Note 17 — A General Comparison of the Demonstration with the Facts of Geology.

The author is aware that this statement is at variance with the opinion of many Geologists of high repute, as may be seen from the following quotations: “It is evident that the idea of connecting the phenomena of the internal heat of the globe with terrestrial climates, whether of the present or of past geological ages, must be entirely abandoned, as it has been, by most writers on this subject. The hypothesis cannot be allowed to stand as even one of the possible theories of climatic change.”—The Climatic Changes of later Geological Times. Whitney, p. 261.

“The first theory brought forward to account for glaciation was that the earth, having been originally in a fiery state, had in cooling passed from a condition of universal warmth to a more and more frigid state, until the present conditions were attained. This is the least tenable of all theories, for it neglected the now evident fact that there had been changes from cold to warmth and back again to cold. However, as it was invented before the existence of glacial periods was suspected, it long commanded a general assent, and was the opinion that held the ground until near the middle of this century.”—Glaciers. Shaler & Davis, p. 70.

The physicists who have held that earth heat was a cause of the Ice Age are Prof. E. Frankland, F. R. S., Prof. A. Woeikof and Startorius von Walterhausen. Not one of the three, however, seems to have had a clear conception of all the facts and conditions although their views were in the main sound.

The author hopes to extend the views held by these writers and to show that the whole range of climates as recorded by fossil and existing life is capable of correct interpretation, in accordance with known laws, and without the intervention of suppositions and assumptions. And moreover, to base his deductions upon a general plan applicable to any planet and capable of explaining conditions prevalent upon other planets, notably upon Jupiter and Mars.