THE GLACIAL PERIOD AND THR EAKTH-MOVEMENT HYPOTHESIS. 261 



We are told that "it is no longer disputed that in Pleistocene 

 times vast sheets of ice. . . covered broad areas in Europe and 

 America." The Pleistocene time is at the head of the Tertiary 

 system, but no date is as yet fixed for the group. James Croll 

 tells us in Climate and Time that the Glacial epoch began about 

 240,000 and ended about 80,000 years ago. Mr. Smith in his Great 

 Ice Age of North America, gives about 15,000 or 20,000 years ago for 

 the end of the frozen time. Professor James Geikie kindly sent me 

 his papers on the Evolution of Climate, including some very sug- 

 gestive maps of the varied condition of this Earth : — No. 1 gives 

 the Palaeozoic epoch, when the sea ran up through Central America, 

 Europe, and Asia ; No. 2 gives the Mesozoic condition, when the 

 same highways were open. It is an accepted fact that the light 

 warm water of the tropics runs up to replace the cold sinking 

 water of the Arctic region. We know that this warm current gives 

 warmth directly and indirectly to the neighbouring regions, there- 

 fore no Glacial Period existed in Europe or America at that time. 



No. 3 gives the same regions in the Tertiary system ; the 

 American Channel is closed, but the Atlantic and the European 

 channels are open. As the Pleistocene group is in this system, and 

 as warm water still found its way through Europe, it is difficult to 

 suppose that glacial times existed in the Tempei'ate Zone of 

 Europe. The maps seem to represent a very true geographical 

 condition at each period — without date. We have no charts giving 

 altitude in those old days, but there can be no doubt how the 

 Highlands have at all times contributed to the filling up the low- 

 lands by their denuded particles. 



The Address points out several " salient facts " to reckon with 

 before the glacial climate can be securely accepted. In addition 

 to these I found in India the same actions going on by water 

 forces as are attributed to ice by the glacial theorists. I found 

 old moraines in the midst of plains in the Taptee and Beenea 

 Valleys. These were left by river water-falls : rocks fall on 

 the water and on the ice, they are carried as far as the forces can 

 carry them, and are left to mark the spots where the moving 

 power left them. 



The subject has been much complicated by clever theories, but 

 when we return to nature aud trace the changes of climate as I did 

 in The Times of February, 1891, I see no reason to give a Glacial 

 Period to Europe in the Pleistocene group, when the geographical 

 conditions were approaching their present state. Professor James 

 Geikie told us in his Evolution of Climate, that " Geological 

 climate has been determined chiefly by geographical conditions — 

 therefore if Europe and America were covered by ice sheets in the 

 Tertiary system, why were they removed ? " 



Mr. Joseph John Murphy writes : — 



1 have read Professor Geikie's Paper on the Glacial Period with 



