting mind. 



Among the earliest proofs which geology offers of the ante- 

 diluvian climate having been independent of solar influence for 

 a great length of time, are those circumstances which show that 

 all the surface of the earth, from a very high northern latitude 

 to a corresponding southern one, was of one uniform tempera- 

 ture, and that a very high one, when compared with the tem- 

 perature of the same range of latitude in our days. 



I do not allude to the fact of fossil remains of elephants, 

 rhinoceroses, hyenas, and other animals of warm climates, hav- 

 ing been found in northern latitudes ; for the migratory disposi- 

 tion of animals on the one hand, and on the other the possibility 

 of their having been transported after death from distant regions. 



New Series, vol. ix. M 



