CHAPTER V. 



THE ICE OF GREENLAND AND THE ANTARCTIC CONTINENT 

 NOT DUE TO ELEVATION OF THE LAND. 



Greenland; attempts to Penetrate into the Interior. — No Mountain 

 Ranges in the Interior.— The Fohn of Greenland.— Antarctic 

 Regions. — Character of the Icebergs. — Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker 

 and Professor Shaler on the Antarctic Ice. — On the Argument 

 against the Existence of a South-Polar Ice-Cap. — Thickness of 

 Ice not dependent on Amount of Snowfall. 



Before proceeding to an examination of certain 

 modifications of the Physical Theory which have 

 recently been advanced, it will be necessary to devote 

 the present chapter to the consideration of some points 

 connected with the physical conditions of the ice of 

 Greenland and the Antarctic regions. 



The only two continents on the globe covered by 

 permanent ice and snow are Greenland and the 

 Antarctic. But are these continents to be regarded 

 as Highlands or as Lowlands ? It is an opinion held by 

 many that these regions are greatly elevated, and that 

 it is mainly owing to this elevation that they are so 

 completely buried under ice. I have been wholly 

 unable to find evidence for any such conclusion. It is 

 of course true that, in regard to Greenland at least, the 

 observations of Rink, Heyes, ISTordenskjold, Jensen, 

 Brown, and others, show that the upper surface of the 

 inland ice is greatly elevated above the sea-level. 

 Dr. Rink, for example, states that the elevation of this 

 icy plain, at its junction with the outskirts of the 



