Preface
PREFACE
Ask any man why ice ages occurred and he will reply, “Why, obviously because the climate grew colder.” He was taught that in school and college; furthermore, he frequently sees the same thought expressed even in the very latest scientific literature. Yet persistent study by eminent scientists of the mystery of glaciation—study continued for more than one hundred years— has failed to envision changes in terrestrial or celestial conditions which could have materially reduced climatic temperature. Moreover, all those years of study have failed to demonstrate that an ice age would or could have resulted even if the temperature had been reduced. It should, therefore, be evident at long last that some new approach to the problem must be taken if its solution is to be found.
My own interest in ice ages was generated nearly fifty years ago by intimate contact with huge glaciers while on a “gold stampede” in Alaska. My curiosity to discover the cause of ice ages was not satisfied, it was only whetted, by subsequent study of glaciers and of available literature on the subject.
The theory expounded in this book has gradually evolved over the ensuing years. As its concepts dawned, solutions of other great geological mysteries came to light—the mystery of former lower ocean levels, of the source of minerals in Earth’s sedimentary supercrust. Admittedly, the theory is completely heterodox. Some factual statements, as well as some deductions and conclusions, may be erroneous. However, the basic concepts alone are important. Those concepts are strongly supported by logic, by physical laws and by visible terrestrial and celestial evidence. The theory is based upon principles directly opposed to all which have hitherta been advanced.
Inasmuch as all previous theories have utterly failed to solve the mysteries under consideration, this fresh theory should be welcomed. Let no one summarily reject it without studious consideration merely because it violates old teachings and threadbare theories which, as will be established, have been decisively refuted.
D.E.H.