June, 1834. animals preserved in ice. 



295 



been shown by the imaginary case, when we transported 

 existing phenomena from one to the other hemisphere, — the 

 following conclusions may be deduced as probable : First, 

 that the degree of cold formerly was not excessive ; secondly, 

 that snow did not for a long time together cover the ground 

 (such not being the case at the extreme parts 55°-56° of 

 S. America) ; thirdly, that the vegetation partook of a more 

 tropical character than it now does in the same latitudes ; 

 and lastly, that at but a short distance to the northward of the 

 country thus circumstanced (even not so far as where Pallas 

 found the entire rhinoceros), the soil might be perpetually 

 congealed : so that if the carcass of any animal should once 

 be buried a few feet beneath the surface, it would be preserved 

 for centuries. 



Both Humboldt*' and Lyell have remarked, that at the 

 present day, the bodies of any animals, wandering beyond 

 the line of perpetual congelation which extends as far south 

 as 62°, if once embedded by any accident a few feet beneath the 

 surface, would be preserved for an indefinite length of time : 

 the same would happen with carcasses drifted by the rivers ; 

 and by such means the extinct mammalia may have been 

 entombed. There is only one small step wanting, as it ap- 

 pears to me, and the whole problem would be solved with 

 a degree of simplicity very striking, compared with the 

 several theories first invented. From the account given by 



those which I found adjoining the glaciers presently existing between 

 Londfiord and Lomb." (See Ed. New Phil. Journal, p. 117, October 

 1826.) These facts afford a very strong and admirable confirmation of 

 the view, that the climate of Europe has been gradually changing, from a 

 character resembling that of the southern hemisphere, to its present con- 

 dition. For on this hypothesis, we might have anticipated, that proofs 

 would have been discovered, that glaciers formerly descended to a lower 

 altitude than they now do ; and yet, that the organic remains of that 

 epoch, instead of a former period of refrigeration, would have indicated a 

 climate of a more tropical character ; — a conclusion, which may be de 

 duced from plain geological evidence. 



* See Humboldt, Fragmens Asiatiques, vol. ii., pp. 385 — 395. 



