354 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 820 



In that ease the temperature of the Swiss 

 lowland would be some 15° lower than now, 

 or near the freezing point.^' If this fall 

 were general, it would bring back the small 

 glaciers on the Gran Sasso d 'Italia and 

 Monte Rotondo in Corsica; perhaps also 

 among the higher parts of the Vosges and 

 Schwarzwald.^* In our own country it 

 would give a temperature of about 35° at 

 Carnarvon and 23° on the top of Snowdon, 

 of 32° at Fort William and 17.5° on the 

 top of Ben Nevis. If, in addition to this, 

 the land were 600 feet higher than now (as 

 it probably was, at any rate in the begin- 

 ning of the glacial epoch), there would be 

 a further drop of 2°, so that glaciers would 

 form in the corries of Snowdon, and the 

 region round Ben Nevis might resemble the 

 Oetzthal Alps at the present day. This 

 change of itself would be insufficient, and 

 any larger drop in the ocean level would 

 have to be continental in its effects, sLace 

 we can not assume a local upheaval of much 

 more than the above amount without seri- 

 ously interfering with the river system of 

 north central Europe. But these changes, 

 especially the former, might indirectly 

 diminish the abnormal warmth of winter 

 on our northwestern coasts.^" It is difficult 

 to estimate the effect of this. If it did no 

 more than place Carnarvon on the isotherm 

 of Berlin (now lower by 2°), that would 

 hardly bring a glacier from the Snow- 

 might then more nearly correspond with that of 

 glacier formation, I will provisionally accept the 

 higher figures, especially since Corsica, the Apen- 

 nines, and some other localities in Europe, seem 

 to require a reduction of rather more than 12°. 



^'It would be 32.5° at Zurich, 31.6° at Bern, 

 34.1° at Geneva, about 39.0° on the plain of Pied- 

 mont and 36.0° at Lyons. 



^ See for particulars the author's " lee Work ' 

 ("International Scientific Series"), p. 237. 



^ For much valuable information on these ques- 

 tions see a paper on the Climate of the Pleisto- 

 cene Epoch (F. W. Harmer, Quart. Journ. Geol. 

 Soc, LVII., 1901, p. 405). 



donian region down to the sea. At the 

 present time London is about 18° warmer 

 than a place in the same latitude near the 

 Labrador coast or the mouth of the Amur 

 River, but the removal of that difference 

 would involve greater changes in the dis- 

 tribution of sea and land than seems pos- 

 sible at an epoch comparatively speaking so 

 recent. I am doubtful whether we can 

 attribute to changed currents a reduction' 

 in British temperatures of so much as 11° ; 

 but, if we did, this would amount to 28° 

 from all causes, and give a temperature of 

 20° to 22° at sea-level in England, during- 

 the coldest part of the glacial epoch.*" 

 That is now found, roughly speaking, in 

 Spitzbergen, which, since its mountains rise 

 to much the same height, should give us a 

 general idea of the condition of Britain in 

 the olden time. 



What would then be the state of Scandi- 

 navia? Its present temperature ranges on 

 the west coast from about 45° in the souths 

 to 35° in the north. *^ But this region 

 must now be very much, possiblj^ 1,800 feet, 

 lower than it was in pregiacial, perhaps 

 also in part of glacial, times.*- If we added 

 5° for this to the original 15°, and allowed 

 so much as 18° for the diversion of the- 

 warm current, the temperature of Scandi- 

 navia would range from 7° to — 3°, ap- 

 proximately that of Greenland northwards^ 



" The present temperature in Ireland over the 

 zone (from south of Belfast to north of Galway 

 Bay) which is supposed to have formed the divide- 

 of the central snowfield may be given as from 49° 

 to 50°, nearly the same as at the sea-level in Car- 

 narvonshire. Thus, though the district is less- 

 mountainous than Wales, it would not need a 

 greater reduction, for the snowfall would probably 

 be rather larger. But this reduction could hardly 

 be less than 20°, for the glaciers would have to- 

 form nearly at the present sea-level. 



" It is 44.42° at Bergen, 38.48° at Bodo, 35.42°' 

 at Hammerfest, 41.36° at Christiania and Stock- 

 holm. 



■" For particulars see Qeel. Mag., 1899, p. 97 

 (W. H. Hudleston) and p. 282- (T. G. Bonney). 



