II) 



[No. 1. 



Bussel, for instance, says (U. S. Geol. Surv. 4th. Ann. Eep. 

 Washington 1884 p. 452—53), that the faulting in „the Great 

 Basin" is not a consequence of any lateral compression, but 

 is accompanied by an extension in a horizontal direction. „The 

 fractures are closely related to an extension of the strata caused 

 by upheaval." To me it appears improbable that such relations 

 can be explained as the consequence of folding. And G. E. 

 Button (U. S. Geol. Surv. 6th Ann. Rep. Washington 1885 p. 

 198) says of the mountainous masses in Western North America, 

 whilst he, at same time, acknowledges that many ridges are 

 folded by a lateral force, „The mountains of the west have not 

 been produced by horizontal compression, but by some unknown 

 forces beneath, which have pushed them up!" 1 It is not my 

 intention to maintain that the cooling has no share at all, in 

 giving to the surface of the Earth the form it now possesses, 

 but I think that a new theory is necessary, which although it 

 may possibly not entirely displace the old doctrine, may yet serve 

 to explain features that the old theory leaves unintelligible. 



Henry H. Howorth has written two Memoirs: „Recent 

 Elevations of the Earth's Surface in the Northern Circumpolar 

 Regions" (Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc. Vol. XLIII. London 1873. 

 p. 240) and „Recent Changes in the Southern Circumpolar Re- 

 gions" (1. c. Vol. XLIV. London 1874. p. 252). 



In these Memoirs he has collected together what was known 

 at that time as to the displacement of the beach-lines in the 

 latest geological age, and the main result of his investigati- 

 ons is summed up in the following words: „The South Pole, as 



