S. IlamjhtoH — Kra titr'ir'itu of the Earth's Orbit 



what the Miocene vegetation of Grinnell Land requires. This 

 is a Reductio ad absurdum of the changes of geological climate 

 produced by the secular inequality of the eccentricity and peri- 

 helion longitude of the earth's orbit. 



Similar arguments may be applied to the other well-known 

 Miocene Plant-beds of the high northern Atlantic latitudes. 



2. For a second example, in Miocene times, S r ;iJ>ny<n must 

 have had a July temperature greater than 64°'4 F.* Its present 



July temperature, -f-:>>7 -2 F. ; annual temperature, +16 0, 5F. ; 

 JanuaYy temperature, — 4°*2 F. ; range, 41°-4 F. 



It is easy to see that the annual range of temperature in 

 Miocene times in Spitzbergen must have exceeded 88° 4 F.f at 

 the time of nmxinn m a eeiitricity, in order to account for the 

 fruits ripened there in summer. 



This, although not an impossible case, like the former case 

 of Grinnell Land, is yet quite incredible; for we have to im- 

 agine a redistribution of land and water such as would more 

 than double the annual range of temperature in Spitzbergen, or 

 raise it from 41° -4 F. to 88° 4 F. 



3. The Miocene Plant-beds of Disco, on the west coast of 

 Greenland, furnish a third proof that change of eccentricity of 

 the earth's orbit is not sufficient to account for former geologi- 

 cal climates. The present climate of Disco is— 



July temperature, + 44°-l F. ; January temperature, — 4°-9 F. ; 

 annual temperature, + 19°-6 F. ; range, 49°*0 F. 



The probable Miocene July temperature of Disco was greater 

 than 72°-3 F4 From this it follows, that the annual range of 

 temperature at Disco in Miocene times must have exceeded 

 97°*2 F., when the eccentricity of the earth's orbit was a raaxi- 



3 on Physical Geography, p. 332. 

 + £)>64°-4-16 -5>47°-9 F. This g 

 3 on Physical Geography, p. 340. 



