530 Prof. Nordenshiold — Former Climate of Polar Regions. 



by Mr. Furnhjelm ; from Sagalin by Admiral Furnhjelm ; and from 

 different localities of Spitsbergen by the Swedish Expeditions. 1 The 

 spots where remains of this period are found are frequently dis- 

 tinguished by their astonishing abundance of fossil plant-remains. 



For example, at a place in Spitzbergen which we have called Cape 

 Lyell, after the lately-deceased great English geologist, the rocks on 

 the shore for a distance of several hundred feet form a continuous 

 herbarium, where every stroke of the hammer brings to light 

 an image of the vegetation of a long-past age — when the forest 

 vegetation of these tracts consisted of the swamp-cypress of Texas 

 (Taxodium disticJium) , of gigantic Sequoias, relations or ancestors of 

 California's mammoth-tree, of large-leafed birches, limes, oaks, 

 beeches, planes, and even magnolias. The place is situated in about 

 77° 35' N. lat., on the south side of the entrance to Bell-sound, on the 

 western coast of Spitzbergen. At the foot of the cliff, on one or 

 two barren heaps of gravel, one may discover shoots of an inch long 

 of the polar willow, sole representative of the present vegetation of 

 the locality. Just off the shore the ocean currents drive icebergs,. . 

 which have fallen from the neighbouring glaciers, backwards and 

 forwards, and the crown of the rock itself forms the limit of a 

 mighty glacier, which threatens within a few years to bury under an 

 icy covering of several hundred feet thickness not only the little 

 vegetation that exists here, and which in the summer weeks is some- 

 times adorned with charming colours, but also the memorials of 

 the ancient glorious age now preserved within its rocks. 



By a careful examination of the rich materials here accessible, 

 and by a comparison of the petrifactions with those of the same 

 period found in more southerly localities, Heer has shown that 

 already in the Miocene era considerable variety of climate existed 

 on the face of the earth, though even the Pole at that time enjoyed 

 a climate fully comparable with that of Central Europe now. The 

 then Flora of Europe had almost entirely an American character, 

 and there are many reasons for supposing that the continents of 

 Europe and America were at that time united, and bounded on the 

 south by an ocean extending from the Atlantic over the present 

 deserts of Sahara and Central Asia to the Pacific. 



Between the Miocene and the present eras are two important 

 periods, the Pliocene and the Glacial, which to us are particularly 

 deserving of attention, inasmuch as that during them man, the lord 

 of creation, seems first to have made his appearance. That during 

 the latter of these periods vast masses of ice covered at least all the- 

 northern part of Europe is a well-known fact ; but concerning the 

 nature of the transition from the glorious climate of the Miocene 

 age to the Glacial period, we possess no knowledge whatever- 

 founded on actual observation. Probably at some future time con- 

 tributions towards the solution of this important question may be 



1 "We may also mention the evidence of an Arctic Miocene Flora obtained by Sir 

 John Richardson from fine indurated clay-beds, associated with Coal-seams, on the 

 Mackenzie River; near Great Bear Lake, from which 17 species of fossil plants have- 

 been identified by Heer. — Edit. Geol. Mag. 



