274 POPULAR LECTURES AND ADDRESSES. 



some time, not very remote, enjoyed a climate 

 comparable with our own or at all events com- 

 parable with the climates of Norway, Sweden, and 

 the north of Scotland. On this point I find a 

 most interesting statement in Croll's book, 

 Climate and Time. Although it is no doubt 

 well known to many present I am sure all will 

 hear it with interest if I read it to you. It is 

 entitled " Evidence of Warm Periods in Arctic 

 Regions." "The fact that stumps, etc., of full- 

 grown trees have been found in places where at 

 present nothing is to be met with but fields of snow 

 and ice, and where the mean annual temperature 

 scarcely rises above the zero of the Fahrenheit 

 Thermometer, is good evidence to show that the 

 climate of the arctic regions was once much warmer 

 than now. The remains of an ancient forest were 

 discovered by Captain M'Clure, in Banks's Land, 

 in latitude 74 48'. He found a great accumula- 

 tion of trees, from the sea level to an elevation of 

 upwards of 300 feet. ' I entered a ravine,' says 

 Captain M'Clurc, 'some miles inland, and found 

 tlu- north side of it, for a depth of 40 feet from the 



