The cause of the ice ages was a puzzle to nineteenth-century climatologists. One of the most popular theories was that the affected continents must somehow have been hugely elevated and, like mountains, iced over. However, in this 1885 study of the problem, James Croll (1821–90) argues that such staggering movement would have been impossible. Instead, he puts forward a new theory: that the eccentricity of the earth's orbit changes at regular intervals over long periods, creating 'great secular summers and winters'. Adopting a meticulous approach to the facts, he disproves a host of well-established notions across several disciplines and makes some remarkable deductions, including the effect of ocean currents on climate, the temperature of space, and even the age of the sun. With a focus on logical argument and explanation rather than mathematics, his book remains fascinating and accessible to students in the history of science.
Contents
Preface; 1. The failure of attempts to account for secular changes of climate; 2. Misapprehensions regarding the physical theory of secular changes of climate; 3. Misapprehensions regarding the physical theory of secular changes of climate (cont.); 4. Objection that the air at the equator is not hotter in January than in July; 5. The ice of Greenland and the Antarctic continent not due to elevation of the land; 6. Examination of Mr Alfred R. Wallace's modification of the physical theory of secular changes of climate; 7. Examination of Mr Alfred R. Wallace's modification of the physical theory of secular changes of climate (cont.); 8. Examination of Mr Alfred R. Wallace's modification of the physical theory of secular changes of climate (cont.); 9. The physical cause of mild polar climates; 10. The physical cause of mild polar climates (cont.); 11. Interglacial periods in Arctic regions; 12. The distribution of flora and fauna in Arctic regions; 13. Physical conditions of the Antarctic ice-sheet; 14. Physical conditions of the Antarctic ice-sheet (cont.); 15. Regelation as a cause of glacier motion; 16. The temperature of space and its bearing on terrestrial physics; 17. The probable origin and age of the sun's heat; 18. The probable origin and age of the sun's heat (cont.); 19. The probable origin of nebulae; Index.
Printer friendly version