"Heat considered as a Mode of Motion," p. 192.
2. "Climate and Time," p. 74.
3. "Prehistoric Times," p. 401.
4. "Philosophical Magazine," 1864, p. 328.
5. July, 1876, p. 288.]
{p. 61}
to suppose that the Ice period was attended, if not in part caused,
by a far more abundant evaporation from the surface of the Atlantic
than takes place at present; and it has even been conjectured that
submarine volcanoes in the tropics might have loaded the atmosphere
with an unusual amount of moisture. This speculation seems to me,
however, both improbable and superfluous; improbable, because no
traces of any such cataclysm have been discovered, and it is more
than doubtful whether the generation of steam in the tropics, however
large the quantity, would produce glaciation of the polar regions.
The ascent of steam and heated air loaded with vapor to the altitude
of refrigeration would, as it seems to me, result in the rapid
radiation of the heat into space, and the local precipitation of
unusual quantities of rain; and the effect of such a catastrophe
would be slowly propagated and feebly felt in the Arctic and
Antarctic regions.
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