| → by drifted icebergs and coast-ice, 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| rocks 1869 1872 |
|
| → with remarkable clearness 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| OMIT 1869 1872 |
|
| → to come slowly 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| slowly to come 1869 1872 |
|
| → arctic beings and ill-fitted for their former more temperate inhabitants, the latter would be supplanted and arctic productions 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| the inhabitants of the north, they 1869 |
| the inhabitants of the north, these 1872 |
|
| → places. 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| places of the former inhabitants of the temperate regions. 1869 1872 |
|
| → inhabitants of the more temperate regions would 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| latter, 1869 1872 |
|
| → travel 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| would travel further and further 1869 1872 |
|
|
in this same belief, had not Agassiz and others called vivid attention to the Glacial period, which, as we shall immediately see, affords a simple explanation of these facts. We have evidence of almost every conceivable kind, organic and inorganic,
within a very recent geological period, central Europe and North America suffered under an
climate. The ruins of a house burnt by fire do not tell their tale more
than do the mountains of Scotland and Wales, with their scored flanks, polished surfaces, and perched boulders, of the icy streams with which their valleys were lately filled. So greatly has the climate of Europe changed, that in Northern Italy, gigantic moraines, left by old glaciers, are now clothed by the vine and maize. Throughout a large part of the United States, erratic
and
scored
→by drifted icebergs and coast-ice,
plainly reveal a former cold period. |
|
| The former influence of the glacial climate on the distribution of the inhabitants of Europe, as explained
→with remarkable clearness
by Edward Forbes, is substantially as follows. But we shall follow the changes more readily, by supposing a new glacial period
→to come slowly
on, and then pass away, as formerly occurred. As the cold came on, and as each more southern zone became fitted for
→arctic beings and ill-fitted for their former more temperate inhabitants, the latter would be supplanted and arctic productions
would take
→places. The
→inhabitants of the more temperate regions would
at the same
→travel
southward, unless they were stopped by barriers, in which case they would perish. The mountains would become covered with snow and ice, and their former Alpine inhabitants would descend to the plains. By the time that the cold had reached its maximum, we should have
arctic fauna and flora, covering the central parts of Europe, as far
|
