The correctness of these inferences has been objected to by Mr. James
Geikie and Dr. Croll, who doubt whether the northward currents of air
would act as successful carriers of heat to the polar regions, or whether
they would not rather dissipate it into space upon the road. On the other
hand, Mr. Geikie, though admitting that the temperature of a large
_unbroken_ arctic continent would be low, suggests that, as the winds
would be stripped of all moisture on its fringes, the interior would
therefore be without accumulations of snow and ice; and in the more
probable event of its being deeply indented by fjords and bays, warm
sea-currents (the representatives of our present Gulf and Japan streams,
but possessing a higher temperature than either, from the greater extent
of equatorial sea-surface originating them, and exposed to the sun's
influence) would flow northward, and, ramifying, carry with them warm and
heated atmospheres far into its interior, though even these, he thinks,
would be insufficient in their effects under any circumstances to produce
the sub-tropical climates which are known to have existed in high
latitudes.
Mr. John Evans[75] has thrown out the idea that possibly a complete
translation of geographical position with respect to polar axes may have
been produced by a sliding of the whole surface crust of the globe about a
fluid nucleus. This, he considers, would be induced by disturbances of
equilibrium of the whole mass from geological causes. He further points
out that the difference between the polar and equatorial diameters of the
globe, which constitutes an important objection to his theory, is
materially reduced when we take into consideration the enormous depth of
the ocean over a large portion of the equator, and the great tracts of
land elevated considerably above the sea-level in higher latitudes. He
also speculates on the general average of the surface having in bygone
geological epochs approached much more nearly to that of a sphere than it
does at the present time.
Sir John Lubbock favoured the idea of a change in the position of the axis
of rotation, and this view has been supported by Sir H. James[76] and many
later geologists.[77] If I apprehend their arguments correctly, this
change could only have been produced by what may be termed geological
revolutions. These are great outbursts of volcanic matter, elevations,
subsidences, and the like. These having probably been almost continuous
throughout geological time, incessant changes, small or great, would be
demanded in the position of the axis, and the world must be considered as
a globe rolling over in space with every alteration of its centre of
gravity. The possibility of this view must be left for mathematicians and
astronomers to determine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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