CAl*T. MAUKIIAM AT I’OUT CHURCHILL, ETC. 
3G3 
of iilteml obli(|uity of tho axis of the earth to account for what 
may hav'c hocn ([uito well hroiight about hy causes .similar to those 
at present in action ; acting, as no doubt all natural forces do act, 
with less force now than they did — for example, in the time of tho 
deposition of the INIioceno Strata — for in all tho records I have 
searched I do not find any proof, so far as vegetation is concerned, 
of any very great heat in Northern latitudes. Even supposing the 
Coal of these high latitudes to bo truly “ Carboniferous,” which it is 
iwt, the nearest resemblance to tho llora of tho Carboniferous era 
at present existing is to bo found not in the tropics, but in lat. 
43 to 4o S. in a damp, misty, suidess climate, and the nearest 
representative of the llora of tho Mioceno Epoch will probably be 
that of Japan, which grows in an insular climate of great regularity 
and few extremes, rather than of great boat — and of any flora of 
a much hotter climate than these (.such as that of the Eocene beds of 
Great Britain) I find at present no trace. 
It will naturally bo exiiected that I should refer to tho remarks 
made by Colonel Feilden in his Presidential address, with reference 
to tho supposed origin of life on tho globe in I’olar liegions. The 
small herbaria before us ai'o ipiito too small to afford any evidence 
either for or against any theory of distribution, much less of origin ; 
they belong almost entirely to that great Scandinavian Flora which 
has been shown by Sii‘ J. T>. Hooker to be the forthest extehded at 
tho present day of any flora in existence, and whose distribution 
presents some difficulties which even he cannot .solve ; but so far 
as I am capable of appreciating the evidence on this hypothesis, 1 
quite agree with Colonel Feilden’s remark, “ that the facts, so far as 
known, do not contradict it.” 
AVc have seen that, so far as temperature goes, there does not 
seem any insuperable dilHculty to the existence of a Miocene, or 
even of a Carboniferous llora, at or near the Pole, under varied 
conditions of the etirth’s surface ; there remains then to be con- 
sidered the question of the amount of light required for luxuriant 
vegetation. We know that the maturity of plants is in most cases 
determined by the amount of heat received, directly or indirectly 
from tho sun, and that a certain number of degrees of heiit are 
recpiired to bring each species to perfection, and that it is not a 
matter of vital importance over how many days those degrees of 
heat may be distributed ; this is really what we mean when Ave 
