Seite - 419 - in The Origin of Species
Bild der Seite - 419 -
Text der Seite - 419 -
ALTERNATE GLACIAL PERIODS 419
attempted to show that a glacial condition of climate is the
result of various physical causes, brought into operation by
an increase in the eccentricity of the earth's orbit. All these
causes tend towards the same end; but the most powerful
appears to be the indirect influence of the eccentricity of the
orbit upon oceanic currents. According to Mr. Croll, cold
periods regularly recur every ten or fifteen thousand years;
and these at long intervals are extremely severe, owing to
certain contingencies, of which the most important, as Sir C.
Lyell has shown, is the relative position of the land and
water. Mr. Croll believes that the last great Glacial period
occurred about 240,000 years ago, and endured with slight
alterations of climate for about 160,000 years. With respect
to more ancient Glacial periods, several geologists are con-
vinced from direct evidence that such occurred during the
Miocene and Eocene formations, not to mention still more
ancient formations. But the most important result for us,
arrived at by Mr. Croll, is that whenever the northern hemi-
sphere passes through a cold period the temperature
of the southern hemisphere is actually raised, with the win-
ters rendered much milder, chiefly through changes in the
direction of the ocean-currents. So conversely it will be
with the northern hemisphere, whilst the southern passes
through a Glacial period. This conclusion throws so much
light on geographical distribution that I am strongly inclined
to trust in it; but I will first give the facts, which demand
an explanation.
In South America, Dr. Hooker has shown that besides
many closely allied species, between forty and fifty of the
flowering plants of Tierra del Fuego, forming no inconsider-
able part of its scanty flora, are common to North America
and Europe, enormously remote as these areas in opposite
hemispheres are from each other. On the lofty mountains
of equatorial America a host of peculiar species belonging
to European genera occur. On the Organ mountains of
Brazil, some few temperate European, some Antarctic, and
some Andean genera were found by Gardner, which do not
exist in the low intervening hot countries. On the Silla of
Caraccas, the illustrious Humboldt long ago found species
belonging to genera characteristic of the Cordillera.
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Buch The Origin of Species"
The Origin of Species
- Titel
- The Origin of Species
- Autor
- Charles Darwin
- Verlag
- P. F. Collier & Son
- Ort
- New York
- Datum
- 1909
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- PD
- Abmessungen
- 10.5 x 16.4 cm
- Seiten
- 568
- Schlagwörter
- Evolutionstheorie, Evolution, Theory of Evolution, Naturwissenschaft, Natural Sciences
- Kategorien
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Biologie
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 5
- AN HISTORICAL SKETCH of the Progress of Opinion on the Origin of Species 9
- INTRODUCTION 21
- Variation under Domestication 25
- Variation under Nature 58
- Struggle for Existence 76
- Natural Selection; or the Survival of the Fittest 93
- Laws of Variation 145
- Difficulties of the Theory 178
- Miscellaneous Objections to the Theory of Natural Selection 219
- Instinct 262
- Hybridism 298
- On the Imperfection of the Geological Record 333
- On the Geological Succession of Organic Beinss 364
- Geographical Distribution 395
- Geographical Distribution - continued 427
- Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary Organs 450
- Recapitulation and Conclusion 499
- GLOSSARY 531
- INDEX 541