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105 



temperature, was calculated to bring about and to foster in the greatest 

 degree. In this manner our coal-beds might have been stored ; for it is 

 hardly possible to conceive their formation under circumstances such as 

 now exist. I conceive, moreover, that such a growth as I have described 

 would have been highly necessary, in order to make a vegetable mould to 

 mix with, and assist in the disintegration of the inorganic soil that must 

 at first have formed the surface of the ground. 



But the world was not destined to be the scene of the life and death of 

 vegetation merely ; and everything tended but to that higher purpose. 



The cooling proceeds to a yet lower temperature ; the large amount of 

 vapour which before had shrouded the earth began to be deposited freely ; 

 the sky often exhibited its blue tint ; and, generally, meteorological pro- 

 cesses were more in accordance with what they are at the present time. 

 Vegetation now was required for the food of animal life, and therefore the 

 sun-light, as well as heat and carbon, was necessary for its higher develop- 

 ment. I conceive that it was at this epoch the two great lights were created 

 which were to rule the day and night ; for, although the sun was doubtless 

 present when the rest of the system was made, the little light that pene- 

 trated the earth was only sufficient to distinguish day from night. 



It is not necessary that I should follow up step by step the gradual cool- 

 ing down of the atmosphere till it reached its present average temperature, 

 which point it arrived at when the state of the sky no longer permitted 

 the retention of heat, but, on the other hand, offered no resistance to the 

 entrance of the radiated heat from the sun. The earth then derived its 

 heat from the sun alone ; a supply that is continually being received and 

 given off, so keeping up a proper balance over the whole globe. 



These notes on ancient temperatures are merely throwm out as sugges- 

 tions, and not as final results, the product of any close investigation into 

 the subject ; I therefore beg that they will be received as such. 



I had intended to offer some remarks on the latter portion of the paper, 

 " the grand physical operations " that you conceive to have been at work 

 in bringing about changes in the condition of our planet, but I fear that I 

 have already extended my note beyond prudent limits, and therefore will 

 defer any further observations, and remain, Sir, faithfully yours, 



Royal Institution. — January 29. — " On the Glacial Epoch." By Pro- 

 fessor Frankland, F.R.S. — Amongst the circumstances that have pro- 

 | foundly influenced the present physical condition of our earth, the action 

 | of ancient glaciers upon a scale of almost inconceivable magnitude has been 

 gradually but irresistibly forcing itself upon the notice of philosophers 

 since their attention was first called to it by Venetz and Esmark. There 

 are few elevated regions in any quarter of the globe which do not exhibit 

 indubitable evidence of the characteristic grinding and polishing action of 

 ,, ice-masses, although at present, perhaps, they are scarcely streaked by the 

 , snows of winter. In our own country the researches of Buckland, and 

 especially of Ramsay, have clearly shown that the Highlands of Scotland, 

 ; the mountains of Wales and Cumberland, and the limestone crags of York- 



1 VOL. VII. P 



Henry C. Okiswick. 



Greenwich, February, 1864. 



PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



