Natural Science, Vol 1 A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress September, 1892 Classic Reprint

Excerpt from Natural Science, Vol. 1: A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress; September, 1892

The two addresses agree that the great mountain ranges of the world, whether above water ol'_b€low them, had their foundations laid in the pre-geologic era Of the solidifying globe, as the later crustal movements seem to have followed the original lines of weakness; and this not only applies to the great meridional chains, but to the intersecting east and west lines, such as the mediterranean-caribbean depression and the corresponding alpine line of elevation, which dates at least from. Palaeozoic times. Similarly they both conclude that the oceanic islets of the Pacific indicate an area of subsidence, and the submerged ridge of the land area there once cut up the Pacific Ocean, as the probable connection of the Atlas with the Venezuelan Cordillera once broke the continuity of the Atlantic.

It, therefore, seems probable that the new stratigraphers will allow the palaeontologists the principal transoceanic bridges that they demand. Professor james Geikie suggests that the cosmo politan distribution of Palaeozoic species was really due to the absence Of any oceanic abysses to bar the spread Of littoral species. We thought it was now pretty generally understood that the supposed identity of, for example, the Carboniferous faunas Of the world, was simply due to the diagrammatic figures Of the European species having led to essential distinctions being ignored and species wrongly identified; closer study has shown that such world-wide faunas are myths, and that we have the same cases of some Palaeozoic faunas common to the two sides of the Atlantic, with succeeding ones that are as sharply differentiated as any of later date. The study Of extinct faunas is, however, as yet in its infancy, and it seems not unlikely that one Of the results Of the new geology may be the ultimate separation Of the zoologists from the palaeontologists, the former studying species and the latter faunas.

The problems suggested by the work of the Vienna school Of geology are Of intense interest but great difficulty, and will require for their solution the help Of all the three branches of stratigraphy, petrology, and palaeontology. It forms a curious comment on the oft-made statement that the future of Science is with the specialist, that the man who has done so much to set the pace for the new geology has written on nearly every branch of geological science, and is equally at home in the details of the stratigraphy of the Alps, the Central Plains, or the Tertiary basins. He has dealt with nearly every group of animals that has left traces for palaeontologists to decipher, from sponges to mammals, and from fish to foraminifera, and has advanced as greatly the classification Of Brachiopods as Of earthquakes. He, moreover, as the author Of Um Zukst des Goldes, has taken rank as one Of the ablest champions of bimetallism, and, until he incurred the wrath of anti-semitic prejudice by a noble appeal for justice to the Jews, he was one of the very foremost Of the leaders of the Liberal party in the Austrian Reichstag.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.