HO MAN AND THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 



do, is maintained by President Chamberlin and many oth- 

 ers who have wide acquaintance with the facts. That 

 they do not certainly indicate a complete disappearance 

 of the ice during an extensive interglacial epoch, is capa- 

 ble, however, of being maintained, without forfeiting one's 

 rights to the respect of his fellow-geologists. The oppo- 

 site theory is thus stated by Dr. Robert Bell : " It appears 

 as if all the phenomena might be referred to one general 

 Glacial period, which was long continued, and conse- 

 quently accompanied by varying conditions of tempera- 

 ture, regional oscillations of the surface, and changes in 

 the distributions of sea and land, and in the currents in 

 the ocean. These changes would necessarily give rise to 

 local variations in the climate, and might permit of vege- 

 tation for a time in regions which need not have been far 

 removed from extensive glaciers."* 



At my request, Professor J. E. Todd, of Iowa, whose 

 acquaintance with the region is extensive, has kindly writ- 

 ten out for me his conclusions upon this subject, which I 

 am permitted to give in his own words : 



" I am not prepared to write as I would like concern- 

 ing the forest-beds and old soils. I will, however, offer 

 the following as a partial report. I have come to think 

 that there is considerable confusion on the subject. I be- 

 lieve there are five or six different things classed under 

 one head. 



" 1. Recent Much and Soils. — The finest example I have 

 found in the whole Missouri Valley was twenty feet below 

 silt and clay, in a basin inside the outer moraine, near 

 Grand View, South Dakota. From my examination of 

 the reported old soil near Albia, Iowa, I think the most 

 rational way of reconciling the conflicting statements con- 

 cerning it is that it also belongs to this class. 



* Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, vol. i, pp. 287- 

 310. 



