MENTAL EVOLUTION 139 



My colleague, Professor H. E. Gregory, thus sums up the situ- 

 ation there: 



"Ten of the twelve droughts recorded for Australia since 1880 

 affected chiefly the inland areas, where the rainfall is normally ^ 

 below 25 inches; but the great drought of 1902-1903, which 

 marked the culmination of five unfavorable years, affected the 

 entire continent. In one year 15,000,000 sheep and 1,500,000 

 cattle perished, and the whole drought period saw the death of 

 60,000,000 sheep and 4,000,000 cattle from starvation and thirst. 

 Mining operations were checked for lack of water. The wheat 

 production fell in one year from 38,000,000 bushels to 12,000,000 

 bushels, and flour, as well as other foodstuffs, was imported. 

 Many people left the country, the excess of departures over 

 arrivals for the period 1901-1905 being 16,800. The birth rate 

 decreased; the deathrate increased so that the increase in popu- 

 lation dropped to 1.38 per cent, the lowest in the history of the 

 country. During this period the rate of increase for South 

 Australia was only 0.27 per cent and for Victoria 0.18." 



Inconsistent as it may seem, the kind of climate which brings 

 such disasters to some parts of the world is also the kind which 

 elsewhere most stimulates mental evolution. Variability is the 

 keynote of the whole matter. Suppose that the conditions which 

 appear to be connected with great solar activity should become 

 much intensified. A glacial epoch would be at hand. Events 

 like those which occurred from 1300 to 1400 A. D. in Greenland, 

 Scandinavia, Great Britain, central Europe, the Caspian region, 

 China, and California would recur with greatly increased inten- 

 sity. It must be carefully noted, however, that bitter cold, great 

 aridity, severe storms, floods, and the like would apparently not 

 prevail steadily, nor everywhere. On the contrary, part of the 

 time in high latitudes and all of the time in low latitudes con- 

 ditions might be no more severe than those prevailing at present 

 where civilization is highest. The mildest years of the Glacial 

 Period may have been about like our severer years, such as 1917 



