The Change In The Climate And Its Cause

THE CHANGE IN THE CLIMATE AND ITS CAUSE. CONTENTS. PAGE. INTRODUCTION 9-17 PART I. WHY WE MAY EXPECT WARMER WINTERS . . . . 21-33 APPENDIX TO PART 1 34-38 PART II. A FURTHER EXPLANATION or THE DRAYSON THEORY 41-60 PART III. A DISCUSSION OF THE INVARIABLE PLANE, AND OF THE CAUSE AND EFFECT OF CLIMATIC CHANGES 63-92 APPENDIX TO PART III., 93-94 PKEFACE, In this book the reasoning has been as far as possible kept free from, technicalities. The explanation of the controversial points will, it is hoped, be sufficiently clear to enable the unprofessional reader to follow any further developments with enlightened interest. The question is, perhaps, of more importance than can now be appreciated, and a careful reading of all the arguments is certainly to be recommended. If, however, the broad outlines of the theory relating to the change of climate and the glacial periods are all that is sought for, it is advisable to read mainly the Introduction and Part III. The discussion of the Invariable Plane argument has so important a bearing on the new aspect of affairs here represented that the suspen- sion of the operation of this factor completely clears the field for the deductions drawn concerning the past and present changes of climate. The cause of these can now be outlined with some certainty, in that the date of the last glaciation, as calculated in the Views of American Geologists, page 69, is practically proved. The importance of this discovery to Astronomy will be understood from a perusal of the Comparative Summary, p. 17, and the new time- unit in geological history will henceforth serve as a base-line for a survey of the glacial periods, which it has hitherto been impossible to map out.It must not be rashly inferred that we shall shortly see a further notable change of climate, or that we shall be free from occasional cold spells of comparative intensity, as it has been a peculiar feature that, with our own warmer winters, more southern lands have of late years experienced unusual snaps of low temperature. With the new investigations now being made in the upper strata of the atmosphere, meteorologists will perhaps be able to explain why these flying columns from the polar regions occasionally invade such southern climes. LEWES, January, 1914. R. A. MARRIOTT. INTRODUCTION. In spite of the recent extension of research and of discoveries which bear on geology and the history of man, it is strange that, though constantly making use of the term pre-glacial, we are in entire ignorance of even an approximate estimate as to when the Glacial Period really occurred. It follows that in thus sailing without a chronometer Science cannot fix her position, and is obliged to allow great freedom of speculation, and to give equal weight to very diverse opinions on the subject, thus creating a confusion of tongues very detrimental to progress. We have, however, reached a critical point. The question can no longer remain in its present condition, for after many years of theory, we are now confronted with facts. The assertion that winters are getting warmer is no longer debateable, nor is there any doubt that the ice-fringes at both Poles are being rapidly reduced...