116 



DISCOVERY 



kilometres farther to the north or south, the features 



continents together. 



would not fit on bringing the 



Carboniferous Period 



Eocene Period 



Old Quarternary 

 Era 



/ 



Fig. I.— the world IX THE CARBOXIFEROUS .\XD EOCENE 



PERIODS AXD OLD QU.\TERNARV ERA ACCORDING TO THE 



DISPLACEMENT THEORY. 



■V^Tiite denotes land, dots shallow water, cross-hatching deep sea. 



Actually, they do fit, and the correctness of our theory 

 becomes the more probable as such coincidences mul- 

 tiply themselves. 



The results of palaeontology have led to the assump- 

 tion of the existence of former land bridges, between 

 continents now separated b}- deep sea, over which an 

 unrestricted interchange of fauna and flora took place. 

 That such an interchange has at one time taken place 

 is shown by the identity of fossil forms and the relation- 

 ship of living forms. Now, these land bridges have 

 been assumed exactly in those places where the theory 

 put forward here indicates a former direct connection, 

 as, for instance, between Brazil and Africa, between 

 North America and Europe, between Madagascar and 



India, and in general between all the southern conti- 

 nents such as South .\merica, South Africa, Madagascar, 

 India, Australia, and Antarctica. It has hitherto been 

 assumed that these land bridges were afterwards sub- 

 merged, and now constitute the bottom of the deep 

 sea. This conception is physically untenable, for the 

 continents are floating in equilibrium on a heavier 

 underlying layer, and could not sink by so great an* 

 amount as fi\-e kilometres unless they were loaded down 

 by superincumbent layers to at least an equal height. 

 In addition, when all the necessary connecting land 

 masses are reconstructed it is impossible to find room 

 for the displaced masses of water. Further, the conti- 

 nents now lie so far away from each other that, even if 

 a former land connection existed, it would not account 

 for the identity of their former fauna and flora. These 

 difficulties disappear naturally when the displacement 

 theory is assumed. 



From the mass of information to be derived from the 

 geographical distribution of animals and plants we shall 

 onl}' choose a single striking example : the threefold 

 character of the Australian fauna. The most ancient 

 group of animals,! which is now found principally in 

 the south-west, shows relationships with India, Ceylon, 

 Madagascar, and South Africa. The second group, to 

 which the characteristic marsupials and monotremes 

 belong, contains, in distinction to the former class, 

 only such animals as can resist cold (mammals, fresh- 



-7000 



12 3 4 5 

 FREQUENCY OF HEIGHT 



Fig. :.— the TWO MAXIM.\, AT 100 METRES HIGH AND 

 4,700 3IETRES DEEP. 



water fishes, but not reptiles or earthworms). This 

 group has penetrated into the eastern Sunda Archi- 

 ' The so-called " Gondwanic " group. 



