Apparent objections to the Glacial Theory. £81 



that this planet received at its origin, a very elevated temperature. 

 On the other hand, thermometrical observations shew us, that the 

 present distribution of heat in the terrestrial envelope is, that which 

 would have occurred, if the globe had been first very hot and then 

 progressively cooled, till it reached the state in which we now find 

 it." — Calcutta Journal Nat. Hist. No. 12, p. 604. 



Thus, if there be any truth in the doctrines of geologists, we de- 

 rive conclusive evidence from the fossil exuviae of extinct animals, 

 from the former distribution of land and water, and from the past 

 and present condition of the interior of the planet, that the climates 

 of the present day are far colder than they have ever before been, 

 and consequently, that if glaciers cannot now form in our island, 

 so neither could they have done so at any previous epoch ; from all 

 which it will necessarily result, that if the Glacial Theory is to be 

 maintained, the previous work and research of years, and the in- 

 ferences drawn from the phenomena apparent in the strata of the 

 earth, must be abandoned as erroneous. 



Again, it has been urged by high geological authority, that while 

 the accumulations of debris at the mouths of glens and valleys are 

 attributable to the former occurrence of glaciers in those situations, 

 the detached erratic blocks so numerously scattered over the 

 countries of the north, between the fortieth parallels of latitude and 

 the pole, are due to the agency of icebergs, which carried those 

 huge masses " when the lands over which they lie scattered were 

 submerged beneath the sea." — LyelVs Elem. Geol. p. 136. 



This author goes on to state, that the fact of those blocks occur- 

 ring in both hemispheres as far as the fortieth parallels, raises a 

 presumption, that the greater warmth of parts of Asia, Africa and 

 America nearer the line, has been proved unfavorable to the trans- 

 port of such blocks. On the other hand, they abound in the colder 

 regions of North America from Canada Northwards, as well as in 

 Northern Europe, and when we travel Southwards, and cross the line 

 in South America, we fall in with them again in Chili and Patagonia, 

 between latitude 41° S. and Cape Horn." — Ibid, p. 137. 



Many serious objections appear to rise up against this hypothesis 

 even out of the very arguments used to establish it, for although it 

 is undoubtedly true that icebergs in the present day possess the 



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