Origin of Species Variorum

Comparison with 1872

similar in all their physical conditions, .. with their inhabitants utterly dissimilar.

Mundane Glacial Period .

But we must return to our more immediate subject. .. .. .. I am convinced that Forbes's view may be largely extended. In Europe we meet with the plainest evidence of the Glacial period, from the western shores of Britain to the Oural range, and southward to the Pyrenees. We may infer, from the frozen mammals and nature of the mountain vegetation, that Siberia was similarly affected. In the Lebanon, according to Dr. Hooker, perpetual snow formerly covered the central axis, and feed glaciers which rolled 4000 feet down its valleys. The same observer has recently found great moraines at a low level on the Atlas range in N. Africa. Along the Himalaya, at points 900 miles apart, glaciers have left the marks of their former low descent; and in Sikkim, Dr. Hooker saw maize growing on ancient and gigantic moraines. Southward of the great continent of Asia, on the opposite side of the equator, we now know, from the excellent researches of Dr. J. Haast and Dr. Hector, that enormous glaciers formerly descended to a low level in New Zealand; and the same plants found by Dr. Hooker on widely separated mountains in this island tell the same story of a former cold period. From facts lately communicated to me by the Rev. W. B. Clarke, it appears also that there are clear traces of former glacial action on the mountains of the south-eastern corner of Australia. ↑

Looking to America: in the northern half, ice-borne fragments of rock have been observed on the eastern side of the continent, as far south as lat. 36°-37°, and on the shores of the Pacific, where the climate is now so different, as far south as lat. 46°. Erratic boulders have, also, been noticed on the Rocky Mountains. In the Cordillera of .. South America, nearly under the equator, glaciers once extended far below their present level. In central Chile I was astonished at the structure of a vast mound of detritus

corresponding in all their physical conditions, but with their inhabitants utterly dissimilar. ↑

But we must return to our more immediate subject, the Glacial period. I am convinced that Forbes's view may be largely extended. In Europe we have the plainest evidence of the cold period, from the western shores of Britain to the Oural range, and southward to the Pyrenees. We may infer from the frozen mammals and nature of the mountain vegetation, that Siberia was similarly affected. ↑ Along the Himalaya, at points 900 miles apart, glaciers have left the marks of their former low descent; and in Sikkim, Dr. Hooker saw maize growing on gigantic ancient moraines. South of the equator, we have some direct evidence of former glacial action in New Zealand; and the same plants, found on widely separated mountains in that island, tell the same story. If one account which has been published can be trusted, we have direct evidence of glacial action in the south-eastern corner of Australia.

Looking to America; in the northern half, ice-borne fragments of rock have been observed on the eastern side as far south as lat. 36°-37°, and on the shores of the Pacific, where the climate is now so different, as far south as lat. 46°; erratic boulders have, also, been noticed on the Rocky Mountains. In the Cordillera of equatorial South America, glaciers once extended far below their present level. In Central Chile I examined a vast mound of detritus, about 800 feet in height, crossing a valley of the Andes; and this I now feel convinced was a gigantic moraine, left far below any existing glacier.