Thursday, March 28, 2024
Text Size

The Drift Chapter 2, THE ORIGIN OF THE DRIFT NOT KNOWN.

RAGNAROK

THE AGE OF FIRE AND GRAVEL.

BY

IGNATIUS DONNELLY

AUTHOR OF "ATLANTIS: THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD."

[1883]

PART I

The Drift

CHAPTER II

THE ORIGIN OF THE DRIFT NOT KNOWN.

WHILE several different origins have been assigned for the phenomena known as "the Drift," and while one or two of these have been widely accepted and taught in our schools as established truths, yet it is not too much to say that no one of them meets all the requirements of the case, or is assented to by the profoundest thinkers of our day.

Says one authority:

"The origin of the unstratified drift is a question which has been much controverted."[1]

Louis Figuier says, [2]after considering one of the proposed theories:

"No such hypothesis is sufficient to explain either the cataclysms or the glacial phenomena; and we need not hesitate to confess our ignorance of this strange, this mysterious episode in the history of our globe. . . . Nevertheless, we repeat, no explanation presents itself which can be considered conclusive; and in science we should never be afraid to say, I do not know."

Geikie says:

"Many geologists can not yet be persuaded that till has ever formed and accumulated under ice." [3]

A recent scientific writer, after summing up all the facts and all the arguments, makes this confession:

[1. "American Cyclopia," vol. vi, p. 112.

2. "The World before the Deluge," pp. 435, 463.

3. "The Great Ice Age," p. 370.]

From the foregoing facts, it seems to me that we are justified in concluding:

"1. That however simple and plausible the Lyellian hypothesis may be, or however ingenious the extension or application of it suggested by Dana, it is not sustained by any proof, and the testimony of the rocks seems to be decidedly against it.

"2. Though much may yet be learned from a more extended and careful study of the glacial phenomena of all parts of both hemispheres, the facts already gathered seem to be incompatible with any theory yet advanced which makes the Ice period simply a series of telluric phenomena, and so far strengthens the arguments of those who look to extraneous and cosmical causes for the origin of these phenomena." [1]

The reader will therefore understand that, in advancing into this argument, he is not invading a realm where Science has already set up her walls and bounds and landmarks; but rather he is entering a forum in which a great debate still goes on, amid the clamor of many tongues.

There are four theories by which it has been attempted to explain the Drift.

These are:

I. The action of great waves and floods of water.

II. The action of icebergs.

III. The action of glaciers.

IV. The action of a continental ice-sheet.

We will consider these several theories in their order.

[1. "Popular Science Monthly," July, 1876, p. 290.]

Translate

Keep this website alive, a Donation will be highly appreciated

Please consider a donation supporting our efforts.

Visitors

United States 69.7%United States
Canada 7.2%Canada
Serbia And Montenegro 6.9%Serbia And Montenegro
United Kingdom 2.6%United Kingdom
Australia 2.1%Australia
Germany 2%Germany
Netherlands 1.4%Netherlands
Romania 0.6%Romania
China 0.5%China
France 0.5%France

Today: 6
Yesterday: 12
This Week: 53
Last Week: 114
This Month: 499
Last Month: 542
Total: 458401

Please report broken links to the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This is copyrighted information presented under the Fair Use Doctrine of the United States Copyright Act (section 107 of title 17) which states: 'the fair use of a copyrighted work...for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.' In practice the courts have decided that anything which does not financially harm the copyright holder is fair use

 This is a Non-Commercial Web page, © 1998-2011 L.C.Geerts The Netherlands all rights reserved.

It is strictly forbidden to publish or copy anything of my book without permission of the author, permission is granted for the recourses, for personal use only.

Privacy Statement